Day 86 Port Gibson to Natchez

August 26, 2016

This has been an eventful day. We left the wonderful Isabella B&B this morning after a good breakfast and warm goodbyes from Bobbye and her assistant Wendy (And, yes, she is named after the Peter Pan Wendy.) We enjoyed meeting another couple staying at the B&B. Edward and Elissa are from West Hartford, CT. They are the ones Bobbye took out yesterday to see their first alligator in the wild. They were also game when I invited them to try a southern delicacy I couldn't let Team A travel through the South without eating - potted meat. Say what you will, but I like potted meat and it reminds me of my childhood.

Edward and Elissa - fellow guests at Isabella's B&B. They are from West Hartford, CT and saw their first alligator yesterday.

We had only 43 miles to ride today, but that was good because the forecast predicted early afternoon thunderstorms. Since there was no place to stop for Diet Coke, we made good time. We stopped at Mount Locust, which is the only remaining inn standing from the many that were along the old Natchez Trace. The building has been restored to it's 1820 appearance.

Mount Locust Inn as it was around 1810-1820

There were two NPS volunteers staffing the visitor center there. They were a husband and wife who retired, became full time RVer's and have been doing NPS volunteer work for about three years. They love what they're doing and it was fun talking to them about it. It is a very appealing way of life.

After 41 miles, we came to the southern end of the Natchez Trace Parkway. It was a great ride and we saw and learned a lot. The scenery was good, the road is in outstanding condition and there is almost no traffic on the large majority of the Trace. It's a ride we would enjoy doing again - maybe not in the middle of the summer next time.

We rode into Natchez and found the cottage we had rented for the next two nights. After showering and changing, we walked downtown for lunch and exploring. As we were eating lunch, it got stormy looking and rained a little. After lunch, we visited the Museum at the insistent invitation of the man there giving tours. It was an interesting museum, very well done, but the best part was this guide who gave an animated, entertaining and very informative tour of the whole place. We left the museum and walked down to the Mississippi riverfront. The sky really looked ominous by then and we could see rain falling across the river.

Storm clouds over the Mississippi - they were coming for us!

We headed back up to our cottage, but had to stop at a convenience store for Diet Coke and some snacks. We didn't make it back to the cottage from the store before the storm hit. We had thunder, lightning and heavy rain. Alain, Viktoriya and I ran under the front entrance of a building, getting pretty wet on the way there. Kerry ducked under the much closer outside stairway. We waited out the storm for about 20 minutes, then it let up and we started back to the cottage. We saw that Kerry had already left his sheltered spot. When we got back, there was Kerry, dry and comfortable on the couch. He said that right after he ducked under those stairs, a woman leaving the parking lot on her way home offered him a ride. So he was inside for almost the whole storm.

Once we got back to the cottage, we started looking around the kitchen and thinking about dinner. What we found was mold - a lot of mold on the cabinets and kitchen drawers and then some mold in one of the bedrooms and bathrooms. The more we looked at it, the more we wanted to find another place to stay. Viktoriya found us nice rooms at a nearby Hampton Inn, so we quickly packed up and moved. The owner of the cottage was very understanding when we let her know why we were leaving. She apologized and said she didn't have any idea there was mold in the house. It's a little hard to believe that she was unaware of a mold problem that extensive.

By the time we got checked in at the Hampton Inn, it was starting to get dark and we still needed dinner. We biked a couple of miles to a Subway, then biked back in the dark. I didn't like riding in the dark, but the road had a nice wide shoulder and we were fine.

So that's been our eventful day. Tomorrow is a rest day and we're planning to do some more sightseeing in Natchez.

Today's ride: 48 miles (77 km)
Total: 4,087 miles (6,577 km)

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