Grand Coddiwomple Challenge

[RandyShields]

This Spring, I signed up to participate in the MOA's Grand Coddiwomple Challenge -- a scavenger hunt of sorts tied to riding ("Saddle Up And Ride") and the Great Falls-based national rally last month.  There are a a number of  different categories to photo shoot with your entry flag and motorcycle, but all are based on some sort of "Falls" -- from the real thing to say, "Military Falls," where some battle or conflict took place.  A few riding friends and I eagerly started gathering points this spring, but by the heat of this summer, they have lost interest or moved to other challenges (like the national parks challenge).  For me, I am still at it, and went out again today -- 340 miles in the steamy southern heat, dodging erupting thunderstorms and distracted drivers.  Here is photo evidence of my first item of the day -- a NC historical marker of the nearby battle of King's Mountain, just over the border in SC.  I can't tell you how much fun it has been to plan out a ride and gather these qualifying items from NC and SC.  And, I have learned a lot about the activities in these parts for both the Revolutionary War and the Civil War.  I need to go queue up Ken Burn's Civil War again.  

[Lowndes]

Go Get'em Randy!!  

 

I've driven past that mountain many times and tried to visualize what happened there so long ago.  The Loyalists and the Patriots were in the wilderness and a LONG way from home.  If you were hit with one of these old smothebore musket balls of 3/4" diameter or a Kentucky Longrifle of 45 caliber, you had your arm or leg sawed off with NO anesthesia.  A torso hit was worse.  What motivated these guys to stand in formation in a field and shoot at each other, charge up a mountain at a superior force, or even leave home and walk from Tennessee to South Carolina??  Through the wilderness??

 

Lest we forget.

 

In The Winning of the West, Theodore Roosevelt wrote of Kings Mountain, "This brilliant victory marked the turning point of the American Revolution." Thomas Jefferson called it "The turn of the tide of success".