The Ville in the Fall (October 13-17)

Took a trip to Louisville, Kentucky and my good dog Mollie from October 13-17 to see my brother and my family. It is also where my terrible X-wife lives with her cheating boyfriend, but I did not see them...did though get to see my son, his wife, and the grandkids. Mainly went to see my brother who is dealing with a terminal illness. He has declined a great deal, and I wanted to get out to see him before he takes that journey that we all must face. Photo at left is the state capital building in Charleston, WV. Interesting to note is the statue of Abraham Lincoln in the front of it.  

This once again is the famous "Bridge to Nowhere" as it was known...Louisville put a walkway and railing on it and you can walk up it and (soon, once the State of Indiana finishes it's side) across to Indiana. Get some great views there of the river and some of the cool things to see. Being Louisville there were some cool other things to see on the bridge such as the people, and of course some musicians playing guitar. Kaye had never been on it, so it was very cool to do that, as its a nice walk and something different in the River City. It was also a very good day to do this. 

 Night photo of Louisville from the Indiana side of the Ohio River. Beautiful city and one of my favorite to visit. Like the way it looks at night, very pretty. I grew up there, and while we were there stayed once again in Louisville (actually sort of outside of it, though it is now a big area since the City and Jefferson County have merged.
Did spend some time downtown checking out some of the places I know and love, there is a lot to see there and it is a lot of fun being on the streets. For the most part, the weather during the trip was good, though did get some rain. 

This is some of the Union graves at the very old and very large Cave Hill Cemetery in Louisville. Some of my earliest family members (from the 1700's) are buried there, there are literally thousands of graves from the beginning of Louisville. Even Col Sanders is buried there. It is a beautiful place, and in the past I have spent many hours there. Kaye liked it a great deal.
Located in the section of Louisville known as The Highlands we took some time and saw a lot of the sights there. It is one of my favorite parts of the city and enjoyed the visit.  

Went to Huber Family Farm with the family, where we got a pair of pumpkins for Halloween. While they have the usual Orange (you can see one in the front), I thought the White Pumpkins were cool. We also visited the Winery (got some wine there, always very good, and brought some home) as well as some other stuff. Fed ducks and fish (of all things) got some items from the farm to eat later, and also we ate ourselves. My advice at the restaurant is to come very hungry as they give you a lot. Prices are also not bad at all for that they give you. It was a very fine day. 

 As noted, went to Louisville downtown which reminds me (and a number of other people) of Richmond. They are real good as reusing old buildings and there are a number of them there (while there are some in Charlotte, not nearly so many as the other two mentioned cities). Louisville is a good mix of the old and new. From Richmond it is around 560 miles...a long drive but very pretty going though the mountains. I enjoyed it, and had some good weather going up, though mostly rain on the way back. We extended the trip to take care of my brother, had some things to do for him. 

 On our last night we ate at Joe's Crab Shack on the river, though a chain the food is (and always was) outstanding. We also had good service.
The Belle of Louisville is very cool, it is a very real (not a replica) Steamboat, in fact next year it celebrates 100 years. I used to ride on it from time to time, used to have some great rock and roll and dance cruises back in the day. Still does some remarkable stuff, and there is even a steamboat "race" during the Kentucky Derby.
If you get the chance during a visit, be sure to take a ride on this classic-it is something to see. 

Finally, came the trip back. Stopped again in West Virginia at Tamarack where I saw these quilts. It was a great time there, love visiting those sort of places and the ride back was wonderful (even with rain as I mentioned earlier). View from the mountains of Virginia was wonderful. Not quite peak fall color up there as I write this, but it is not far away. I hope to get the motorcycle back there in the near future...sure like to see that, and it is a great time to ride.
Lots of good memories even though this was a sad sort of visit, but sure glad I went on this journey. 

Hogtober! (October 5, 2013)

Just a few shots from Hogtober, a Fall event held each year in Libby Hill Park, in the Church Hill Neighborhood of Richmond, VA. Event features food (it is a BBQ flavored event ), music and cold beverages. Though a Fall event, this one featured high temps in the 90's, as Fall has been hiding for the past few days prior to this event. The food was great though, the beverages were cold, and the music was very good.
It is one of my favorite events and this year I enjoyed the event as usual though due to the heat, and commitments before and after had to make it a short visit. 

 Bands such as this one were very good though, and I had a great time checking out the music (though this is the only band I got to hear). Kaye went with me, nice to have a pretty companion to enjoy the event with me.
Have heard some really fine bands over the years and some of them have become favorites of mine here in the RVA. Some really good music can be found here, and I have a good time at events such as this, and others checking out the music.  
The event charged only for food and drink, there was no admission charge.  

This is the Confederate Soldiers and Sailors Monument in Libby Hill Park, the park also offers a fine view of the James River (in fact there is a sign there explaining how Richmond was named for it.
The park and Church Hill is one of my favorite areas of Richmond, offering not only some really fun events, but also a lot of good places to eat, and a lot of neat things to see. Some of the houses there are very old, and in my book, that makes them very interesting.
I go to a lot of events in that area, especially in the Fall and will have a few more things to show you in the upcoming weeks.
On my page "Racing With the Wind" (which is my motorcycle blog) I have a few photos from the area..though mainly of some interesting motorcycles I saw there, have some areas as well which refer to what I have been talking about as far as interesting old things.

Fall Trip to Carolina (Sept 28-29, 2013)

 Had some last business to do in my former hometown, some furniture to move in storage. Rented a truck and drove down from Richmond. Saw something that I had seen just a couple of weeks ago, and in a previous photo here, The Memphis Belle (actually the one that was in the movie) was at Concord Regional Airport. Was good to see it again, and got a lot of good photos which I have on my photo page. There were also some neat older motorcycles which were not part of the planes arrival, but rather had just been ridden in by some bikers. Cool to see this plane...again!    

There are two race shops at the Concord Regional Airport, Roush Fenway and Richard Petty. Near to the airport is Earnhardt Ganassi and also Hendrick Motorsports. In fact most of the teams in NASCAR are either in the Concord area or very close (a number of them are also located in nearby Mooresville, NC) , Unfortunately, few of the teams shops are open on a weekend, though still was fun to go by and take photos such as the one at left. Think that the race shops can be one of the coolest things to see in the area, and some of them give some amazing access to the teams: what they do and how they do it. 

Took this photo while driving down Union  Street, and what you are looking at is Downtown Concord. Some really cool old buildings and some interesting houses are along Union Street. It was one of the favorite drives when I lived there, and like seeing the street. It was always a good time and the street is especially pretty at Christmas when the residents really light it up.
Spent some time with my youngest son staying in his place in Kannapolis, and went to dinner at El Amigo which is one of our favorite restaurants there. Had a really good time.    

On Sunday the 29th, got the truck loaded up, and headed out to breakfast at Punchy's Diner in Concord, NC. A former motorcycle riding buddy (still a buddy, though we just don't get to ride anymore due to distance) rode his Victory Motorcycle there) and we enjoyed a good breakfast at one of my favorite places for same. Always some interesting cars (such as this Cobra) drop by, and there are some trikes to be seen in the background (as there are always a number of bikes there).
Trip was a great time, had a good weekend in North Carolina and fantastic weather. I will be back in the near future for another visit.    

Kings Dominion (September 21, 2013)

Made a trip with Kaye to Kings Dominion on September 21, fun place and the day was wonderful to check out some of the sights. It was a work related event (work paid for it) and started as usual with a trip up the replica of this structure in France. Very cool thing, was told it took 15,000 bolts to put together, is a 1/3 replica, and was built when the park first opened in 1974. I have been on its sister in Ohio (at Kings Island) but very nice views from the top. I actually got up there twice, first time with Kaye, second with Kaye and some friends (we met there...its sort of easy to find).   

 This is one of the views from up there, big orange ride is The Intimidator 305, which is how tall that is. Very cool ride, though did not get to ride it this trip (did on other visits. We did get to ride quite a few rides while there, but had to get to another event in the mid afternoon - plus there was a good chance of rain -and the skies did unload later in the afternoon with some very badly needed rainfall ! We though were dry during the visit. Lots of fun places to see there, and the park was getting ready for their Halloween event coming up, so a lot of cool things to see all over the area. In this area the State Fair will be held next week. 

I also did not get to ride this ride, but did think it was very cool. Park got pretty crowded as the day went on, and of course as noted time was not on my side.
We did go to Kaye's grandson's little league game where the rains also held off. All in all, it was a very fine day, and we had a wonderful time.
Next weekend I am making a return trip to Carolina, so will have a few photos of that trip in my next post here. Looking forward to a fine time, have not been there in a few weeks, used to live there, though finding more and more that Richmond is a very fun and interesting place. I am planning right now to stay here for the rest of my life, though that may change as time goes on, but that is my intention as of now.
Hope you are enjoying these posts and that you can visit again soon.

Fun Day in the RVA (September 14. 2013)

Some days are just very good days....this Saturday was one of them. Took a walk (not far) with Kaye to the Forest Hill Art Fair, this was taken early (tends to get REALLY crowded soon after opening)  but got to see some neat things, and also enjoy some good food and music while I was there. Have been going the last few years and it is really a good time on a wonderful day. This was one in that the temperature and humidity were both down from previous years. I enjoy seeing what talented people can do on a number of fronts, and this was a very good time!  

Kaye and I got the motorcycles and headed up the road after the art fair to Hanover County Airport to see the B-17 which was there. We actually got the first look at it in the air over Richmond - they were giving flights in the plane (though at a cost of $450) but it was very cool to get to check this out and see this piece of history flying once again. It is a rare thing, only a handful of B-17's out of the thousands built are still flying. The airport was also really nice and there were a lot of support items there as well from WW2. I have a few photos of those on my Photo Page and also Racing with the Wind blog.     

Finally, we got down the road and headed to nearby Ashland, VA. Stopped for some refreshment there, and also took a quick look around this very interesting town. There is a lot to see and do in the Ashland area, and that included some great roads that Kaye knew about, and we got a good ride in down some "country" roads past some really cool houses and farms. Nice to get off the highways and enjoy some better ways to get around.
From Ashland we rode back to Richmond, and put the bikes away after watching a little league game at the end of the ride. It was a pretty interesting day!

Sunday in the RVA (September 8, 2013)

 Went out with some friends from work on Sunday, saw this guy riding on the water using a water pump on the jet ski....have seen this sort of thing in You Tube videos...its a new sort of thing out there, first time to see it in Richmond. Seemed to be getting the hang of it, and was a really wild thing. Was fun to watch, and a very interesting way to fly.

View of the  James River from Rocketts Landing in Richmond, the beige building is The Boathouse (a restaurant) and that is downtown Richmond in the background it was a beautiful day.

Here is The Trogone Band, playing in Forest Hill Park on Sunday night. They have a number of free concerts there, with various bands, and have seen some great concerts there. Fun to do that, and a good end to the weekend when the weather is good.

From the Motorcycle Ride (September 7, 2013)

 Made a ride with Kaye on a beautiful Saturday in the RVA. Finally think that the oil leak on the bike has been fixed (thanks Ultimate Cycle, RVA) and we made a stop at Steel Horse Harley Davidson. Lots of cool bikes on display there plus food and a band....nice thing to check out. Used to love to visit those events in Carolina, fun to go to one here in the Richmond area. Steel Horse is located on Hull Street and had a good time checking out the sounds and the sights there. Soon we were riding again down 288 toward Short Pump - had a good place in mind to eat.  

Stopped at Buz and Ned's Real BBQ for lunch, one of my favorite places to eat on The Boulevard they opened this new and much bigger place just a while back. Had a great lunch there, though there is a lot of good BBQ in this city, I prefer Buz and Ned's. Wild riding in Short Pump as it is a huge shopping area and one of the busiest roads in the Richmond area, but sure a lot of things to see there. Some of the largest malls in Richmond can be found there, and its a good area to pay real close attention to your driving. Those we got there via 288 you can also get to Short Pump via Broad Street which runs though downtown Richmond.  

Went to a car show at Quaker Steak and Lube. Neat place in that I used to be at the one (its a chain) in Concord, NC - they had some of the most amazing Bike Nights I have ever been too. Told they are also pretty good here in Richmond (though have not made one...yet). We saw they had a car show and we turned out (were heading out of the area following lunch and rode back). I have some more photos on my "Racing with the Wind" page, but liked the doors on this car. Remarkable what people can do to their automobiles and just thought this was worth a photo.   

They also had some classic older cars, it was a pretty good car show. Had a good crowd there, and also a number of very interesting motorcycles on display as well. It was a very good ride and had a great time.
For the day, covered on the order of 100 miles and we had a great time on the bikes. Been awhile since I have been able to do that, and sure enjoyed being out on my bike (and having Kaye on hers) and looking very forward to the next ride in the area. Fall is coming and that means some of the best motorcycling of the year is not very far away!