Just a couple of side notes. 

Technically the AM2901  can be wired an used as a universal shift register offering both parallel and serial loading along with parallel and serial outputs. It is strangely possible to operate to serial streams shifting in at the same time. You would only be able output one value in parallel at a time. The controlling for this would be slightly akward. It is also possible to work with with this chip as a up/down counter with preload. 

Doing either of these would be both expensiveand a waste of a more functional chip.