Last ride of "Winter"

Enjoyed the best ride of the year (weather wise) on March 17 (St. Patrick's Day). Temperatures in the 80's and blue skies made for a great ride to Charlotte. Photo seen here is the Duke Power Building, which stands tall in the background in front of my Kawasaki Vulcan. I find what is known as "Uptown Charlotte" a very interesting city which always seems to have a lot going on. There was a big crowd downtown for the day which celebrates all things Irish-and it was a lot of fun to see it all.
Charlotte has a lot to offer with an interesting city, and some really fun neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city-it is many different cities. For St. Patrick's Day it was packed pretty much wall to wall and the bars had people standing in the outside areas like sardines. It was both fun and funny to check it all out (and I have a photo of one crowd scene on my "Richmond and Me" page). Nothing like a great motorcycle ride on a beautiful day, and this certainly filled the bill. It had been a while since I had been on the bike-too long in fact.

  Above photo was taken directly across from Bank of America Stadium, and I took the photo at left of one of the "big cats" that flank the entrances to the big complex. With my son, have spent many happy hours inside the stadium; nice to have the NFL so nearby, as well as many other sports in the area. Charlotte is a really good sports town.
As for the motorcycles, it is really good for that, and there were a slew of riders out enjoying the weather during the day. They were riding a great variety of motorcycles and everyone had some huge grins on their faces.
I roared into Charlotte via I-85 (which is getting some serious road construction between Concord and University), but took a calmer route back via NC-29. I like that, as it runs me through University City and to NC-49 past the University of North Carolina. Ride lasted a few hours, and was a really great time. I got back home in the early afternoon.

  Sunday was overcast most of the day, and looked like rain until later in the day, the dark clouds broke, and I once again got out on the bike. Ride was shorter than the day before, but did stop to take this photo of Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. The big race track will be jumping with two events coming up in May: the All-Star Race first, followed the following week by the Coca-Cola 600. Like with Bank of America Stadium, have spent some remarkable hours in that facility watching some great racing.
I have a few upcoming events and items of note in VA and NC motorcycling that I will be sharing in my next post. Be sure to ride safe!