First taste of the trace

August 15, 2016

Mile 444.

If that means anything to you, you may have ridden the 444 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway from Natchez Mississippi up to Nashville Tennessee, or perhaps in the other direction as we intend to do. They say the trace has been used by animals and humans for 10,000 years or more, coming up from the lower Mississippi River to salt licks in Tennessee.

The Loveless cafe is located at the start of the trace. The Loveless family started serving food and offering rooms out of their house and over several decades and several owners it has evolved into a destination in its own right. The cafe is best known for its biscuits and they did not disappoint.

Honey, sorghum, peach jam, blackberry jam, strawberry... Too many toppings to taste with just a dozen biscuits, we needed a second dozen.

We were warned that the trace was steep, so we opted for a relatively flat side trip to a Publix supermarket to let the biscuits settle down before starting the trace. Publix is the dominant grocery store in Florida, but it's been 2 months since we last saw one. It was a good chance to stock up on a few items that might be hard to find in the small towns along the trace.

Publix is not the cheapest store, but it is famous for great service. While I was waiting in front of the store a Publix employee stepped out of the door carrying a bag of groceries. He spotted a woman pushing a cart on the far end of the parking lot. He took off after her at a dead sprint. It looked like a cheetah running down an infant antelope. In a couple of seconds he caught up and handed her the bag, which she must have accidentally left out of the cart.

When he came back to the store he wasn't even breathing hard. I congratulated him on his speed and told him he should join a track team. He smiled and told me he had run track in highschool.

And so it begins. It will take us about 10 leisurely days to cover the 444 miles to Natchez.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a kind of linear park. Commercial traffic is not allowed on the trace. There is no shoulder for bikes, but none is needed because the traffic is so light. In fact we were on the trace for about a mile before the first car came by. As promised it was hilly, but not steep enough for us to deploy the ultra low gear.

Glimpse of the famous double arch bridge.

The sign before the double arch bridge said "There is hope. Call anytime." I thought it was a hot line for cyclists to get a lift over steep hills, but in fact it was intended for people contemplating jumping off the bridge.

Team S crossing the bridge. There's a nice shoulder on the bridge, so why is Kerry riding in the traffic lane?

Once we got out on the double arch bridge it became obvious why it's preferable to ride in the traffic lane instead of the shoulder. This thing is high!

There were lots of other pretty bridges along the trace.

We only covered about 15 miles of the trace before we exited for the day at Leipers Fork where we were planning to spend the night in a B&B. Our amazing luck with avoiding rain continued. Just as we got off the trace and approached a convenience store it started raining. We took shelter and let the brief but heavy shower pass.

We hung out in Leipers Fork for a while. It's a touristy place, but Jeanna says it doesn't qualify as kitch. They had a nice "lawn chair theater" for showing outdoor movies at night. We had a memorable ride on some back roads looking for our B&B. We passed some cows, figured out we had gone too far, then doubled back past the cows again. I'm almost certain the cows were laughing at us and commenting to each other about how appropriate it was for us to be wearing "two far" jerseys.

These bovines had a good laugh at our expense. The scenery was amazing, so it was a worthwhile detour.

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