Black belt encounter

August 21, 2016

We spent yesterday in Tupelo doing nothing. Tupelo is a pretty good town for that. We had easy access to lots of eating and shopping options within half a mile of our hotel. However, Tupelo is not set up to accommodate walking. Even going half a mile was a challenge without any sidewalks or pedestrian crossings.

We went shopping for clothing in Tupelo. We got a $2 T-shirt which we chopped up to replace our bike rag supply.

Tupelo is located in the heart of the old Chickasaw Nation. The Natchez Trace Parkway is full of historic Chickasaw sites, but little more than memories remain. The Chickasaw territory was ceded to the US in 4 chunks in the late 18th and early 19th centuries until nothing remained. During that time the Chickasaw adopted many aspects of European agriculture and culture. Ultimately they were forced to move to Indian territory in Oklahoma.

Tupelo is also the site of a minor Civil War battle. In 1864 William T Sherman was trying to capture Atlanta. His supply line stretched back through Tennessee to Nashville. General Forest and his Confederate cavalry were intent on moving up from Mississippi to cut that supply line. The Union sent troops into Mississippi to force Forest to remain in Mississippi. The battle of Tupelo in July 1864 kept Forest out of Tennessee for several weeks. By the time he did move into Tennessee, Sherman had captured Atlanta and was marching to the sea, so the Tennessee supply line was no longer critical.

The Tupelo Battlefield is in a very urban setting. It occupies a single block.

The area south of Tupelo that we rode in today is known as the black belt. The name does not derive from the martial arts skills of the residents. It comes from the dark soil. This was prime cotton growing land. Today more of the black belt is used as pasture land than cotton land.

There were quite a few exits and entrances to the Parkway around Tupelo and more traffic than other sections of the Parkway. Once we got to the Tombigbee National Forest a lot of the traffic was gone.

Tombigbee National Forest was full of butterflies. The blue butterflies seem to like the pavement.

The brown butterflies prefer to be slightly higher.

Don't eat these, they are poisonous. At least the mushrooms in Ukraine that look like this are poisonous.

We got to our destination in Houston MS early and decided to treat ourselves to some flat miles without baggage. We left our panniers at the house we are staying in and set off on the Tanglefoot rail trail. The citizens of Houston are justifiably proud of the Tanglefoot trail, it is well maintained and offers shady riding. Even though today was overcast and unseasonably mild, shade is always welcome.

We have a bet going on about how many other cycle tourists we will encounter on the Natchez Trace Parkway. Our guesses are 7, 10, 12 and 20 cycle tourists. We are about half way to Natchez and so far we have met zero other cycle tourists on the trace. We did however encounter numerous local riders on the Tanglefoot trail. Perhaps it is more enticing than the trace because of the gentle grades, the shade, or the lack of cars. We enjoyed talking with two bikers, Carter and Travis at a trail side rest stop. Travis was in the middle of riding the entire Tanglefoot trail.

The Tanglefoot trail passes through Houlka. This is about all you can do in Houlka on a Sunday afternoon.

We were less ambitious than Travis and turned around after 16 miles, about 1/3 of the Tanglefoot trail.

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