Author: Rootchopper

Natchez Trace Tour: Day 5 – French Camp to Natchez Trace RV Park south of Tupelo (April 11)

French Camp is a rustic, multi building B&B run in support of a girl ‘s school by the same name.

I shared a house with two riders. I slept on a couch rather than use the hide-a-bed within. One of my roommates snored all night. This wouldn’t have been a problem if I could find my ear plugs. I found them this morning. Ugh.

Breakfast was provided by the B&B. It was delicious.

Each day a group of two or three riders is responsible for dinner, breakfast, and lunch. Today the crew was Denise, Dave, and I. Someone had to get to the night’s camp and go grocery shopping in the van. It didn’t sound like the other two could get there without deleting dinner so I decided to try to hammer out the day’s miles as fast as possible.

This went okay until Denise and her riding partner Josh passed me after 24 miles. This was a good thing because there was no way I could keep riding at 15 mph for another 69 miles.

The old Natchez Trace pathway
Roadside red clover

I deliberately slowed down but my body wanted nothing to do with the next 25 miles and an emerging headwind.

My legs rebounded for the last 20 miles and I arrived in camp as Denise rode off to Walmart for supplies.

After setting up my tent and showering i joined Dave in getting things set up. Denise was the boss chef and she cooked three types of goulash. Greg was in charge of frying. I was the gofer, back and forth to the van, water pump, and dumpster.

Denise did a fantastic job. Everyone was well fed.

We cleaned up and went to bed exhausted. I didn’t sleep a wink all night again which is becoming a problem.

In the morning we set up breakfast, made coffee and cocoa, and set up a table for riders to make their lunches. After cleaning up we were released to saddle up and take on the day’s 54-mile ride, about which more on the next post (assuming I have a cell signal).

Miles today: 73. Tour miles: 278

Natchez Trace Tour: Day 4 – Ridgefield to French Camp

Last night the group had dinner at a Mexican restaurant. I ate most of my burrito, rice, and refried beans. The food was meh but I would have eaten an uncooked sombrero I was so hungry. The cold Corona was refreshing.

After dinner we had our nightly logistics meeting. It’s helpful for routing changes, interesting sites, and the location of water and restrooms.

My hotel room had a TV that would turn on automatically. The front desk clerk tried mightily to fix it. Ultimately, I reached behind the TV and pulled the power cord. No TV. No problem.

After hotel breakfast we gathered in the parking lot where we made sandwiches and grabbed snacks for the ride. (There are no commercial services on the Trace.) I made two PB&Js and grabbed two Nutty Butter bars. The latter being my new go-to food for instant energy.

After 3 miles we re-joined the Trace for the next 79 1/2 miles. The total elevation gain for all 83.5 miles was just shy of 1,600 feet, less than 20 feet per mile. It just can’t get any more level than that.

And the weather, including a light tailwind, was perfect.

There wasn’t much in the way of wildlife today. Three downy egrets, a couple of ospreys, and one sunbathing turtle. No gators

The first 20 or so miles was along a 50 square mile reservoir.

Miles and miles of views of this reservoir

inadvertently gave a distress signal to Beth Ann in the passing Adventure Cycling van. She pulled over at the next turn out. As it happened, she was right next to some stairs leading to a walkway into a cypress swamp. So cool!

Cypress swamp. Spooky. No gators.
Halfway point rest stop with the van and trailer
Hills? Really? Not quite yet.

There were numerous turn outs for signs describing various activities of white settlers, Choctaw Indians, French settlers, and Grant’s Army of the Tennessee: Stuff happened near here. It didn’t last long. There’s not much to see.

The signs get old after a while.

We passed Kosciusko. I didn’t go to the cultural center. All I know is that Oprah Winfrey was born there.

The last twenty miles were something of a grind. Even paradise can get boring. Most of the group was cruising along at 15 mph, give or take.

We are at a place called French Camp, spread out among multiple buildings. I’m sharing one house with two other riders. There are two proper beds and a sofa bed. I decided to sleep on the sofa. NBD.

Tonight’s dinner was chicken fajitas, cooked by three group members. Tomorrow my group of three (Denise, David, and me) cook dinner. It will be a 70 mile day with headwinds so the logistics of food shopping are going to be challenging.

We make lunch at 7:30 am and eat breakfast st 8. Bike touring life can be like that.

Miles today: 83.5 Tour miles: 205

Natchez Trace Tour: Day 3 – Rocky Springs to Clinton

I didn’t sleep much last night. I rarely do in a tent (although Lily’s tent is pretty fab). Every couple of hours I had leg cramps, smallish ones. The kind that go away but make you dread of a monster cramp to come. It never did. being awake meant that I could at least listen to the barn owls hooting all night.

Breakfast was more than adequate. Jeff made amazing coffee with a French Press. Our group drank loads of it.

We headed out in fits and starts. Virginia was ahead of me on the camp road and stopped suddenly. An armadillo was lying in the middle of the road. She gave it a nudge with her foot and discovered that it was an ex-armadillo. It had ceased to exist. She used her foot to push it to the side of the road.

Yep, it’s dead

Back on the road the only other wildlife I saw all day was a large gathering of vultures dining on the remains of a roadkill deer.

I could do this all day. (That’s John the Fastest. I am John the Skowest.)

The day was planned to be a 48-mile return to the hotel in Ridgeland. The side path near adjacent Jackson was under repair. The Trace has notoriously bad traffic (and no shoulder). I ride without fear but most people tint so we agreed as a group to stop in Clinton after 34.5 miles and use the van to shuttle the group the last 14 miles.

We all seem to be in good spirits and looking forward to an 80-miles day tomorrow. The weather remains perfect.

Miles today: 35. Tour miles: 121.5

Natchez Trace Tour Day 2: Natchez to Rocky Springs Campground (April 8)

After a hotel breakfast we loaded our non-biking gear into the van, gathered our lunch and snacks , and pedaled a mile and a half though Natchez to the start of the Trace.

It was chilly and I wore multiple layers. I was overdressed and stopped three times in the first two hours to de-layer.

The road surface on the Natchez Trace Highway is perfect. The terrain went from level to gentle up- and down-slopes.

After 13 miles we left the Trace for a mile to check out Emerald Mound, the second largest Indian mound in the country dating from 1300 to 1600. It features two tiers and is enormous.

The lower portion and right half of Emerald Mound

Back on the Trace we cruised along for another 20 miles. There we left the Trace to check out Windsor Ruins. These columns are what remains of a massive plantation house that burned to the ground in 1890 when a party guest dropped a lit cigarette.

Windsor Ruins
In Port Gibson, we briefly rode on Highway 61, the famous Blues Highway

This side trip was hillier and bumpier than the main route. We were ducking wind until the descent into Port Gibson where we raided a small grocery store (that was once a Piggly Wiggly).

After snacks and drinks we continued on for another 17 miles to Rocky Springs campground. We were expecting pit toilets but were happy to see actual restrooms (with no showers and no potable water).

We’ve been stopping at nearly every historical sign, most of which seem to describe Grant’s grind toward nearby Vicksburg.

Dinner was a feast cooked by Jeff and Beth Ann our tour leaders. No complaints from my tummy.

I neglected to mention The Mule hit 79,000 miles recently.

The Mule Abides

Miles today: 73.5 Tour miles: 86.5

Natchez Trace Tour: No Trace, Just Natchez

Today began with the entire 15-person tour group assembled after a pretty decent hotel breakfast. Tour co-leader Jeff climbed atop the mega-van and loaded all 15 bikes without injury to anyone or anything. Pretty impressive. Meanwhile Beth Ann loaded the trailer with our gear. I worried that I had over done the gear thing but a few others had even more stuff.

We didn’t lose a single bike.

We piled into the van and Jeff drove us two hours south to Natchez. I wore an N 95 mask and had a pretty good headache when we arrived at the hotel. We put our gear in our rooms and met at the van. Jeff expertly unloaded the bikes and Beth Ann set up a mini-deli where we made sammies and grabbed snacks.

After that I headed out on a 13-mile ride around Natchez. It was chill, literally and figuratively. I wore all the things.

During the ride I was chased briefly by a ferocious dog. This chihuahua gave chase but stopped at the first speed bump.

Natchez is your basic southern town; think Mayberry but poor. I stopped at the Melrose estate with its Greek Revival mansion; the Spanish moss on the trees was more interesting to me. Another stop was the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, which had three burial mounds. Interesting but kind of underwhelming . The best stop was atop the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi.

Spanish moss with Melrose in the distance
Looking up the Mississippi

After the ride we had a couple of organizing meetings and some dinner in the hotel lobby. I must say the tour leaders seem to have their act together which is a big relief.

Tomorrow we start the tour on the Natchez Trace in earnest; a 60+ mile day to a primitive campsite. There is an optional side trip to the ruins of a plantation but I’m going to stick to the main route.

The weather forecast is about as good as it gets. Fingers crossed.

Miles today and tour miles: 13

Natchez Trace Tour: Getting More There

Despite its outrageous price tag, last night’s hotel was meh. Storms raged outside all last night and into the morning. I left at 8:30 with my bike sure to get a good washing.

Five mikes into the drive the interstate I was on was closed because of a crash. I followed dozens of cars as they bailed out down (off) an on-ramp.

The storm continued its rage but the road wasn’t flooded so I made good time. There were several signs of tire tracks where vehicles had left the roadway.

The highways here are in tough shape. For some reason there were cars parked every so often on the side of the road, as if the drivers had run out of gas. I’ve never seen so many tire treads littering a highway as I have these last two days.

I made it to the hotel in Ridgeland outside Jackson by 1 pm. I was allowed to check in early. My room is very nice; twice as nice as last night’s at half the price. Go figure.

I reconfigured my baggage for tomorrow’s van ride to Natchez. Then I went out to lunch at a pretty decent eatery nearby.

Back at the hotel I did some back exercises, showered, and went to the lobby to watch the UConn women trounce South Carolina.

I dropped some dirty clothes in the car and saw our group leaders in the parking lot. One was discussing the closure of a side path on the Trace nearby. I keep hearing how dangerous the road is in the immediate area and all I can think of is “Hold my beer.”

Some of the tour group are heading out for dinner at 7-ish. I’ll probably join them unless my nap gets the better of me.

It’s chilly here but by tomorrow afternoon we expect near perfect weather for riding.

I’m very happy to be out of the car.

Natchez Trace Tour: Getting There

I left home at 8 a.m. and arrived in Titusville, Alabama, just east of Birmingham, at nightfall. Traffic was mercifully light with only a couple of slowdowns in eastern Tennessee.

My bike rack made buzzing noises the whole way but I fought back with loud music. I’m deaf now but them’s the breaks.

I took a bio break at a truck stop and checked hotel prices in Birmingham. They’re very high. So I grabbed a truck stop salad to save some money on dinner and drove until I saw a decent hotel. They gave me a 10% discount which was more than offset by over $40 in taxes. I kid you not.

The room is nice and the place is quiet. Tonight there are raging storms about 300 miles west of here. Some will pass through overnight. I expect to drive in heavy rain for 4 or 5 hours tomorrow. At least my bike will be clean.

Time to shower.

Come On Baby, Drive South

My training taper is done. I did 53 miles on Monday then 20, 30, 28, and 30. The last 30 miler was today. I slept not a wink last night and wondered if I was a little insane for riding to Friday Coffee Club. It was unbelievably 70+ degrees when I stepped outside to start the ride. There were a couple of minutes of light rain about halfway to DC but otherwise the conditions could not have been better.

The ride home featured a mild tailwind which was just what my groggy head needed. I had a shower and a snack then hit the sofa for a much needed two-hour snooze. (Tonight I am taking Gabapentin to make sure I am rested tomorrow.)

We were instructed to bring only two bags for the organizers to transport. I was also told that I could not leave my pannier on my bike for the shuttle on Monday from Jackson to Natchez. There was no way I could pack the pannier in either of my two bags. Then I got an idea…

After some of my tours, I shipped my bike home using a bike shop at my destination and Bike Flights, a shipping service. My gear had to either get checked at the airport or go on a train. The easiest way to do this and minimize baggage charges was to buy a cheap duffle bag at the destination city and put all my on-bike stuff in it.

When I started packing for this trip, I could only find one duffle bag. I am certain that I have at least four, one from each tour to the west coast and another from my trip to Key West. After some groping around in a closet, I found another duffle. In about ten minutes I had re-organized my luggage. Duffel number one contains my off-bike gear. Duffel number two contains camping gear and my pannier. When we get to Natchez, I will put my rain gear, a third bottle (insulated), and a few small items in the pannier. There are three nights when we stay indoors, so I won’t need to open the camping duffel which will simplify things. I have a third small duffel that contains clothing for the trip home. It will stay in my car.

The Day One shuttle from Jackson to Natchez involves putting our bikes on the roof of the van and putting our luggage in a trailer. The other day, one of the trip leaders said we should bring a small backpack for this two-hour drive and for riding around Natchez. Um, what happened to the two-bag rule? Yeah, well..

I am not bringing a back pack. My handlebar bag, cane, water bottle and helmet won’t fit so I’ll likely use a tall kitchen garbage bag instead.

After re-jiggering my baggage, I put everything but my off-bike bag in the car and attached the trunk rack. In the morning I’ll put my small toiletry and medicine bags in the remaining duffel, drop the Mule on the rack, and take off for points south. The drive will take 15 hours so I am planning on staying in Chattanooga (9 hours away) or Birmingham, 11 hours away. I gain an hour on the way so I can easily make Jackson on Sunday in time for check in.

As for weather conditions for the ride, it looks like we are in luck. There is likely to be some flooding of the Mississippi when we get to Natchez but the tour heads northeast, away from the river. Prevailing winds will be out of the south for five of the seven days including the two hardest days at the end of the ride. No rain is forecast for the entire week. We will deal with cold temperatures (40s) on our first couple of days of riding, after that temperatures will rise from mid-50s to mid-80s. That’s about as good as it gets!

13 hours to lift off….

Marching toward Natchez 2025

Reading

Truman by David McCullough. I had been reluctant to tackle this nearly 1,000-page biography only because of its enormity. I am a huge fan of McCullough both on the written page and from his work on PBS. (He narrated The American Experience and Ken Burns’s The Civil War.) This book took him ten years to write and it is a masterpiece. I’m sorry I waited so long to read it. Sadly, there remain only two McCullough books left for me to read.

The Greater Journey – Americans in Paris by David McCullough. So, I read one of them. This book chronicles the artistic, scientific, and diplomatic lives of Americans who lived in Paris in the nineteenth century. It bogs down in places as the author describes paintings and aspects of sculpture for pages on end. Still, I learned a lot about how art is made. The cast of characters is a who’s who of America. Mary Cassatt, John Singer Sargent, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, and dozens more. Not McCullough’s best but well worth the time.

Watching

While Democracy Turns – My wife and I have been watching the coverage of national politics on The Rachel Maddow Show, The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell, and The Daily Show. It seems amazing that we are only a couple of months into the madness of King Donald.

Daredevil – Born Again – For those of you (like me) who have felt that Marvel Studios has jumped the shark, think again. DBA is absolutely terrific. There are reports that the lead actors and at least one supporting actor insisted that scripts be re-written. The producers, to their credit, listened and the result makes for intense viewing. Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Vincent D’Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin are back. Oddly, most of the plot takes place in courtrooms and offices. Fight scenes are intense but brief and very violent. And each episode has a shocker in it that makes you want to watch the next one.

Tour Aotearoa – Mat Ryder and his trusty American sidekick John rode Aotearoa (New Zealand) from top to bottom in about a month and a half. Check it out.

Baseball – The Washington Nationals are back on the field to try to regain the glory of the 2010s. I’ve watched their first three games and let’s just say glory will be a couple of years in the future.

Riding

Most of the month I have been consumed with pre-tour anxiety. Is my 69 1/2-year-old body up to the task for riding nearly 500 miles in a week? Time will tell. Pray for tailwinds.

I rode 987 miles this month. I included seven long and long-ish rides (77, 63, 54, 53, 53, 50, and 44 miles), many of which were deliberately hilly affairs. The second 53-miler was today’s ride to take in the cherry blossoms in the Kenwood neighborhood of Bethesda. The ride back into a stiff headwind put the hurt on me. I only rode 36 miles indoors so I think it’s time for Big Nellie to come out of the basement. I am on track for 9,892 miles for the year.

The Trace awaits and The Mule abides.

Natchez Trace Tour – One Week to Go

My plan was to do another monster ride this week in preparation for the tour but I decided that would be unpleasant and unnecessary. I did manage to fit in a 44 miler and a 53 miler. The former was mostly on level ground against a howling wind. What’s with the winds these days? Winds are as good as hills in my book so no worries. I do hope that I don’t end up spending a week crawling into a headwind. I survived the Wind River Basin in 2022 but I was gassed when I rolled into Dubois, Wyoming at the end of an 80- or 90-mile crawl.

The 53 miler was a hilly ride to the impossibly lovely town of Clifton, Virginia. The whole affair included something like 1,900 feet of climbing. I rode there then had a light lunch. I decided to take a hillier route back and it worked out just fine. Yesterday I rode to Friday Coffee Club with a light tailwind. Despite being half asleep I rode like a beast. Afterwards I took a side trip to take in some of DC’s famous cherry blossoms. It ended up being an easy 34 miles. Today, with temperatures pushing into the 70s and light winds I rode another effortless 34 miles. I could have gone much farther but I came home to watch the baseball game.

Last summer my leg strength seemed to dissipate after only a few miles. I felt anemic for the rest of the day. It made for a miserable bike tour. It felt like I had aged a decade over the previous year. Somehow over the last couple of weeks, my legs have sprung back to life. It’s very encouraging.

There are several factors that seem to be helping. First, I mostly am riding in shorts. Riding (or running) in long pants has always seemed to be a struggle. Second, I am drinking much more water. When I cover my mouth with a neck gaiter or buff, I tend to drink much less while riding. Third, I have finally found a combination of exercises and a seat position that have eliminated my neck and upper back pain. Fourth, warm weather just floats my boat.

I have only six more riding days before I pack up the car and head south. I think I’ll take another trip to see some blossoms, but otherwise it’s time to taper. Next Saturday I begin the two-day drive to Jackson, Mississippi. The day after that, the 7th, there’s a day riding in a van to Natchez followed by a 12-mile bike ride to see the sights. That’s effectively three days off. I should be ready to rumble when I head north from Natchez on the 8th of April.