Out, Out, Out, Up, Up, Up and Away!

Friday, October 16th, 2015



Carolina Balloon Fest

I had suggested the ride to the Carolina Balloon feast early in the week, and I didn't know the nostalgia and interest it would bring out in my favorite riding partner, Kasey. So we had to go! Even though the weather would be cooler, and the only chance we would have to go would be the Friday Night Kick Off, which meant we wouldn't see all the balloons take flight.

We headed north on Central Avenue, or 200 out of Locust, North Carolina. After a few miles, we took a right at Mount Pleasant Road, and the a left on Best Cut Off Road. Got to love the titles of the roads down here! The sun was out, and it felt great. We knew the clear skies would bring cooler temperatures when the sun went down. We have found that living here is kind of like the desert, warm, sunny days, and clear skied nights bring lower numbers.

The best Cut Off doesn't last long, and we made another turn onto Cold Springs Road, which at some point becomes Irish Potato Rode. I think I could write a book on the origins of these names. Eventually we rolled over I-85 on Old Beatty Road, and continued to State Roads 153 and 152.

Our next turn would be to veer onto US 21, which would take us over the other major highway around Charlotte, I-77. This brought us into Statesville, where we tried to look for a place to eat some dinner before lining up for the festival. We pulled into the parking lot of a couple of places, but neither looked like a place we wanted to eat. We decided to bite the bullet and just eat at the festival.

It wasn't long after that, on our way to the Statesville Airport, that everything would come to a grinding halt. We would find there was only one lane into the parking area for the festival, and it would receive traffic from three or four other sources before we would get there. It took us over an hour to move the less than four miles. We thought about giving up a few times and turning back, but dammit, I was going to take my girl to see hot air balloons!

Finally we made it into the parking area, and was guided along a dirt and gravel road, and then across the grass to the motorcycle parking area, right near one of the main entrances. Since I had been "walking" the bike for the past hour or two, it was nice not to have to walk too far to get in. A bathroom stop was first on the list.

We walked around the exhibits and displays, passed the stage, and then to the food court to fill our tummies. While we sat and ate, joined by a couple of families of strangers that we had more than a pleasant time with, the balloons began to rise into the sky.



The sun, Yoda and Darth Vader inflated, but did not fly off into the sky, so the photos are kind of lame. I'm trying to take more pictures, and I hope these are satisfactory, I had a few that I liked!

It was still kind of light as we headed out, but the air was getting cooler already. I had my liner in my jacket, and Kasey had the rest of the liners under her's. We tried to find the best way to exit, staying on grass instead of the rocky dirt, but a big bump bounced Kasey nearly out of her seat! Those that were watching looked concerned at first, but then laughed along with my partner.

Leaving the one lane stretch was as bad as coming in, but at least they began using both lanes as one way out. We had to take little different route back out and into Statesville. We stopped a gas station for Kasey to the bathroom, and I think we were in a bit of the hood. Everyone seemed friendly, but with it dark, and I'm ignorant of North Carolina, I felt uneasy.

We headed back out, and still was not out of the traffic yet. They really need to work on that! For the first part of the trek, US 70 would serve as our route home. We got a bit of a warm up riding through Statesville, but then back out into the country side, tree lined, and cooler roads.

Faith Road, or State Road 1006 carried us a lot of the way south to home. Each mile that ticked away was another miles that Kasey got colder. I was doing alright, but could feel the cool are roll over my legs and down the back of my neck. My left thumb was kept warm from flipping back and forth from low beam to high beam.

The road turned into Mount Pleasant, and we had returned to roads that we started the journey. Along Mount Pleasant we cross 200 North again. The rest of Mount Pleasant Road has been closed since we have been here. We headed south, and onto home. For a trip to see Hot Air, it ended pretty cool.


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