Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/763593
27 www.thunderpress.net THUNDER PRESS nJanuary 2017n Atlantic City, NJ York, PA Morgantown, WV Chillicothe, OH Bloomington, IN Cape Girardeau, MO Springfield, MO KS records and fi ll the pages of history books with daring stories and bold headlines for future generations. The Motorcycle Cannonball is clearly the stuff of legend. Never before have 100-year-old machines of any kind made the jour- ney across the United States under their own power so it was with great expectation and high hopes that entrants from as far away as Japan, Germany, Poland, Scotland, England, Italy, South Africa and Australia joined American and Canadian riders to make the expedition from the Atlantic to the Pacifi c shores over the course of 16 days, with just one day of rest. When founder Lonnie Isam Jr. fi rst organized the Motorcycle Cannonball he had imagined it to be a mellow ride with friends on ancient iron. He saw it as a gentlemen's ride, an adventure among honorable riders with integrity who embraced the spirit of keeping true antiques on the road. Lonnie wanted to honor his friend Bud Ekins who initially planted the seed of adventure from whence the Cannonball was born as well as men like Steve McQueen, who he'd met as a kid when he came to visit his father and friend Steven Wright, a book author who organized an antique ride in California each year. These were men who not just collected old motor- cycles but also rode the time machines and took the time to keep the ancient iron roadworthy. As this year's rider # 12, Isam himself added to the lore of the 2016 Cannonball. Livin' the dream In 2010, during the fi rst MC, Lonnie sold his personal bike to fund the run so he never got to participate in the Cannonball on a teens bike like he'd dreamt. For the Race of the Century, however, he had a different motivation. Diagnosed with a can- cerous brain tumor in 2014, Lonnie's goal to ride with the pack was realized this year when he bought back his 1915 Harley-Davidson, which had sat See "Cannonball," page 28, column1 Dave Volnek, a Nebraska farmer and two-time Cannonball rider, was pretty used to rain gear by the time he made it to Williams, Arizona UK native Mike Wild was a returning Cannonball rider who was having the time of his life out on the back roads of America Start