Disappearing lines

August 22, 2016

Now we are getting somewhere. We hit mile 222 on the trace, half way to Natchez. When the post office first established mail service on the trace, it took 12 days for a rider to carry a bag of mail between Nashville and Natchez. Agents stationed in stands along the trace kept spare horses so the rider could switch from tired horses to fresh horses several times during the 12 days. We expect to cover the trace in only 11 days. Of course, there have been a few improvements to the road over the years...

The old trace was not as bike friendly as the new Parkway. The old trace became a sunken road after years of use.

Almost all sections of the Parkway have been very well paved. We encountered a mystery today on a section with old pavement. The pavement is very degraded on the yellow dividing line. In fact in places the line has completely disappeared. What causes this? One theory we came up with is that with temperature changes over the seasons, the yellow line expands and contracts less than the adjacent pavement, causing stress. Or perhaps the yellow color keeps the line from heating up as much as the adjacent pavement. If any highway engineer is reading this and knows the answer, please use the guestbook to leave a comment explaining the disappearing yellow line.

The pavement under the yellow line is disappearing.

Obviously the joint where the 2 lanes of pavement meet has something to do with it, but the painted line exacerbates the problem.

The yellow dividing line was not the only disappearing line we encountered today. We crossed over from the historic Chickasaw territory into the Choctaw territory. A helpful sign from the department of the interior told us that a stream known as Line Creek marked the division between the nations. The problem was there was no sign of the stream. Could a stream be large enough to separate two nations and small enough to disappear without a trace?

Line Creek separated the Chickasaw and Choctaw Nations.
The wording, "until both tribes moved to Oklahoma", leaves a lot unsaid.

Surely this drainage ditch could not account for the missing stream.

At a convenience store rest stop we encountered a work around for a SNAP prohibition on purchasing prepared food. You can't use SNAP to buy cooked chicken, but you can use SNAP to buy uncooked chicken, then after the purchase give the uncooked chicken back to the clerk so they can cook it for you. My observation has been that other than gasoline, the biggest purchases at convenience stores are beer, cigarettes and lottery tickets. In that context, cooked chicken does not seem like something that needs to be prevented.

Following the letter of the law, not the spirit.

Another interesting convenience store sign. I can't think of a better reason to drink coffee.

Down the road, a sign told us we were coming to damage from a 2011 tornado. I was expecting a small path of destruction. However, we passed miles of huge trees that had been snapped off. Could this have been a single tornado? Multiple tornadoes? A line of severe thunderstorms?

At first we thought this small break in the trees was the entire tornado path of destruction.

We were lucky that the day was overcast. The temperature was in the 80s, rare in Mississippi in August. From time to time there was a light drizzle but no serious rain. Apparently that is perfect for mushrooms, we passed zillions of them. According to Viktoriya, all of them were well known poisonous specimens, or at least they looked just like poisonous cousins in Ukraine.

We know this will kill you if you eat it.

A hill on the trace called "Little Mountain". By Florida standards it was a major mountain. After Kentucky and Tennessee it did not seem too tall.

We stopped for lunch at a place called French Camp. French Camp is home to a Christian school that specializes in helping kids with disadvantages or challenging backgrounds. It also has a nice cafe. Our server Penny works there with her two daughters. That must be nice to spend time together at work.

After lunch we had a delightful mixture of sunshine and shade.

Rate this entry's writing	Heart	0
Comment on this entry	Comment	0