Took a ride on Saturday, September 15, first stop was in University City, NC which is the home to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (aka UNCC). Seen here very near completion is McColl-Richardson Field, the home to UNCC football. It cost some $47 million to build and will seat 15,000 (can be expanded to 40,000 seats). UNCC will have its first ever football game there on August 31, 2013. The campus is pretty impressive, over the last few years they have been on a massive (think I read over $500 million) building program, and the stadium is just one of the many additions of late.
Took this photo from the seat of the Vulcan, sitting on NC-29 that is a look at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC in the background. The track will be the site of one of the races in the Chase (as well as a Nationwide race) coming up in October. During the year three races (the October 500 mile race, the Coca-Cola 600 race earlier in the year as well as the NASCAR All-Star Race), and the area is home to most of the race teams. I have quite a few photos from the shops in earlier posts. There are quite a few events held at the track, and at the other tracks nearby...in fact a drag race event was held at nearby Z-Max Dragway over the weekend.
Finally, went to Concord Regional Airport (which is not far from the track) to see one of 13 remaining (out of 12,732 built during WWII) B-17's, which made a visit. Based on the B-17 Memphis Belle (which still exists, was brought back to the US during the war) this plane was flown in the movie (actual Memphis Belle is in non-flying condition). I am a big fan of flying and things that fly, and getting to see these remarkable historic aircraft is always a thrill for me. Wish I could fly on one of them, but at a cost of $425 a flight, that is a little steep for even me, but quite a few did get rides on the aircraft, and I am sure it was a remarkable thing.
Summer "officially" ends on September 22 this year, and I will not be back in town under after that date, so my next ride will be the first ride of fall 2012, and looking forward to that one. The ride was a short one, but a short ride is better than none at all, and did get to see some neat places and things during the ride, plus it was a great day to be out...not too hot, no humidity, and beautiful skies to ride under (and to gaze up at as well). Got to say that I will not miss summer too much - the heat was pretty close to brutal, and frankly I am looking forward to fall with some better riding conditions. Fall in North Carolina is a great and beautiful time to ride, and I plan to have some fun on motorcycles there, and some fun with motorcycles in the Richmond area this Fall.
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