Mississippi No Longer On Author's Shitlist

April 17, 2015

Natchez State Park, Mississippi

I got an entire day off from rain today and was given a regular hot and humid Mississippi day instead. The first 34 miles into Natchez were pleasant enough, once I accepted the fact that the narrow, rumbled shoulders were here to stay. And the forests continued. I must admit, I was expecting cotton fields not forests.

I don't know what to say about this restaurant outside of Natchez except this: "11:00 a.m to 2:00 p.m are some pretty sweet working hours."

Natchez had a nice downtown area but overall it was like any other medium-sized city in America, and we can thank McDonald's, Pizza Hut, Wal-Mart, et. al. for that.

Being a sucker for our National Park Service, I made a side trip to the Natchez National Historical Park. The huge oak trees draped with Spanish moss, the blooming magnolia trees, and the Greek Revival architecture of the antebellum mansion, Melrose, made my foray into history worthwhile.

At first I thought that brown stuff hanging on the trees was kind of ugly. Then, when I learned it was a southern thing called Spanish Moss, I decided I liked it.

I liked this oak tree and I'm not a guy who is very often impressed by a single tree.

Restoration work is going on at the Natchez National Historical Park's Melrose Mansion. (Imprint this image in your mind for future reference.)

Before leaving Natchez, I picked up some food at a grocery store and a bottle of wine from Natchez's own Old South Winery. I was excited about hauling my bounty to Natchez State Park for my camping feast.

But first I had to find the famous Natchez Trace Parkway. I did so without too much trouble and I immediately fell in love with this little road. It does not allow commercial vehicles of any kind, the speed limit is enforced at a reasonable 50 m.p.h., it has rolling hills through dense forest and, best of all, it is so quiet that I heard my tires whirring on pavement for the first time. I heard songbirds too. And cars passed only once every five minutes or so. It was certainly peaceful, but also it was a little monotonous with its mile after mile of . . . just trees . . . view-blocking trees.

The Natchez Trace Parkway. View-blocking trees. No cars.

If you like camping in a hot, humid environment, you can't do much better than Natchez State Park. When I arrived it was very uncomfortable. But as the sun lowered in the sky and I uncorked the wine with my Swiss Army Knife, things improved dramatically.

Authentic, high-quality, Natchez-produced wine. Does the mansion on the label look familiar?

A WINE REVIEW (By Journal-Picayune food critic, me)

It would be easy for you to dismiss this wine critique considering it is only the second wine review I have ever written and I haven't had a bottle of wine in nearly a year, but do so at the risk of missing something that is far from awful.

As I explained on last year's trip, I actually LIKE sweet wines and Old South Winery's "Sweet Magnolia" is a sweet Muscadine Table Wine--whatever that means. It has good character and sublime subtlety. Upon uncorking this understated wine, I sniffed the cork. Imaginary scents of melon, sugar and, of course, grape filled my nostrils. Then I swirled it around in my REI cup and noticed it swirled nicely.

When I gulped it down my thirsty gullet, I was impressed by the quenchiness. As you can imagine, after a day of cycling in the Mississippi heat I had built up quite a thirst.

This is a five-star wine without a doubt, and it is rare to be able to get a world-class bottle of wine at only $7.99.

Wine connoisseurs around the globe might question my decision to pair this white muscadine with hamburgers grilled over sticks gathered from the woods, raw baby carrots, Chex Mix, and Cracker Jacks, but that opinion only exposes how shallow those wine snobs really are. Too bad!

Today's ride: 51 miles (82 km)
Total: 231 miles (372 km)

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