MC Cannonball Plus
Day 1
Old Iron on the Skyway
Day 2
Cannonball, Canyon, Cave
Day 3
Aquarium Day
Day 4
A Little More Dixie
I ate breakfast at a true Nashville institution then followed the Dixie Highway to Elizabethtown, Kentucky. I stopped at one museum for the first time and another for the somethingth time.
September 15, 2010 (day 3)
Today was my day to finally check out the Tennessee Aquarium but first I
fortified myself at a wonderfully quirky restaurant. With the aquarium
visit completed by mid-afternoon, I decided to take the longer way home
and headed up US-41 and US-41A to Nashville and the Bluebird.
September 14, 2010 (day 2)
I returned to Coker Tires to see the Cannonball resume then headed south
for an abbreviated look at a canyon. Back in Chattanooga, I managed to get
Ruby Falls on to my "been there" list.
September 13, 2010 (day 1)
Riders reached the Skyway a little earlier than I thought they would but I
got to see them all and photograph quite a few. Then I got to see them
standing still at the end of day stop in Chattanooga.
Prelude - September 3, 2010
I'm not sure how I learned of the upcoming
Motorcycle
Cannonball. It was back in March and I flagged it on my calendar just
in case. The full name is the "Pre-1916 Motorcycle Cannonball
Endurance Run". It is a sixteen-day coast-to-coast run of some very
old (catch that pre-1916 bit?) motorcycles that begins a week from today
in Kitty Hawk, NC. They'll end in Santa Monica, CA. The closest they come
to Cincinnati is somewhat less that 300 miles as they approach Chattanooga
on the beautiful Cherohala Skyway. In Chattanooga, the machines will be
on display at Coker
Tire while riders and crews enjoy dinner in the museum there. Coker
Tire is a Cannonball sponsor and owner Corky Coker will be participating
in the run on a 1908 Thor Single.
I've just started to get my plans together but I'll likely spend Sunday night in the area so I can check out the Skyway in the morning then watch the bikes come across it in the afternoon. I've driven it once but that was nearly four years ago and the details fade. I'll see what I can at Coker Tire in the evening and might hang around to watch Tuesday's departure. I've recently read some praise of the Little River Canyon Parkway which is about fifty miles south of Chattanooga. I may try to work that in and could finally make it to Ruby Falls and the Chattanooga Aquarium. Things are far from firm.