Morning in Charlotte brought the inevitable thrift store runs and a few old supermarket drive-bys. I didn’t take many pictures in Charlotte. I had this strange feeling I’d be back before too long.
I kept to my pure US 29 roots by taking North Tryon Street all the way out through Concord and Kannapolis, which for you trivia freaks was, until a few years back, one of the largest unincorporated urban areas in America, having been built as a mill village for Cannon Mills. There are lots of mill towns around Charlotte (and Greensboro, which is something of an oversized mill town itself). I find them a little fascinating.
I kept going through Salisbury and Lexington. This part of the trip was much more familiar to me. I was forced to get on the freeway for a few miles just outside Salisbury, as it had been built right on top of the old road.
Next came Thomasville (the Chair City) and High Point (where I found an amazingly preseved 1950s A&P still operating as an independent supermarket). I was almost home, and my last photo of the trip was of an old overpass between Greensboro and High Point which was legendary in my childhood. This is the one we told ghost stories about (this is a modified version of one).
Once back at Mom and Dad’s, I helped with some cleaning, we ate dinner, I ignored some email and did some work, and I spent a little more time bonding before my impending departure.