Kaintucks and coffles

August 26, 2016

I have had to escape from houses twice in the last 24 hours.

First, we fled from our rental house last night because of the mould problem. The house had a musty smell but we didn't realize the extent of the problem until we saw the mouldy kitchen cabinets. Even though it was getting dark, we figured it was worth moving to avoid breathing in mould all night.

The second house escape occurred this morning. Team A decided to ride across the bridge to Vidalia Louisiana. It's a double bridge. The old bridge serves as the Westbound bridge to Louisiana. It has two lanes of traffic and absolutely no shoulder. A new span was added later on and is used for Eastbound traffic to Mississippi. The new bridge has a comfortably wide shoulder.

The receptionist at the hotel recommended that we cross to Louisiana going the wrong way on the Eastbound span because of the wide shoulder. However, we saw a sign with a bike that seemed to indicate the Westbound bridge was a bike route. How bad could it be?

As soon as we got onto the bridge I knew it was a bicycle death trap, but it was impossible to go back to get off the bridge. There was simply no space for cars to give us anything close to 3 feet of space if they had to stay in the right lane because of traffic in the left lane. Trucks could not even give us 3 inches.

Thankfully the traffic was not too heavy at that time. Traffic was pulling into the left lane to pass us. That's when the house showed up. I looked back and saw a prefabricated house being pulled by a tractor trailer. A helpful banner draped on the 20 foot wide house indicated that it was an oversized load. It was a big load, but not a fast load. Once the house squeezed past us, we realized there was a big line of cars and trucks stuck behind the house. This was definitely the most harrowing narrowing we have experienced on this trip.

The old and new spans. This is from the Louisiana side, so we must have survived the crossing.

The Mississippi appears tranquil from a distance, but the water is definitely moving. This barge is tied up to a mooring, but it looks like it is moving.

We spent some time enjoying the Louisiana river front before crossing back to Natchez. The Eastbound bridge had a wide shoulder and was a pleasure to cross. We then rode around on the Natchez river front. The Louisiana side is flat, but Natchez is situated on a high bluff. Climbing the bluff once was enough for us.

Because of the bluff it sits on, Natchez has a great view of the river.

Our next stop at the "forks of the road" was depressing. Coming down the Natchez Trace we heard about Kaintucks, the people from Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky who would build flat bottom boats, load them with goods, float down the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to Natchez, sell their goods and boats, then return North on foot over the Natchez Trace.

Today we heard about Coffles of slaves who were brought down the Natchez Trace to be sold. A coffle is a line of people chained together. Natchez was the second largest slave market behind New Orleans. The market was on the edge of Natchez at a fork in the road.

No buildings remain, just some historical markers.

The Natchez Trace was one of many routes to the forks of the road.

This tavern in Natchez was built from timber from the flat bottom boats of Kaintucks. By around 1820 steamships were carrying cargo both up and down the river, ending the one way flat bottom boat trips.

It's entirely possible this kudzu will swallow up the bridges in the background and any houses that happen to be crossing the bridge at the time.

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