The Natchez Trace: Monday 4/20/15

High water has forced some changes in our trip, especially when it comes to landing and therefore bike routes. Many of the landings out tour guides used in past years are under water this year, forcing changes to plans. Day 3 was the first time it happened. We had to land at Vicksburg, MS and took a bus (the bikes rode a truck) to Port Gibson where out bike route began. There, we rode out of town for a few miles and turned on to the Natchez Trace. We've heard a lot about it from Caitlin and Will, who regularly bike the northern part of the trail. We completed about 30 miles of the southern most portion. The Natchez Trace began as a trail for people to walk back from Natchez to points north instead of taking boats up river before steam was used on the river. Now it is administered by the National Park Service, and it is beautiful: a nice, smooth, two lane (no shoulder), low traffic (commercial vehicles are prohibited) highway with controlled access or a few roads that cross that have to stop. We couldn't have

asked for a better day to bike. Our lunch stop along the way was at the Old Country Store in Lorman, MS. Absolutely great southern fried chicken and hospitality. We biked to our afternoon rest stop, an old "inn" along the way, waited for an hour for the bus to take us the rest of the way, and finally set out. After 5 minutes on the trail, we saw our bus go by on the opposite direction (they got a special permit to drive on it for that day) and at Marge's urging, we decided to turn around and head back. It was a beautiful ride, and someday, we'd like to ride the whole Trace!
I know I'm way behind on these posts, but I'll eventually get them done!