Winter and 70 Degrees (January 13, 2013)

Wandered Richmond on a Sunday January 13, with temperatures of 70 degrees it was too nice to be in all day, even with some excellent NFL playoff  games going on. I visited some favorite places today, wanted to give some different views. For instance, this is on Monument Avenue which is a place you can find some great historic statues, but also some remarkable houses such as these seen here. Monument Avenue has won awards as one of the most beautiful streets in America, and in my opinion that status is very well deserved. A good day to park the car and take a walk. 

 Likewise, if you love historical places, I don't think you can do much better than Church Hill. That area has a long history. A few photos from there, and from the other areas I visited can be found on my Photo Page (link to that on this site) and even some (though mostly of motorcycles) on my Racing with the Wind motorcycle page. Church Hill has a whole lot of history, plus a lot of really neat things such as gas lanterns, cobblestone streets, friendly people walking dogs, very nice parks (such as Libby Hill Park), and of course St. John's Church. A few photos of that can be found on this blog in past posts.   

Finally made a stop at the Virginia War Museum. It is a way to remember the cost paid for the freedom we all enjoy - and these are some captured items from some of that history. Weapons from WWII Germany and Japan, plus some from North Korea and North Vietnam. Many people have seen the monument there, fewer have seen the museum which is located in the building. All sorts of history can be checked out there and some of it dates back to the Revolutionary War! The museum was open on this Sunday, and admission is free, which is always a good thing. Nice to have a place such as this to remember those who gave so much.
For a winter day this was a really good one. I sure find this to be a very interesting town. I also enjoyed a great lunch at Buz and Ned's - made a really good start to what turned out to be an outstanding day in the RVA.     

Morrow Mountain in Winter (January 5, 2012)

Just a short post here, but a second nice motorcycle ride, this time with Tim who rode his Harley with me (actually, I was on my Vulcan) to Morrow Mountain just outside of Albemarle, NC. It was a chilly ride, the clouds seen above eventually blocked the sun, and brought down the temperatures. Nice fall view from up there though, you can see some of the lakes in the photo, unblocked by the leaves most of the year there. Though it was chilly, we were dressed for the conditions, and enjoyed a really nice motorcycle ride on an otherwise beautiful day. Morrow Mountain State Park is a favorite stop of mine, and is located just outside of Albemarle, NC.   

Hendrick Motorsports, January 4, 2013

Nice day (finally) for a motorcycle ride, and made a good one. After some Carolina Hot Dogs (all the way) at a local church, met up with a friend and we rode the motorcycles to Hendrick Motorsports in Concord, NC. It is both a working race shop and a museum. What you are seeing at left is some of the museum part, where you can see a lot of former racecars, and other items from the racing careers of the drivers of Hendrick Motorsports. It is a great place to check out not just some favorite (or not so favorite drivers) but just to see what goes into a NASCAR car. Did I mention, admission is free?

Seen here are the 2013 cars of Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. They have changed the cars this year to look more like the cars you would see in the showroom of your local dealer, and less like the "one size fits all" Car of Tomorrow that NASCAR has been running for the past few years. I tend to think its a really nice improvement.It is amazing to see the various shops and buildings, gone for a long time are the days when these were backyard operations. Now, these cars are built (and from the ground up) in multi-million dollar operations, and Hendrick is one of the most impressive, though all the shops in the area are remarkable.  

This is one side of one of the shops (and shot through glass which is the cause of the reflection) where you can see the many copies of the race cars being built. Many of these cars will end up wrecked at various tracks, others will be built for specific types of tracks (short track, road racing, half miles and superspeedway), but you can be sure some of these will end up as well in a few victory lanes during the course of the season. Hendrick has some of the top drivers and has as an owner won over two hundred races over his years as an owner. Interesting to see these cars put together.   

Finally, though there are many trophies at Hendrick Motorsports, had to get a photo of this one. I believe the year was 2006, but the track this was won was at Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, VA (Richmond being my home away from home!). I am a fan of racing, but also of guitars, and the guitar in this trophy is a Paul Reed Smith, which is one of the better ones out there.
If you would like more information on Hendrick Motorsports be sure to check them out on-line via your favorite search engine. It is a very nice place to visit, and in fact there are a number of race shops in the area. You can see some remarkable things in some of them in the Concord area, or nearby. The vast majority of teams in the NASCAR circuit make their homes in this area.
I greatly enjoyed both the motorcycle ride, the hot dogs, and the wandering around the shops of Hendrick Motorsports. Usually just being here on weekends I don't get to see this often, but have made a few race shops over the holiday, and ready for the season to get underway (and it won't be long now!).  

Louisville (December 26-December 31, 2012)

 Made a visit with Patty to see family and friends in Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana. Actually photo at left was taken from Indiana, which is just a short drive over three usually very crowded bridges just across the Ohio River. That is Louisville (well downtown anyhow). Feel like a tourist there, but I have been gone now some 14-15 years and easy to feel that way. Interesting city with a lot of fun things to do, especially during the weeks around The Kentucky Derby. That is the best time of year to really see Louisville come alive. Although, Christmas time in the area was really special for us! 

The Belle of Louisville is a very old steamboat. I have been on it a number of times, and it is a remarkable old boat. In fact read that in 2014 the Belle will celebrate 100 years. Mentioned Derby Weeks - one of the events is the Steamboat Race for the Golden Antlers (winning boat gets to display them for the year). Not sure it is always on the "up and up" as everyone seems to win eventually, but its sort of cool in a slow sort of way. The Belle is no recreation, its the real deal, and its a fun cruise up the Ohio in the Spring Summer and Fall (it is parked here in the winter).    

 This is the H+B factory, which is the home of the Louisville Slugger. There is a glass factory next door, liked what they did with the baseball at the right side of the photo. Nice museum there, and of course the big bat is a real attraction. Louisville is a very old city, which in a lot of ways reminds me of Richmond having the river, and being old. Like Richmond, Louisville reuses a lot of old buildings, but there is also a number  of new ones going up as well.
For the upcoming year, hearing that finally one of the planned bridges (planned since I was a small kid) may start construction. Growth over the decades have really made the three bridges that let people cross the river, packed! Traffic can be really bad, and hopeful that gets done soon.
Most people in Indiana (or at least a lot of them) work in Louisville which is the home to Ford, GE, Amazon, and UPS which has a giant distribution center at the airport in Louisville.    

I snapped this photo in Southern Indiana, during my visit we got some snow. Good snow in that being wet it did not last long on the roads, but really looked nice in the yards and on the trees. First snow I have seen in 2012, and made for a very pretty photo. Sure there will be more in the area, also expect to see some in Richmond during the upcoming winter.
We had a great time in the "other" River City (Richmond also shares that nickname) and enjoyed visiting family and friends, as well as seeing the many interesting sights. More photos can be seen on my Flickr Photo Page from the visit. 

Charlotte, Christmas Eve Eve (December 23, 2012)

 Took a short motorcycle ride to Charlotte on December 23, and it was rather brisk temperature wise, but a good ride nonetheless. Saw this statue in Uptown, thought it was pretty cool, and a nice view of Charlotte directly behind it. Rode around Uptown for a bit, made a quick stop at Mac's Speed Shop mon South Blvd (good BBQ and cold beverages of note) before heading out a little later. Got a photo of that place on my Racing with the Wind blog. There was a football game going on; Carolina played Oakland while I was there, so parking was hardly to be found, so mostly just cruised around for a bit while I was there. 

I did get a photo of this light rail train, I find them really interesting. Strangely, I have yet to ride on one, but hope to get out and check one out in 2013; think it would be cool to see what that is like. Seem to be pretty popular and a good way to get around Charlotte and the surrounding area. They are working to expand the service routes of the train - plan is to run it into the University area of the city very soon. I think they have obtained much of the funding for that project. All in all it was a very good day, nice to get out, always enjoy visits to Charlotte, it is a most amazing city, and offers a lot of things to see and do.

Kannapolis Lights (December 22, 2012)

Finally the rains have stopped, and the high winds have died down (been quite breezy the last couple of days here) and Patty and I got out in the car to check out some of the holiday sights and lights. We drove around quite a bit in some of the local neighborhoods, and got some coffee for some exploring. One of our stops was what was formerly known as "Cannon Village" but is now (mostly) some offices of the NC Research Center. While they have toned down the Christmas decorations I still enjoy the trees there, and its a nice place to drive around this time of year.   

Went by Village Park, which is quite the light display. It is located in Kannapolis, and has a number of really nice light displays. There is a small train which takes you around to see the lights, or you can walk along the trail. Seeing as it was pretty cold out tonight, and the line for the train was pretty huge, we opted for the trail. There are lots of other things to see there as well, for instance they had these talking and singing bears, which also moved and played instruments, which we thought was pretty cool. There were a lot of things to see in Village Park besides the many lights.    

Lights however were a big part of the reason for going. They had lights as seen at left, light displays, moving light displays - all kinds of cool stuff to see. We did the train ride last year and even that is pretty cool. A nice event in a nice place, and made for a really good evening.
After Village Park we drove down Union Street, seeing some favorite houses. Still have not made it to the big light displays at either McAdenville, NC or Charlotte Motor Speedway, but hoping to get those in this year if possible. Always really neat (both of them) but also amazingly crowded with traffic. 

280 Miles Apart (December 19-20, 2012)

The Christmas holidays are nearly upon us, and for me the vacation period is underway. On the 19th, my last day in Richmond this year, went to see a motorcycle at Velocity Motorcycle. While in that area, also made a stop at The Diamond which is the home of the Richmond Flying Squirrels. Nice ballpark if a bit dated - the team and the city is working on a replacement site. Nonetheless, got to see the field while I was there; a sight to give hope as when I took this just two days away from the official start of Winter. Baseball is still a few weeks away as I write this.   

Not so far away is the start of the long NASCAR season. That cranks up in February, but today during a motorcycle ride in the Concord, NC area made a stop at Stewart-Haas Racing. Car on the left is Tony Stewart's, and the one on the right is Danica Patrick's...though as I could tell from the shop directly behind these cars there are quite a number of those cars for all these drivers, as they will, over the course of the season, crash quite a few of them. I put a few more photos from the ride today (and the motorcycles I saw in Richmond on my "Racing with the Wind" blog. Looking forward to some interesting days ahead - quite a bit coming up in the next few days and weeks to come.