Following the “kickoff” BBQ at Reynolds Lake Oconee NCRS SE road tour, participants left early Monday morning July 8 for Andersonville, GA, for a visit to the Wars Museum, stockade and cemetery. From there it was off to lunch at the Main Street Grill in nearby Ellaville, GA. After lunch, we headed to Warm Springs, GA, for a visit to the FDR Winter White House Museum and grounds.
After an overnight stay in LaGrange, GA, the 10-car Corvette caravan headed to Nashville, TN, where we attended a Grand Ole Opry performance.
The following day we traveled through the historic Civil War towns of Franklin, Columbia and Pulaski, TN, where we made stops and learned about Civil War history from Bob Ray, a local historian whose grandfather served in the Civil War. Lunch was at Puckett’s on Courthouse Square in Columbia, TN. After lunch, it was on to Clifton, TN, where we had dinner and overnight accommodations at two bed-and-breakfast locations on Pillow Street near the Tennessee River.
After leaving Clifton, TN, we made a short stop at the Minnie Pearl Museum in Centerville, TN, before a lengthy stop in the Bon Aqua, TN, area where we were treated to family stories by the nephew of Johnny Cash, Mark Cash. Mark also sang and played the guitar for our group at the historic Storytellers Museum. Then it was down the road about a mile to Johnny Cash’s farm, where we were given a personal tour by the current owner Brian Oxley, who was also responsible for restoring the Storytellers Museum.
Next stop was Sevierville, TN, for an overnight stay and a visit to the Floyd Garrett Muscle Car Museum. From there, it was through the North Carolina Mountains to Fletcher, NC, and a tour of the Sierra Nevada Brewery and a little beer tasting. Following the brewery tour, we headed into downtown Hendersonville, NC, for their Friday night “downtown hoedown” and car show. This event featured a live band and plenty of street dancing. We had reserved parking for our Corvettes next to the bandstand and a good time was had by all.
On Saturday, our last tour day, we traveled to Chimney Rock, NC, where we had a boat tour of Lake Lure and lunch at a hillside restaurant overlooking the lake. After lunch, we were invited to one of the tour participants’ homes and his collection of cars and automotive memorabilia. After relaxing a while on the back porch of this home which overlooks a 200-foot waterfall, we traveled to our “last night out” buffet dinner and awards ceremony. This event featured all 112 road tour participants from throughout the US and Canada.
Although everything we saw and did on this trip was enlightening and enjoyed by all, the highlights for me were the visit to Johnny Cash country and the Brian Cash performance, as well as the dinner and downtown event in Hendersonville.
The NCRS (National Corvette Restorers Society) is a nation-wide organization with thousands of members dedicated to the preservation of the Corvette. Each year the national convention is in a different US city and has an organized road tour from six to seven geographic locations throughout the U.S. and Canada which convene at the convention.