Natchez Trace Parkway

Vicksburg, Miss. - Natchez, Miss

Yesterday, we finished up a great day in Vicksburg with a wonderful stay at a Hampton Inn.  We enjoyed "happy hour" which meant Rex found some beer that he liked....and it was on the house, along with some wonderful chips and dip.  We had such a nice time we decided to order in and had a Domino pizza.  Yippee.  We had a great route all planned out for getting onto the Natchez Trace, which has been from the start one of the primary goals of the trip, i.e. to ride the Natchez Trace.  You should do a little searching to understand the significance of this trail.  Anyway, we got off with a 7:00 AM sharp departure and made good time heading out of town, although the traffic was a little heavy with lots of cars/people heading to work.  As we made our way out of town we came upon our first obstacle of the day, which was similar to several other obstacles we have encountered to date............."Detour - local traffic only"........but would we learn from our past mistakes.......................no, of course not..............we all agreed to proceed down the road and figured we could find a way around the problem.  As luck would have it after about 2 miles down the road we came upon a gas station lady, who in her best southern charm......Ha........told us the bridge was out.....no way around except to go back and  follow the detour signs........"dumb guys from California."  Anyway we went back and it was not as bad a return trip as we thought it was going to be and we were back on schedule in no time.  We followed State Highway 61 down to Port Gibson without any problem.  For some reason when we got to Port Gibson, David went into "let's stop and take a picture every 50 yards......first a motel,.........then a Sonic............he said he was nostalgic from his prior trip to Port Gibson.........It was early in the day and he was not delirious.....must be a story someplace that needs to be explained.  Anyway, we got on the Natchez Trace and for the next 40+ miles we had thoroughly enjoyable journey.  The Trace is a National Park and as such no commercial vehicles are allowed and it was basically 40 miles of smooth riding.  Lots of moss on the trees, with a good portion of the road covered with a tree canopy.  Truly amazing and the highlight from a riding standpoint of our trip.  Can't figure out why we had to ride 1,400 miles to get to this point.  Next time I figure we fly into Nashville, TN and start there and take the Trace down.  We are in Natchez, Miss staying at a another Hampton Inn.  Just finished dinner at an exclusive little restaurant withing walking distance of the hotel.....called Jugheads.  Advertising Fish and More.  Including alligator.  Got to luv these southern upscale restaurants.

And now without further ado, here's David with the facts......and just the facts...

Fact nr 1.  This is the fourth time we have encountered washed out bridges in Miss.  The floods did them in this spring. 
Miles today:  82.
Avg. mph today:  11
Total miles:  1423
Daily Avg. miles:  65
But we got to the Natchez Trace:  300 yrs of history up and down this road from Natchez to Nashville.  The Mississippian Indian Tribes, the more modern Choctaw, the Spanish, American settlers and travelers, Gen. Jacksons Army and others.  It is a very close place and the history is still there. 
Tomorrow over to McComb, Miss.  Will be lots of long hills like this a.m.  Once there we can turn South and find New Orleans in a couple of days.  McComb is West of here.  We go up Hwy 84 about 30miles, turn onto Hwy 98 then 570 at Smithdale and into Summit  then McComb for those who like to follow step by step.  We load up on lots of water and snacks in the a.m. because there are often no stores when we need them.  Wish us luck...........