Harley Davidson Forums - Father/Son Trip

My son Joey & I left Charlotte Tuesday, July15 morning just after 6:00am, headed for Nashville. It was pretty cool that morning, Joey put on the jacket from his rain gear at the first stop. We had lunch in Cookeville, TN and made it to Nashville a little after 2:00pm. Spent some time in the pool at the motel to cool off. Then we went to the Tuesday night broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry. Man, what a show that was. Playing that night was Pam Tillis, Jewel, Darius Rucker, Lorrie Morgan, Bill Anderson, Cherryholmes ( a great Bluegrass band ) and Charlie Daniels. We had a great time.

Wednesday we toured the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Lots to see there. It's in a great building, very fan friendly. After we left the museum we headed south to Murfreesboro for the night.

Thursday it was off to the Jack Daniel's distillery. Pretty interesting place. Although it's in a dry county they are allowed to sell commemorative bottles so we brought one back. From Lynchburg we travelled west on highway 64 to Memphis.

Friday we visited Graceland. There is more to see there than I thought. The house is on one side of the street but there are several museums dedicated to Elvis' military time, his cars, his costumes, etc. across the street. One of the quotes we saw that was Joey's favorite was "Before anyone did anything, Elvis did everything". After the Graceland tour we headed to Tupelo, MS and Elvis' birth place. We didn't spend much time there, not a lot to see really. It's a small white frame house, very similar to the mill houses in Belmont. From Tupelo we continued on down highway 78 to Birmingham, AL.

Saturday morning we went to the Barber Vintage Motorsports Museum. This place is amazing. It's filled primarily with motorcycles but there are also many vintage race cars there as well. One of the security people told us they have over 500 motorcycles in storage awaiting restoration or just a space to be displayed. There are plans to expand the building. From Birmingham we travelled to Commerce, GA for the night. On Sunday we made the final trip on to home arriving about 1:00pm.

The trip was not without "adventure" though. On Tuesday on the way to Nashville, Joey was having trouble down shifting. After trying to get the free play adjustment set correctly a few times along the way we decided to take his Sportster in to the local dealer Wednesday morning, 5 miles away. There was an issue with the main clutch adjuster lock nut and the clutch was smoked. The service department replaced the clutch and had us back on the road in 3.5 hours.

Wednesday as we were pulling into Murfreesboro, Joey broke a throttle cable. The good part was it was the return / idle cable so he was still able to ride it. The closest dealer was 3.5 miles away and after 1.5 hours the next morning we were on the way to Lynchburg. H-D's dealer network is outstanding. If you're a traveller in trouble they take care of you.

Then on Thursday evening the pin where the kickstand spring attaches broke off the frame. But that's why we carry a bungee cord, right? That got us all the way home.

Even with the repairs and short delays it was a trip we will always remember.