Thanks Rich.

Speaking as another old guy, I love your stories! Keep 'em coming, appropriate or not.

Congratulations to you both! That's a ton of miles!

Thanks Bill! He wasn't at all afraid of me, made no effort to retreat inside his shell, and I kept clear of him.

Jeff: they were booked up. I looked at them after your suggestion, then I remembered I had looked at them when I was first planning the trip. Not 100% sure as I'm typing this in a hurry, but I think they required a 2-day minimum stay on weekends also.

Just curious - any reason you didn't stay in "downtown" Grand Rivers? You even had to backtrack the next day to cross the river, which you wouldn't have had to do if you stayed at the Grand Rivers Inn.

I hope that place isn't closed, or otherwise problematic now. I ride down and stay there overnight a few times every year.

Snapping turtle. They can get really big... something like over 70 pounds! I have seen some big ones, but not 70 pounds! Just keep clear of the bitey end.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_snapping_turtle

I used to run by a horse farm on a regular basis, and the horses would always watch me intently as I went by. I always imagined them thinking “Man, you look pathetic doing that. We are so much better at running than you are.” I wonder if they would have any more respect for a human on a bike?

Great stream-of-conciousness post! You're in the running to be the William Faulkner of bike journal writing!

There are actually three places with services on the the road through the LBL: A couple of welcome stations, and a larger Visitor Center. The Visitor Center has snacks as I recall. It's worth checking out anyway because of some interesting displays, if you're into that kind of thing.

https://landbetweenthelakes.us/visit/visitor-center/

Be very careful on the Trace as you approach the Jackson metroplex area and the Tupelo area. Tupelo was the worst for me. Try to time it to avoid rush hour traffic of course, but even then the normal daytime traffic can be tough. I don't have much to offer here, but maybe if you could stay overnight 10-15 miles prior to these areas and then make a very early morning start (like be rolling at 5:30 am) you might avoid the craziness. Entering Tupelo was one of the worst traffic experiences I have ever had - maybe mid-afternoon on a Saturday is just bad timing, but I suspect it's always bad.

I've been taking notes and will include suggestions for others in an epilogue to this journal. I really wish someone had told me the things I know now, so I will try to pass them along. I'm not yet far enough along to know how the post-Trace riding will be. But I can tell you that it's a bit of a shock to leave the tranquility of the Trace and get back on normal highways.

Thanks for this. We started the route a week ago and ran into the same problems in Louisiana. Accommodation is ridiculously overpriced and scarce and most of it is endless industrial sprawl filled with speeding trucks on their way to refineries and petchem plants. I have no idea why ACA would consider this stretch a worthwhile addition to any cycling route. The scenery doesn’t get interesting until Jackson, LA and then, as you said, it’s an intense slug to Natchez with very few services and no accommodation. We will have to finish in Tupelo for now, but would love to hear from you whether you think it’s worth doing the route after the Trace.

Good luck tomorrow! (which I guess is today)

Whew! No more needed mental energy on the bridge issue. Steady and sure is the way to go tomorrow.

There have been an extraordinary number of praying manti in the roads at home the last week or so. I can't remember seeing so many. Are they attracted to the heat of the pavement? Surely this has happened in previous years, but I can't remember seeing them.