Tag: Coffee

It Starts With A Donkey And A Buffalo

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 16, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This week it’s Part 3 of my 4-part series on my recent trip to visit family in the Wichita Falls Texas area. That would make this the penultimate edition of this series. (I’ve always liked that word – penultimate.)

It’s the final Saturday morning of September, and we need to check on Reno – our approximate 25-year-old family donkey. He lives in a farm in Clay County about 500 feet away from the Wichita County line. He gets checked on every day. He’s fed (a pile of hay and a carrot), given fresh water, and sometimes even cleaned up a bit. (I actually Goggled “do donkeys like carrots”, and Google’s AI confirmed that “donkeys generally love carrots as a healthy treat”. I can confirm that Reno does indeed love carrots.

After our visit with the donkey we checked-in with the buffalo – as in White Buffalo Coffee Bar. It’s a Veteran-owned franchise with 18 locations in Oklahoma and Texas. We went to the one near Sheppard AFB. I got a hot Pumpkin Spice Latte and a breakfast croissant sandwich. Both were pretty good. My cousin liked her drink and food too. I have a feeling that we’ll be back there on my next visit – especially considering its proximity to the airport (6 minutes away).

Next stop – a wonderful roadside memorial off I-44 northbound – north of Wichita Falls and about 7 miles south of the Oklahoma State Line. It features a 77-foot Cross, 3 smaller crosses, and numerous plaques along a circular sidewalk with Scripture detailing the final days of the life of Christ Jesus. It was constructed from 2023 to 2025. KMOC 89.5 – a local Christian radio station – was behind the memorial.

Next stop – a classic car show at a church. We actually stumbled across this one, and this is a recurring theme on my visits to Wichita Falls. We go on a road-trip (either locally or regionally), and we stumble across a place or an event that we weren’t expecting on our way to another place or event. This was a fun event. I love classic car shows and museums. I love guessing the year each car is from before I check out its display card. I love looking inside the cars – especially at their dashboards.

We also checked out a small portion of the Wichita Bluff Nature Area (off Loop 11).

Later that same day (and the start of my final night) – 5 of us went out to dinner at a place called Firefly. The fellowship with family was wonderful, and the food portions were MASSIVE. I would’ve taken a picture of my dinner plate upon receiving it, but I didn’t want to waste any time. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to eat everything on my plate within an hour. (And I actually couldn’t finish it all.)

Next #TravelThursday starts with dinner leftovers for an early lunch the next day, and it’s my trek through the airports and inflight back home to Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Coffee, Texas, Wichita Falls

Blogging Commerce Driving Food Geography Travel

Coffee, Mexican, Whataburger, Texas BBQ

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date October 9, 2025

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. This week it’s Part 2 of my 4-part series on my recent trip to visit family in the Wichita Falls Texas area. Let’s continue the fun and food !

After one of my family members picked me up at Wichita Falls Regional Airport (#SPS) – we headed into town to Collective Coffee. It sits caddy-corner to Midwestern State University (#MSU). It sits at a former Shell service station. Its parking area amusingly sits in the former lanes of the gas pumps. The cafe has been open for about 4½ years. It’s in an old building that was built in 1964. I wonder if it was a service station for all of those years ?

At Collective I enjoyed a 16-ounce Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte and a large warmed-up Blueberry Muffin. Both were pretty good. I forgot what my cousin got, but she didn’t like it all that much. She exclaimed, “1 out of 10 – do not recommend”. Upon further review I convinced her to bring her rating up to a 4 out of 10, as service was good. (But memo-for-record – it’s not on the list for future visits.)

Later that same afternoon we went to a sprawling family-owned Mexican restaurant – El Mejicano – to partake in their bargain $10.99 all-you-can-eat buffet. It was a Thursday-night-only special during the month of September to celebrate their 42ND anniversary. The wait to get in was long (about a half-hour). The last time I was in Wichita Falls – 13 months prior for a single day visit with my brother – we also enjoyed the buffet there.

Fun Facts: About 150,000 residents call the Wichita Falls area home. That’s 130,000 in Wichita County, 11,000 in Clay County (to the east), and 9,000 in Archer County (to the south). Wichita Falls itself claims over 100,000 residents. None of my family live within the city limits. (They live in Clay and Archer Counties.) My Aunt and Uncle used to live in Wichita County, but to the west of the city limits.

Late the next morning I got to choose the fast-food restaurant to go pick-up lunch at and take to my Aunt and Uncle’s soon-to-be former house of 40 years. As we approached one of those blue restaurant signs alongside the freeway – I saw Whataburger. If you read my multi-part #TravelThursday series from earlier this year – then you may remember my previous disappointment with the Whataburger drive-thru experience where everyone got a burger except for me. That would not happen again.

Later that same afternoon we headed down to Archer County (Lakeside City) to my first-cousin’s house. My Uncle lives there too. And also my favorite cat Gracie. And also my new canine friend Lacey. My first-cousin picked-up Texas Best BBQ (pulled pork, smoked turkey, and sides), and we enjoyed it all.

Next #TravelThursday starts with a donkey and a buffalo. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Airport, BBQ, Coffee, Mexican, MSU, SPS, Texas, Whataburger, Wichita Falls

Blogging Commerce Geography History Shopping Travel

Historic Downtown Sebring

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 10, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’m currently on my 11TH stay here in Sebring Florida since purchasing my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream town in my dream part of Florida. I bought in February, and I’ve been here in Sebring for over half that time. My average stay has been about 9 nights. (I’m approaching my 100TH night here in Sebring.)

When I’m not hanging out with my new friends here in my new neighborhood – or over at the Sebring Historical Society – I’m working at home from my office. (I haven’t retired yet.)

Yesterday I decided to take a day off from work (on official leave) and spend some extra time in historic downtown Sebring. I spent about 2½ hours hanging out with my friends at the Sebring Historical Society. We have some big changes coming up, as well as some big events. We’re losing one of our two historic houses, but we’re enhancing and sprucing-up our remaining one – the Charles F. Weigle House Museum – with an expanded gift shop. I’ll write about that in the weeks to come.

I’ve written about our Museum previously here on #TravelThursday, and I’ll be writing about it a lot more in the future. I plan to be a docent there once I’m retired and living full-time here in Sebring in the new year, and I’ll probably work the gift shop as well. I also plan to write about (promote) our Museum across multiple social media platforms that I’m active on.

Later yesterday morning I ventured over to Strangely Warmed Coffee Co. They are a specialty coffee roaster located in a quaint warehouse just off “The Circle” in historic downtown Sebring.

Fun Fact # 1 – Specialty coffees are markedly different from regular coffees in the sense that they are grown at higher elevations, are traceable, and are processed and graded carefully once harvested.

Fun Fact # 2 – Specialty coffee goes beyond the quality of the beans. The processing, brewing, and roasting are equally important to have a great coffee experience that represents one of the world’s most affordable luxuries.

I met Steve – a co-owner of the company – and he gave me the grand tour of the facility. It was very impressive. It’s a smooth operation. After that we just talked for about an hour. We eventually realized how small our world was. He’s one of my neighbors. He lives in the same exact model condo as I do. Furthermore – he knows one of the Directors of the Sebring Historical Society. They attend the same church together. Finally – my own church here in Sebring serves Strangely Warmed Coffee. (I had no idea.) He knows my Pastor !

I already consider Steve a friend. I’ll be visiting him at his workplace every so often just to hang out for a little while, and to also buy a bag of dark roast coffee (in K-Cups) from him. He gave me a cup of coffee while I was there, and I drank it all up during our conversation. It was definitely very good. It was smoother than grocery store-bought K-Cups. I may have bought my last box of K-Cups from Publix.

Strangely Warmed Coffee Co. is on Facebook, and you can also visit their official web site. Check them out. They also sell their coffee in a few local area stores, and they serve it in a few local area restaurants. I’ll probably write about them again here on my blog and across social media.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll look back at my very first Caribbean cruise from exactly 32 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.