Cornelius, NC (September 6, 2010)

As with the previous post, took a motorcycle ride up NC-115, a favorite road and area in the Charlotte area. Also some 30 miles from Charlotte, and next to the college town of Davidson, NC (previous post) is Cornelius, NC. Like Davidson, Cornelius is an old town dating to 1893. It was founded around the industries of mills and farming. What has really moved the town forward is the Lake Norman area which has made the region a popular engine of growth. The town is a mix of the old and the new with older businesses and also a number of large shopping centers. In the 2000 census the population was listed as 11,969. The Town Hall is at right.
Cornelius has some very nice streets, is also home to one of my favorite motorcycle dealerships (Interstate Cycle) though I did not visit that on my Labor Day ride but can be reached via the street seen at left. Nice houses on that street, plus a number of small businesses. Being Labor Day many of them were closed, and the roads were not as busy, a perfect day to be out exploring on a motorcycle! Though I live in this area, with the house in North Carolina and the apartment (and job) in Virginia I have of late been enjoying a chance to re-discover the area that I have lived in since 1991. It was a real fast changing and growing area, though that has slowed some of late due to the economy.
However, thanks to Lake Norman, many new developments and apartments have gone up in the Cornelius area. The town (as is Charlotte) is located in Mecklenburg County, which with a total of close to 1,000,000 residents is the second largest county in North Carolina. Many areas such as Cornelius with smaller populations, but much to offer are getting very popular in the region as places to live. It is a beautiful and interesting town to explore and to visit. Photo ar left is a mixed use development with apartments and businesses. Those type of developments are getting very popular in the region; some of them are on a much larger scale.
The ride went on...and I have one more section to share!

Davidson and Davidson College (September 6,2010)

Part of a perfect motorcycle ride on a wonderful late summer day, was my visit to Davidson on September 6. Davidson is some 30 miles from Charlotte and is just off NC-73/NC-115 with access also from I-85 (but I did not go via the highway). The college was founded in 1837 as Presbyterian Davidson College (the town the same year). Davidson itself is a small college town with a population of around 7,188 according to the last census and covers 5.1 square miles in area. Above is one of the campus buildings; while there watched the border collie which can be seen laying in the shade at far right catching a ball in true border collie fashion!

Building at left is Philanthropic Hall which was built in 1850. Davidson has under 2,000 students, but a long distinguished history having graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars. A private liberal arts school, it does compete in Division I athletics and has some notable successes to its credit in sports. The "Wildcats" play in the Southern Conference; the school has the second smallest enrollment of any Division I school. Among its notable students was Woodrow Wilson, a former President of the United States. As a private school, costs are high to attend, but some of the graduates and their history make the school costs worthwhile.
Davidson is a small college town. The town works hard to manage growth, and while filled with some beautiful houses both old and new also works to provide lower cost housing as well. I read that former Chesterfield resident and NASCAR driver Denny Hamlin is a resident of the town. It is a town where you often see joggers and bicyclists. For a town of its size, it has a number of parks and greenways. The local town square is also the site of a number of musical events during the year, and also various festivals. Many local businesses line Main Street, and there is also a Ben and Jerry's on the street. As would be expected of a college town there is also a very fine local coffee shop, and a very nice bookstore (side by side in fact). It is a beautiful and fun place to visit, and I have in the past brought visitors to the area there to walk around as I did during this visit, and to check out the local area. Davidson is near Lake Norman, another very popular spot in the area.
I had a great visit to the town and the school...but the ride went on; and I will be sharing some more posts on it in my next update to this blog.

The Durham Bulls (September 3, 2010)

Thought this was a cool stop. On the way to North Carolina from Richmond on September 3, 2010, stopped at Durham, NC. Saw the sign for the "Historic Baseball Field" and came to the home of the "Durham Bulls" and as we remember that was the field where the movie "Bull Durham" was filmed. Course I am told that field was torn down some years ago, but I think this was the bull from that field (and that movie) which is the batter hit he got a free steak!!! Nice to check out that ball park, I like baseball, and thought this was a really nice field. That was also a great movie (Bull Durham) which along with "Field of Dreams", and "For the Love of the Game" are some of the best baseball movies out there.
This is the view of the field from the upper section looking down. Not sure when the built this, but a fine looking ball park. I am a big fan of minor league baseball, as it tends to be a really good value, and a good time. Richmond has a new minor league team, which unfortunately I have missed this year, but will check out next year. Was not a great time to do that work wise, and also was a brutally hot summer in 2010. Hopefully, it will be better in 2011 as far as the weather. Photo at bottom is "American Tobacco" which I assume was once a tobacco factory, but is now a collection of stores and shops. I liked my very short visit to Durham, NC...told it is a very fun and interesting city, and from what I saw during my short stop certainly deserves a closer look in future visits to the area.

The Roads

It has certainly been (and will be for quite a while yet) an interesting experience living in two places. I find both areas to be amazing places; just about (with just a few exceptions over the years) everyplace has interesting and fun things to offer, and certainly Virginia and North Carolina/South Carolina are no exceptions. Been lucky in my life to have lived in some eight states (living I define as periods of at least a month and usually longer, and some six foreign countries).
On a regular basis I drive the roads of Virginia and North Carolina (less to South Carolina, but at times there as well) and we who have come here have noted a few things. For sure, even my neighbor last night of all things was talking about the roads (he came from Carolina too, but not with my company). Virginia residents have also mentioned it in the past. So here is a bit on travel and...The Roads.
Virginia probably wonders "Are our roads as bad as other states?"and I would answer "Yes and no". Not as bad as some, but pretty bad in comparison with others. For sure the roads are recovering from the massive snow storms of last winter, but even with that, they are rough to say the least. I have been here some two years, and during my drives around town and on the highway I have quite a few places in the road and potholes that I actually know to look for and avoid..sort of like old reliable friends in the pavement. As my neighbor said last night, "was thinking about getting rims for my car, but figure they would get torn up" and its been popular at work to discuss them. I remember driving I-85 and dodging virtual craters in a highway moonscape. Bone shaking, teeth shattering, car repair inducing potholes are hardly uncommon just about anyplace outside or in the city.
I have noticed that cars stick to speed limits much better in Virginia than in Carolina (more on that shortly) partly due to the speed limit enforcement, but also likely due to the roads. You do see a lot of cars pulled over in Virginia and police enforcement is heavy. I also am happy that they have a much longer zone of 70 mph sections than in Carolina (though they have a few). Especially between Petersburg and close to Durham, NC on I-85 there are a lot of places where police can pull off and hide..and they like to do that. So far no tickets, and happy about that.
Much of the roads in Virginia have not been so much repaired as patched. Potholes are filled and bigger sections are repaired in like manor. Once you reach the VA/NC state line the situation changes. I have often said it is like crossing two worlds. North Carolina used to call itself "The Good Roads State" and for sure they seem to try to live up to that. I-85 is smooth and nice from the border onward. Perhaps due to the road conditions or distance you do notice that speeding increases. The average Carolina driver seems to think of the speed limits as suggestions, the tickets (police as in Carolina work the roads in a number of vehicles marked and unmarked) as a "cost of driving", and that they are rolling down the race track. Usually they are chatting on the cell phones as they roll along at 10-20 mph over the limit. It can (and does) get quite interesting at times. The only things that really slow down a Carolina driver is police, traffic, and road construction (the last being the price paid for those good roads).
However its a good road system there, and even the side roads are better. Is every road perfect...no. However in Carolina the bad roads stand out, in Virginia the good ones do. As I mentioned police like to watch for speeders. Radar detectors are illegal in Virginia, legal in North Carolina. Police tend to stop a lot of cars along the entire length but tend to be especially bad in Virginia between Petersburg and the VA state line. All those pull offs in that wooded divider down I-85 make great hiding places. In Carolina police tend to get a great many cars at city limits such as Hendersonville, Durham, Salisbury but can be anyplace and can drive anything. You see a lot of unmarked SUV's in North Carolina and they often are police vehicles. In both states watch out for Dodge Chargers!
Finally a quick note on the roads of South Carolina. They are even better (as a rule) then the ones in North Carolina; driven on some amazing South Carolina roads. Mentioned weather at the start and that may be a big factor, as South Carolina gets even less winter than North Carolina does, and in the winter they use very little salt on the roads in both states.
Finally, be careful on the roads, but enjoy the ride. All lives have a few potholes, some more than others.

Morrow Mountain On Monday (August 30, 2010)

Photo here is of Phil on his Star Stratoliner, a very fine bike. Phil was a former boss in my previous job (for the same company, he retired though) and a good friend. He met up with me for "a ride" which I lead down some of my favorite backroads, and finally ended up at Morrow Mountain in Albemarle, NC. One of my favorite places, the State Park there offers camping, fishing, swimming, and of course the view from the top of Morrow Mountain which is the highest mountain in Stanley County. It is a great ride, and fun also the way we came which took us through the town of Baden, NC. Like riding past Baden Lake, one of the lakes in the area.
Morrow Mountain is free, and has some great views from the lookout at the top. Usually pretty packed (normally draws motorcycles like flies to sugar) it was devoid of people on the Monday afternoon. We checked out the views from there; was surprised to learn Phil had never been there, and was quite pleased to discover it. I enjoyed the ride from beginning to end; good company, great roads and really nice near the end of summer Carolina weather. Hot for sure (lower 90's) but low humidity and not a cloud in the sky. Nothing I enjoy as much as a good motorcycle ride, and this one certainly fit the bill.

A Carolina Motorcycle Ride (August 28, 2010)

One of my favorite things to do, is to take the Vulcan out on the streets of Carolina. I find this an interesting area to ride around, and there is a lot to see. Part of this ride was done a few posts ago, but some events in the area brought me back. Last time on a Sunday the Triumph dealership was not open, and there was a motorcycle event at Charlotte Harley-Davidson. Photo at left was taken on NC-601. That is the Corning factory at Midland, NC. Employment tapered off a few years ago, I was told it was a great place to work. Hopefully it will be again some day. Like riding down 601, lots of farms and animals and some beautiful houses there. I have ridden it deep into South Carolina (all the way into South Carolina), but today turned onto NC-74 or "Independence Blvd". Stopped in and got a photo of this new development there which I saw last time. Seems to be a sort of business/medical complex near Monroe, NC. Riding down NC-74 saw a lot of places closed, but also a number of new places. Tough economy, but being handled in different ways.
Went to "Red,White, and Brews" at Harley-Davidson of Charlotte, and that was a fun event. I have photos of some of the sights there on my phot0 page, but was a good time. Course after driving down from Richmond, and then the ride to get there, the event was starting to wind down, but did get to check out some of the bikes at the bike show and also some of the band. Prior to this stop I also got to see the Triumph/BMW/Ducati dealership, which I found was open on Saturday for the last time...moving to a new location after 18 years at the old one in Uptown Charlotte.
After a visit to this stop, went on to the house via Albemarle Road, and then back to the house via some back roads. Nice riding day, still hot, but the humidity has gone way down and its pretty pleasant riding. Was great to be back, and had a remarkable time indeed out in the breeze.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles (August 28, 2010)

Spent a nice couple of weeks in Richmond, but on August 28, 2010 went back to Concord to spend some time with family and friends. Always good to get back, and it was a nice drive with good weather and traffic was not bad either. Visited the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC. It is one of my favorite places to visit and always is a lot of fun. I thought that the Honda Gold Wing Show was this weekend (I am sort of a motorcycle nut...in fact next post here will be sights of the region via motorcycle) but there was no show. There was though this plane, which was formerly on display at Kitty Hawk, and is now at the museum.
NC Transportation Museum was once a train shop, a large maintenance facility. I like this steam engine at the roundhouse (which still works and offers turntable rides for a $1). The museum also has low price (like $5 I believe) train rides using some of the old trains. Steam engines such as these are used generally in the fall, on Saturday they ran the diesel electric engine. There was a large crowd there, and there was a fire engine show going on, which was pretty cool. There is a lot to see, and you can't beat the price of admission which is free. I always enjoy my visits to the museum, and I am a frequent visitor.
Course, being an NC museum, can't not have an automobile section (which also completes the "Planes, Trains and Automobiles" theme of this post...which was also the title of a very funny John Candy/Steve Martin movie of a few years back). Nice car and motorcycle display can be found in this building (so I did get to see bikes there after all) which has some unusual examples of both. The museum will be doing some expanding soon, has a whole new/old building due to open up soon with some more exhibits. If you are in Spencer, NC be sure to stop by here...it is a great place to visit and explore and experience some neat transportation items.