I had not really planned it, with temperatures in the 40's, but under sunny skies, and well dressed for the ride, took a quick run out to Kannapolis, NC. I love those Sunday morning rides-interesting quote I remember reading applies" I would rather be on my motorcycle, thinking about God instead of in church, thinking about my motorcycle". Came across this in what was the former Cannon Village (now part of the NC Research Center) which is the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame. Closed on this Sunday, but worth a future visit. I believe this is pretty new though I had not been there for a while.
This is my Vulcan in front of the NC Research Center. Formerly in this area was Cannon Village (later Pillowtex) which was a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) complex of mills-some umpteen million square feet and employed thousands in its many buildings. The NC Research Center was built a few years ago-so far it has not been the big job creator that everyone hoped for in the Kannapolis area. It does remain a huge investment and hopefully the reality will someday match the promises. This is the largest building, there are others. It is designed to do bio-tech research and the facilities are absolutely first rate!
I took this photo at Cannon Village (at least that it what it used to be called). There are still a number of stores there, also some buildings for the research center, and even a first class restaurant in the area. From Spring to late Fall a first rate car show is held on some Saturday nights all along this street. On a cold Sunday its a quiet and quite nice place to enjoy a ride (and yeah I was parked when I took this photo). As I have noted did not make a huge ride on this day, and certainly went the slow way to get there and back. Speed adds to wind chill, but it sure was good to get out at least for a while on my very fine motorcycle. I enjoyed the ride!
Got a bit of riding news today when I got back to Virginia after a great long weekend in North Carolina. Saw that C. Todd Gilbert, a representative in the House of Delegates on January 11, 2012 introduced HB-187 which would ban motorcycle only police checkpoints. In North Carolina HB 381 which also bans motorcycle only police checkpoints is already the law of the state. A couple of years ago, some friends and I were riding to a bike shop in Salisbury, NC and we came across one to "check that our helmets were DOT approved". Luckily we all were wearing "legal" helmets, and also had (which were required at the time) up to date inspection stickers. I thought that at the time it was just a witch hunt....(in fact seemed they also checked our licenses). We got off with little more than some lost time, but glad the NC bill is law, and also hopefully the bill will pass for my brothers and sisters who ride in Virginia. If you ride in Virginia, a letter to the House of Delegates or a call in support would not be a bad thing to do!
No comments:
Post a Comment