Tag: Sebring

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Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the first edition of 2024. It’s going to be a big year of travel for me as I settle-in to life as a retiree. I’ve got a long open-ended road-trip that I’m starting to plan for the month of April. I know I’m leaving on the morning of April Fool’s Day, but I don’t know when I’m returning home. (That’s why I’m calling it “open-ended”.) I’ll be writing about this road-trip a lot – before, during, and after – here on #TravelThursday, so buckle-up if you’re going along for the virtual ride.

#ButFirst it’s the continuation of my recap of 2023. I drove 11,721 miles in 2023. That’s the most number of miles driven over the past 9 years (since I’ve driven 1 of 3 Honda Civics). It’s also the most number of miles driven since 2004 (when I drove a new Saturn Ion 3 Quad Coupe 4D). How do I know all of this ? I keep accurate records via Excel Spreadsheet – more so now than in the past. I exceeded 1,000 miles in 8 out of 12 months – with January, September, November, and December being the exceptions. All of those miles were fueled by my 20 trips to my new home near Sebring Florida – and my 19 trips back to my longtime home in Homestead Florida. (Each trip was about 185 miles each way.)

My next 1,000-mile month will be in April, and in fact it will likely be a 2,500-mile month. It has the potential of being a 3,000-mile month – depending on the duration of my road-trip.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll conclude my “Year In Review”, and I’ll reveal if I was able to walk 1,000 miles in 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the final edition of 2023. It’s been a crazy year – even a life-changing year for me. It all changed on the morning of February 16TH 2023 when I drove 3 hours north from Homestead (my home since December 1987) to Highlands County Florida. I checked-in with my Real Estate Agent at her office in downtown Lake Placid (who I had met in June 2022), and we drove up the road to Sebring. We drove into my new neighborhood – which I had confirmed (to her and myself) – would be my new neighborhood when I toured it with her just 2 days after my 55TH birthday in 2022. (It’s a 55+ senior community.)

Long story short – I bought my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida. The area that I had been driving through, and visiting, and vacationing occasionally for 8+ years, and stating that it would be my future retirement home – had become reality. It’s one of countless miracles for me from my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. He knows the plans He has for me. They are plans for good and not for disaster – to give me a future and a hope.

I love reading (some of) my old Facebook blog posts from 2015, and 2016, and 2017 (before I returned here to WordPress) when I wrote about retiring in Highlands County and other adjacent areas.

Here’s what I wrote on February 09TH 2015:

“I’m embarking on another classic sightseeing road-trip vacation next weekend. I’ll cover about 575 miles of South, Southwest, and South Central Florida as I visit Fort Myers, Lake Placid, Sebring, and Lake Wales – all of which are currently in the running for my future retirement location. U.S. 27 is pretty much my main north-south route now from the Miami-Dade / Broward County Line straight-up past the Orlando area. I really like the classic route as well as all of the small historic towns along the way. It’s “Forgotten Florida” along the spine of the peninsula some 100 to 250 feet above sea level / both coasts on either side – lots of scenic hills and lakes.”

(I soon eliminated Fort Myers and eventually Lake Wales from consideration.)

I moved-in and closed on my new home on March 15TH 2023, and ever since then I’ve been driving back-and-forth between Homestead and Sebring. (I still have my Homestead home.)

Each trip northward is an “A” trip, and each trip southward is a “B” trip. I’m currently on “20A” – my 20TH trip to Sebring since buying my new home. “20B” occurs on January 02ND 2024 when I return to Homestead for 6 days and 5 nights. It’s 1 of 4 remaining trips to Homestead until I retire.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll continue my “Year In Review”, and I’ll reveal if it was a record-breaking year of driving for me in 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Blogging Church Driving Food Geography Home Travel

Year 37 In Homestead Florida

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.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Driving Geography Travel

Let’s Go To The Dump !

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Last Saturday morning I visited the county dump for the first time ever for a sightseeing expedition chock-full of wonderful breathtaking photos. No. Just kidding. It’s more formally known as the Highlands County Recycling Center at 6000 Skipper Road (south of Sebring). It’s about 13 miles south of my neighborhood.

They were hosting a 6-hour Fall “Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) & E-Waste Collection Event”. I found out about this event earlier in the year shortly after I moved to Sebring, and I saved the date on my calendar.

You know – I just happen to have a lot of electronic waste that I’ve collected over the past 40 years. For me that’s mostly old TVs, VCRs, computer monitors, and printers from the ’80s, ’90s, and 2000s. As a good steward of the environment and an obedient resident of my municipalities – I’ve refrained from throwing these objects in the nearest dumpster when they broke (like many others have done).

I stuffed my car trunk full of this junk (and part of my back seat area), and I hauled it all to the dump – not knowing what to expect once I got there. I expected it to be one of those drive-up / stay-in-your-car events where employees remove everything from your car, and then you drive away. But I didn’t know if – upon arrival – I would be in-and-out in about 5 minutes, or maybe 20 minutes. Well – let me tell you this. It was a very popular event – more popular than I ever imagined. Upon arrival of the general area of the dump – on a narrow dirt road that cut through unspoiled South Central Florida scrubland up in the hills – there was a long line of vehicles – cars, SUVs, pick-up trucks, etc. It turned out to be about a half-mile back-up. It was officially my very first traffic jam here in Sebring. I eventually got to the site about 30 minutes later, and it was exactly as I expected. You drive-up. You open your trunk (and unlock your back doors if you have junk back there), and a team of employees remove everything from it. You then drive away. I was driving away just 5 minutes later. It was very well-organized. I applaud Highlands County for such a well-run event.

Oh – and I’ll be back with more E-Waste for the next collection event in 6 months.

Next #TravelThursday – I recount my arrival in the United Kingdom exactly 38 years ago. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp