After almost a month away, was great to be back home. Spent a fine Friday night with my family, and then did a little sightseeing on my favorite mode of transportation. Took the motorcycle down NC-49 heading for Asheboro, NC. Made a stop (seen at left) at Tuckertown Lake, part of the lake system in the area near Rockwell, NC. Beautiful peaceful lake, and a nice place to stop along the way. The ride took me past lakes, farms, small towns, horses, cows, and was a very nice ride on a fall day. The leaves are just starting to turn, and though clear was a cool day at the start, but quickly turned unseasonably warm as the day went on.
Being an aircraft buff, I stopped at the Asheboro Airport. The NC Aviation Museum is there, but time not being on my side, I did not tour it this trip. It is a very fine museum. The airport is a small general aviation airport, but I did enjoy seeing this old Beechcraft parked on the ramp. I really enjoy old and classic aircraft, and this one was a real restored beauty. Nice twin engined plane with the twin tails, would have loved to see this bird in the air. It has been a good month for aviation events both in Virginia and in North Carolina, and best of all, there are some more events coming up soon. Enjoy seeing planes on the ground and in the skies!
A surprise along the way; in Asheboro, they had a free farm equipment show. A number of very fine tractors such as these, plus some really neat old trucks were on display. I like the ride to Asheboro both for the very nice ride, as well as the town itself. It is a nice area, is a nice distance to get to it, and fun to check out the sights there. There was quite a bit to see at the show (which I did not know about in advance) and was fun to wander around off the bike. Just outside of the town is the national forest with some great roads to ride on, and it was very peaceful early on a Saturday morning. Other than the sound of my bike, it was quiet when I headed back out. 
Riding down the backroads, I headed out to the Piscah Covered Bridge. This bridge is actually a replica of the very old bridge (the original was washed out during a flood a few years ago) but is a very popular stop. Riding on an NC Scenic Route is also a very nice treat. I came across some vultures enjoying a roadside feast (they all took off in a group as I rode up) and enjoyed the twists and turns of the road. I believe I was passed by one truck along my route, and that was a wonderful thing indeed to have so few to spoil my ride. I ended up back on NC-49, and turned back toward Concord. I made a stop at the R/C field near Mt. Pleasant, NC and enjoyed some radio controlled planes flying...been to some good airshows in the last few weeks, but really remarkable what those planes can do. Chilled out there for a while and talked to the "pilots"...my late Dad used to fly those type of planes, and they bring back happy memories of those days gone by. I got back on the bike after a time, and rode on to NC-73 for the last bit toward home.
Before going back, stopped at my friend Steve's house, and checked out his new (well 1996) Harley Wide Glide. Invited to take it out for a spin, got a short ride on the bike (seen here from the seat) and enjoyed that. Love riding my Kawasaki Vulcan, but a Harley is certainly a classic and unique experience.I got back to the house a little after 1pm, having been riding some four hours and covered some 131 miles in total. Spent the rest of the day with my fine family, and on Sunday headed to Charlotte, NC for the Chicago Bears/Carolina Panthers game. That I will be covering, and sharing photos of, in my next post!
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