Two Rides in July (July 3 and 7, 2015)

From the previous ride, I did some work on the motorcycle.  As a sort of test ride on Friday July 3 rode around the Richmond area. Not a lot of big miles but did go to some nice areas such as being on Grace Street here at left. A lot of old and very cool houses can be found there. I also rode around the Rocketts Landing
The ride was around some 30 miles, and I had zero problems with the Vulcan. I was concerned about the weather forecast for the day and in fact at the fireworks later that evening watched them under an umbrella while standing in the rain. However, it was a nice celebration of the Fourth of July in Richmond...a day early.

On July 7, a ride to Yorktown Beach. This is one of my favorite places to go to. Took the ride there via Route 5 which is a two lane road from Richmond with a lot of curves, tree lined sections, and best of all no traffic backups. Learning that riding anyplace on I-64 toward Williamsburg often means huge backups and stop and go traffic. Route 5 has none of those.
Rode past a number of Civil War Battlefields, Plantations, and then up the beautiful Colonial Parkway past a Revolutionary War battlefield to Yorktown Beach. Walked around a bit, seeing the beach, some shops, a few historic buildings and sights and stopped in the Yorktown Pub.

On the way back, again via Route 5 passed through Williamsburg after a bit longer ride on the Colonial Parkway (that is a great road)  where I stopped at the College of William and Mary there. While there saw this building which just happens to be the oldest college building in the US. Still in use and has been since the 1600's. That to me is remarkable, but there is a lot of that sort of thing in Virginia. As noted also saw some buildings from the 1700's in Yorktown  and there is a building that old in Richmond for that matter. A lot of history can be found in this state. At any case got back after being out some five hours (riding and walking around areas of interest) and a total of 158 miles of riding. It was a hot day at the end, but a good day for a ride. Much better than the previous trip this year which put me via I-64 in a number of traffic jams. Currently on vacation which is in this period of these two rides and will be doing some more while I have the time off with some more upcoming rides planned.