Tag: Homestead

SW 328TH Street In Homestead Florida

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 14, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. There’s a street in Homestead Florida that I’ve driven on more than any other in America. It’s SW 328TH Street – a Miami-Dade County road that runs about 13 miles due west / east in the far-south of the county from the edge of the Everglades on the west-end through Homestead in the middle to almost Biscayne Bay on the east-end. At its most primitive – it’s a narrow dirt road through rural farmland. At its most busy 2½-mile stretch – it’s a sometimes congested 4-lane divided road (recently widened from 2 lanes) with a couple of dangerous intersections.

My longtime home of the past 28½ years is near the middle of that busy stretch. That easily makes it my most driven road of my lifetime. I can’t go anywhere without getting on that road. It’s much nicer now than it used to be when it was a narrow and bumpy 2-lane road (up until just a few years ago).

Fun Fact: SW 328TH Street is exactly 20½ miles south (as the crow flies) of Flagler Street (which is Zero Street and divides Miami-Dade County into north and south). Every 16 streets north / south is exactly a mile on the county grid. Most streets that are a multiple of 8 (particularly in the south part of the county) are major thoroughfares.

SW 328TH Street is also known as Lucy Street for its western-most 5½ miles – and North Canal Drive for its eastern-most 7½ miles. It’s also known as SW / SE 8TH Street within the city limits of Homestead. For 1.7 miles Lucy Street serves as the border between Homestead (to the north) and Florida City (to the south). And speaking of Lucy Street – Lucy was one of the daughters of the first Mayor of Homestead in 1913. It’s been Lucy Street ever since, and it’s one of the longest-named streets in the region.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll follow the Sun. I’ll write about the Winter Solstice here in the Northern Hemisphere. And I know that I have readers in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and the South American continent. I won’t forget about your Summer Solstice. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Homestead, Miami-Dade

Blogging Church Driving Food Geography Home Travel

Year 37 In Homestead Florida

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 7, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Yesterday was a wonderful day in downtown Sebring Florida – catching-up with a lot of my friends for the first time in over a month. I got to hang out with my favorite coffee roaster (and neighbor) at Strangely Warmed. I got to spend 2½ hours with my Sebring Historical Society family. I even picked-up a pizza and cannoli from my favorite pizzeria – Tony’s II. Even my Pest Control guy showed-up in the afternoon to spray my home for bugs. It was a good day in my new hometown.

And then there’s down south in Homestead Florida. Last week I ~~celebrated~~ (make that observed) my 36TH anniversary of my first arrival there during the early-morning hours of December 01ST 1987. I was there for a full week – from Sunday morning (November 26TH) to Sunday afternoon (December 03RD). I reflected last week on my 36 years in Homestead, and how it wasn’t supposed to be that long. (It was supposed to be less than 5 years.) Aside from my longtime church family that I got to preach to and enjoy fellowship with on both Sundays (and the next 2 Sundays) – there aren’t that many other bright spots in my life and times down there. There aren’t that many other reasons to visit Homestead and South Florida.

Nevertheless Year 37 has begun for me in Homestead. I’m likely spending another 25 scheduled nights in Homestead between this upcoming Sunday and the start of March, and then my visits will become sporadic after that – probably once every few months or so. I do plan to keep my longtime home (since 1995) for at least another year or so. Hotel rates are sky-high down south, so staying in my own old home is a bargain !

Down in Homestead there’s a single street with a few numbers and a few names that I’ve driven on more than any other since 1995. Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about that street. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Homestead, Sebring

1990s Blogging Career Driving Geography Home Military Travel Weather

Post Hurricane Andrew

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date August 24, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. 31 years ago this morning on August 24TH 1992 Hurricane Andrew struck Homestead Florida, and within just a couple of hours its winds caused catastrophic destruction across the region. It was unlike anything I had ever lived through before or since. And that’s all I’ll say about it. I’m actually glad that I’m not in Homestead today, as on this day every year it’s what’s on everyone’s mind – that night / morning that lives were changed forever. I don’t like to talk about it. I don’t like to write about it. So I won’t.

Later that same week on that Friday morning I departed the death and destruction of Homestead and drove up Florida’s Turnpike and I-95. The next day I arrived at my former home from when I was a teenager – where my parents, little brother, and cats still lived – in Fairfax County Virginia. On that Monday morning – exactly a week after Hurricane Andrew – I arrived at Andrews AFB on the other side of the Capital Beltway in Prince Georges County Maryland (where I actually grew-up from 1969 to 1980). I checked-in as a “refugee” of Hurricane Andrew. I was not the only one. Others had beaten me there.

For the next 6 months I was stationed at Andrews AFB doing almost exactly the same job that I had left behind at Homestead AFB. I was welcomed with open arms at my new office. I was considered as that extra special bonus person that they didn’t know they would get. I fit right in. It turned out to be the greatest (and last) 6 months (out of 8 years) of my entire USAF active duty tour.

I actually lived in a dormitory room on-base during the week – generally from Sunday afternoons to Friday mornings. On Friday afternoons after work I’d circumnavigate almost half of the Beltway in a clockwise (inner-loop) direction. (What fun that rush hour traffic was.) On the return-trip back to the base on Sunday afternoons (with less traffic) I’d “cut-through” Washington D.C. diagonally from Virginia into Maryland.

Fun Fact: Back then I drove a red 1989 Geo Spectrum. It was the first brand-new car I ever bought. I bought it at Tropical Chevrolet on Biscayne Boulevard (U.S. 1) in Miami Shores Florida. (That dealership is still there today with the same name.) I owned that car for over 8 years, and I put 96,745 miles on it.

That was a crazy time in my life – albeit only 6 months – living and working in the metro area that I grew-up in from age 2 to 18. Yep – 31 years ago I was traversing the Interstate Highway System like I owned it, and not only that – I was on the Capital Beltway. I don’t drive on Interstate highways anymore except in rare circumstances (like rural portions of long road trips to and from North Texas). I generally stick with old U.S. highways and state roads. I feel more comfortable on them in my older age.

Next #TravelThursday I’ll share my coast-to-coast travel adventures along U.S. 192 and I-4 in Central Florida from exactly 30 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Andrew, Beltway, Florida, Homestead, Hurricane, Interstate, Maryland, Virginia

Blogging Church Driving Food Geography History Home News Travel Weather

Home Sweet Sebring

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date April 20, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I’m waking-up in my new home in my new neighborhood in northwestern Highlands County Florida for the 6TH morning in a row. It’s the longest streak yet, and I’ll be waking-up here for 3 additional mornings before I head back down U.S. 27 and Krome Avenue to Homestead for a quick turnaround.

Now if you’ve been reading or watching the news lately then you may know about the gas crisis in nearly all of South Florida (from The Treasure Coast southward through The Florida Keys). There are long lines at gas stations that are actually open, and no activity at all at gas stations that are closed because they have no gas remaining. It’s all because of a freak 24-hour rain event in Fort Lauderdale last week where they received over 2 feet of rain – flooding much of the region – including the port where the gas comes in. Here in my new part of Florida there is no such crisis. No lines. No shortages. No closings.

I’m scheduled to return to Homestead this Sunday morning. I’ll celebrate Christ with my home church family, and then I’ll spend 4 nights in my longtime home before I return back north to Sebring. But I may reconsider that schedule if the gas crisis continues.

I can easily fill-up my car with gas here in this area, drive down there, and then return back here on that same tank of gas. I get up to 50 MPG on the open road with my Honda Civic, but why venture into chaos and rage ?

If I take that trip – my next trip back here to Sebring will be even longer than this one – 12 nights in a row. Going forth I’ll be spending about 70% of the rest of the year here in Sebring, and 30% in Homestead. (I have an Excel spreadsheet that tracks all of this.)

Yesterday morning I spent about 2½ hours with my new friends at the Sebring Historical Society (#SHS). We enjoyed coffee, pastries, conversation, and we had an informal meeting. This afternoon I’ll spend about 3½ hours with them as we enjoy our monthly spaghetti dinner (my first one). This Saturday afternoon we have our quarterly pot-luck luncheon and board meeting. I’ll be serving with the #SHS a lot going forth. I’ve been dreaming about this opportunity for a couple of years now, and I’ve been blogging about it since a couple of years ago. My retirement dreams are coming together !

It’s 4/20, and I’m not making this up. We have a big nearly mile-long manmade lake in my new neighborhood. Nearly all of the condos encircle the 10½-acre lake. Its name – Lake Mary Jane.