Santa Claus — who seems to be very patriotic to the United States — was spotted riding a motorcycle eastbound on State Street in Bristol, Tennessee on Christmas Eve 2019 and apparently giving his reindeer some much-needed time off, foregoing Rudolph the Black Lunged Reindeer for a large shiny bright headlight.
Santa Claus Spotted on a Motorcycle in Bristol, Tennessee
What? You don’t know about Rudolph the Black Lunged Reindeer?!? Perhaps you never heard the first refrain of this now-famous Christmas classic?
Rudolph the Black Lunged Reindeer
Had a very bla-ack lung
And if you ever heard him (cough, cough)
You’d know why this song is sung
Then one smoggy Christmas Eve
Santa choked and coughed
The pollution was so bad that the reindeer
Could not get the sleigh aloft
Well, I thankfully did not hear Santa Claus coughing from the exhaust of his loud motorcycle — but I digress.
How do I know that Santa Claus was in Bristol, Tennessee and not Bristol, Virginia? That’s easy.
Small plaques — which are embedded in between the double yellow lines in the middle of the street — designate which side of State Street is in Tennessee…
…and which side of State Street is in Virginia.
Can you spot one of those plaques in the middle of the street in the photograph shown above?
No?
How about now, in the photograph shown above?
Another way to tell whether you are in Tennessee or Virginia is by the street signs which hang overhead.
The designation of TN means that the street is located in Tennessee; whereas the designation of VA means that the street is located in Virginia.
Yet another way to tell whether you are in Tennessee or Virginia is by the unique welcome signs. A giant guitar greets visitors to Bristol, Tennessee…
…while a fancier but smaller sign welcomes visitors to Bristol, Virginia.
This large sign is yet another of many ways of informing in which state you are located.
Summary
Like State Line Road in Kansas City, Kansas and Kansas City, Missouri, State Street in Bristol, Tennessee and Bristol, Virginia is a rare opportunity to be in two cities with identical names which are located in two separate states.
I intend to add more information and photographs to this article; so please revisit it within the next few days.
All photographs ©2019 by Brian Cohen.
