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THE HARLEY ’ S EXHAUST NOTE thundered off the walls of Cumberland Gap Tunnel , reverberating through my body and deep within my chest . Emerging from the darkness to daylight on the Kentucky side , the Ohio Valley lay before me , nestled in the shadow of the Appalachian Mountains . My wheels traced the White Lightning Trail — mountain hollows and back roads where good ol ' boys transported illegal , untaxed corn liquor in their soupedup Ford , Mercury or Lincoln V-8s , trying to outrun the “ revenuers ,” government agents who aimed to arrest them and confiscate their cargo . By the middle of last century , the route had become known as “ Thunder Road ,” named for the roar of the bootleggers ’ highly modified cars . Robert Mitchum ’ s 1958 film of the same name helped immortalize moonshinin ’ in popular culture :
“ Roaring out of Harlan ; revving up his mill He shot the Gap at Cumberland and screamed by Maynardville . With G-men on his taillights , roadblocks up ahead , The mountain boy took roads that even angels feared to tread .”
- from “ The Ballad of Thunder Road ”