I am home from a great ride.
The purpose of this tour was to ride the Natchez Trace and what a great place to ride a bicycle. Also for me to finish riding in all 50 states.
We (David my riding partner and I) drove from Minneapolis, MN to St. Louis, MO where we started our tour riding through the following states on our way back to St. Louis, MO - (the states in bold were new for me) Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and back to Missouri.
We started riding the Natchez Trace at Nashville, TN and finished at Natchez, MS. The Trace is 442 miles long. The section through Jackson, Mississippi has been recently finished so now the whole Trace can be ridden without going through the streets of this town. There are no signals, no stop signs, no shoulders, no billboards, no commercial vehicles, light traffic, speed limit 40 to 50 MPH, no litter (there is more litter on two blocks of most cities than there was in the 442 miles of the Trace.) There is very limited cross traffic and we always had the right of way. To find food or places to stay we had to get off the Trace as there no commercial places on the Trace.
History - what was The Natchez Trace? The answer dates back to the late 1700s and early 1800s. Enterprising men in places upstream, like Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, would load rafts with merchandise and float them down stream. They followed rivers such as the Ohio to the Mississippi. Continuing downstream on Ole Miss, the rafters would find a port where their merchandise was needed. They'd off load the cargo, sell the raft's timbers for home building, buy a horse and ride back north so they could repeat the scenario. Natchez was a popular end point for many of them. The roadway on which they began their journey back north was none other than The Natchez Trace.
Initially, The Trace, as many early roadways were called, was a path beaten down by Native Americans, followed by French and Spanish settlers. However, traveling via The Trace was not without its trials. Unfriendly Indians, bands of thieves, floods, thigh-deep mud, disease bearing insects and few amenities were all possibilities if not probabilities along this "super highway." Then, with the introduction of steamboats, circa 1812, transportation methods changed, and The Trace fell into disuse.
The United States government saw merit in preserving this history and in the late thirties began construction of the highway, as we now know it.
Paralleling the roadway are nicely manicured grassy areas extending in places several hundred feet to stands of coniferous and deciduous trees. Additionally, many points of interest pop up along the way with placards explaining various aspects of the area's history. It's surely not one long grind to get over with as quickly as possible.
You will see segments of the original Natchez Trace, an original house, Indian mounds, the grave site of thirteen unknown Confederate soldiers, a cypress swamp, meandering streams, waterfalls, modest rivers like the Duck, huge rivers like the Tennessee and the Tenn - Tombigbee Waterway, farm land, French Camp (where sorghum is made in the Fall), miles of trees, wild flowers and flowering shrubs, the delightful fragrance of honeysuckle and (on Saturday and Sunday afternoons) the heavenly bodies sun bathing on the beaches of enormous Ross Barnett Reservoir.
We had unbelievable great weather, getting wet only for 10 miles one day and we were dry by the time we got in for the day. Hurricane "Ike" was just to the west of us. On the Sunday that it was through our area it rained until 11 AM at which time we headed out for our next overnight. We made it without getting wet and the wind was not a problem. The wind could have been a problem but our route on this day was along a river which had shelter on our right side, which blocked the wind. When I looked up into the sky I could see the clouds just flying overhead.
Crossing over from Natchez, MS into Louisiana, David picked a variety of roads that turned out to be wonderful. How he does it is a mystery to me. When there was traffic we had a shoulder to ride on and when there was no shoulder the traffic was light. It got a little hilly as we rode through the Ozarks. As always we rode through many small towns, avoiding the big ones for the most part.
By the way I had the only flat tire of the tour, which happened 0.09 miles from the start. There were no other problems. We averaged 74 miles per day with the longest day being 110 miles. I can't tell you how many "all you can eat" buffet we ate at but is was a lot. They did not make money on us. For the most part the temperature was good - cool mornings and warm afternoons. Towards the end it was cold mornings to start, meaning 39 degrees, but reached into the high 60's by mid-day. We were able to get 5 days ahead of our plan which gave us plenty of time for WV. I was a little worried that if the weather had been bad we would have lost days leaving no time for WV. it was a great ride - life is good.
This was our route, we started in St. Louis, MO. (Date - Overnight - Miles - point of interest)
- Sep 09 - Genevieve, MO - 75 (got the only flat of the tour at 0.09 miles)
- Sep 10 - Murphysboro, IL - 70 (rode thru Chester, IL home of Popeye)
- Sep 11 - Vienna, IL - 61 (lunch at Delaney’s, free dessert for Cyclist)
- Sep 12 - Grand River, KY - 70 ( mile long grated bridge over the Ohio River into Paducah, KY was no fun)
- Sep 13 - Dover, TN, - 66 (rode “Land Between The Lakes” - be sure to have food with you)
- Sep 14 - Erin, TN - 41 (hurricane Ike, was just west of us)
- Sep 15 - Nashville, TN - 81 (tomorrow we start the Natchez Trace)
- Sep 16 - Hohewald, TN - 84 (just off the Trace is Fall Hollow, a great place to spend the night)
- Sep 17 - Florence, AL - 84 (talked David into going into town for ice cream, they closed at 5:30 PM, we missed it)
- Sep 18 - Tupelo, MS - 100 (we were warned to take care in Tupelo and Jackson, MS)
- Sep 19 - Mathiston, MS - 74 (only day of the tour that we got wet, dry by the time we were in)
- Sep 20 - Kosciusko, MS - 67 (a must stop, “France Camp” on the Trace)
- Sep 21 Clinton, MS - 87 (avoided Jackson by staying in Clinton)
- Sep 22 Natchez, MS - 110 (only motel in Port Gibson was full, rode on to Natchez)
- Sep 23 Winnsburo, LA - 69 (after so many peaceful miles we are now back on highways)
- Sep 24 Bastrop, LA - 62 (this part of the country sure is flat)
- Sep 25 Monticello, AR - 73 (starting to get a little hilly)
- Sep 26 DeWitt, AR - 78 (only motel in town all smoking, but nice town)
- Sep 27 Brinkley, AR - 72 (breakfast in St. Charles, all you can eat $5.99)
- Sep 28 Newport, AR - 78 (there were 14 police cars at our motel, training session)
- Sep 29 - Pocahontas, AR - 81 (getting back into hills, must be getting close to the Ozark’s)
- Sep 30 - Doniphan, MO - 51 (yes, we are getting into the Ozark’s)
- Oct 01 - Piedmont, MO - 69 (dinner at “Gooch’s, ribs, smoked potato, beans, dessert Funky Monkey - very good)
- Oct 02 - Farmington, MO - 75 (it sure is pretty conutry)
- Oct 03 - St. Louis, MO - 73 (got in car and headed for WV)
