Natchez, MS to Gulf Shores, AL

Due to limited campground options on our planned route, we chose to take an alternative route more to the south and toward the Gulf of Mexico. We went straight south of Natchez and to the east of Baton Rouge, LA. In the afternoon we went downtown to see the USS Kidd, a WWII destroyer dry docked on the Mississippi River. She is one of last surviving of the 175 Fletcher class destroyers built 1942 and 1944. It was very interesting to see. The local save the “KIDD” group has done a detailed restoration of it. According to a worker on the ship the Mississippi River is about 17 feet below normal levels. They do need rain in the southeast. As we headed toward Gulf Port, Mississippi we noticed many new housing developments on the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain which is the lake that overflowed its banks in New Orleans during hurricane Katrina. The locals tell us that many have moved from New Orleans and commute the 30 miles to this growing area. The area around Gulf Port, is still showing signs of the hurricane Katrina. The beach front businesses and homes have not been rebuilt. Driving along the gulf front road you just can't believe there is nothing left of this prime waterfront location. There is still alot of debri cleanup to be done in some areas. Their beautiful boardwalk is still all torn up and you didn't see many people out walking the beach. The casinos are the only places open on the waterfront and seem to be doing good taking peoples money. As it has been windy and rainy we decided to stay here over the weekend, we look forward to the calmer weather this cold front is bringing. One morning we decided to go fishing and hired a local guide to take us out for a few hours. Due to the wind we were forced to stay in the protected back bays and rivers. Though the fish weren’t large, we caught enough for a couple great meals.
Oh, once again it is hair cut time. Tim is still upset they charged him full price for what he calls a “prune and polish”. The young lady cutting our hair had purchased a home 2 weeks before the hurricane only to see it destroyed. Thankfully she had enough insurance coverage to pay the mortgage off. Another day of rain and storm watches – frequently throughout the day the weather radio would come on automatically to tell about severe weather in our area and flooding. Lots of thunder and lightening - No bike riding for us today. The RV Park we are staying in has flooded streets and water standing in the sites. Our tent is in water…… Fortunately we got everything out and slept on the floor of the motor home. We are now in Gulf Shores, AL. We will be entering Florida on Thursday of this week – a long way from Washington State! We can't wait to see the white sugar sand beaches !

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE CAPTAIN OF THE OTHER TANDEM TEAM ON THIS TRIP, BILL POST !!!
HAPPY BOSSES DAY, BRENT WHITEHEAD (I do still have a job, don't I ??) !!!

While we were in Tupelo we visited the birthplace of Elvis Presley. We continued on the Trace, what a wonderful biking road. Cotton fields along the route are beautiful. This day we also met other cyclist’s Parker and Susan Hudson from Maine. We saw them several times throughout our journey over the next few days on the Trace. Remember in a previous journal we mentioned going to a BBQ cook off in Murphysboro, IL and meeting the folks from Ubon’s Restaurant of Yazoo City, MS. At that time the owner, Garry, offered to bring us BBQ on the Trace. Well, he came through, he and his wife, Elaine drove the 35 miles from Yazoo City to meet us in Jackson and brought us the ultimate in BBQ meals. It was wonderful. Thank you Garry & Elaine !!! While cycling the Trace we stopped off at one of the overlooks for a saddle break and met a neat lady. She was on her way to her 59th high school reunion and as it turns out she is a lung cancer survivor. It just makes you feel good that we are raising funds for a cause that has affected so many people. We also went through the town of Port Gibson, that is the town that Grant said was “too pretty to burn” so it was spared and has lots of beautiful antebellum homes. Of course while there you have to go visit the Windsor ruins – which is all that is left after a fire that damaged the grandest home in all of Mississippi. You can see the 23 magnificent Corinthian columns still standing. While going through Port Gibson we were looking for a place for lunch and could not find anything open so we asked a paramedic that was walking across the street and she said “you have to go to the Country Store and have Mr. D’s fried chicken, it’s world famous you know”. Well we went to Mr. D’s in Lorman for lunch, what an experience; he even came and sang at our table for us. Turns out he has been on Good Morning America, Food Network and in Southern Living magazine. What makes this so unique is that his place of business is a 100 year old building and is in desperate need of repair. No one in their right mind would ever stop there if they hadn’t had a referral. The fried chicken was the best we have ever had.
You can see the affects that the Kudzu plant is having on the local landscape – it is choking out everything in its path. We arrived in Natchez and stayed in the Riverside B&B overlooking the Mississippi river. You could sit on the balcony or patio and watch the barges and tugboats go up and down the river. We spent a few days here celebrating our 29th anniversary which is on the 14th. The evening of our anniversary Janet prepared a special meal with her famous brisket. What a meal!! (Tim is starting to say how can we ride over 4,000 thousand miles across America and gain weight.) Natchez is a little town with over 500 antebellum homes that were built in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Be sure to see the photos of some of these homes. We learned the price of cotton back then is very close to what it is today .48 cents a pound then compared to .59 cents today. The price combined with the cheap slave labor made fortunes for these plantation owners and most built elaborate mansions to show for it. One of the most popular homes here is the octagonal shaped home called Longwood. It was built in 1859. Unfortunately, the war broke out before the interior was completed, so only the basement was finished, the rest of the 6 stories and 32 rooms remains unfinished to this day. Last night we went to a local community theater and enjoyed a comical show, Mississippi Medicine Show. We said good bye to our driver, Kathy while in Natchez. We now do not have anymore drivers for the motor home, so we are going to have to do leap frogs with the motor home and the car and ride to the car, and then drive to the motor home and so on. So with that we needed a bike rack for the motor home, we went to the only bike shop in town, The Western Auto store. The guy running the shop was so kind and trusting, he let us take the rack to the campground to make sure it would fit without giving him our names or a credit card or anything. Only in rural Mississippi can you find this sort of trust in people you don’t even know. Anyway we ended up purchasing the rack from him after making sure it would fit. While at the shop Ann was looking for a water bottle and he ended up giving us 4 bottles for free. We know we are getting close to FL as we saw our first gator of the trip the other day. Tomorrow we start heading further south into Louisiana.

We are now cycling the Natchez Trace. It is the route used in the 1700 and 1800’s as the main transportation way for Indians, hunters, farmers and merchants to transport their goods between Natchez, MS and Nashville, TN. It is a 444 mile 2 lane highway that has become a national park. The maximum speed limit of 50 mph and no commercial vehicles makes it a very conducive environment for cycling. The route meanders through the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in the north and the cotton fields of the south. Frequent roadside parks offer wonderful vistas and historical information of the area. We have made several stops along this route to learn more and to do some hiking. One of the stops was a tobacco farm display demonstrating how tobacco is harvested and dried. On several occasions we hiked the actual Trace where people of yesteryear had traveled. When leaving Tennessee we crossed the Tennessee River at Colbert Ferry. This is the spot where history has it that George Colbert who operated the ferry reportedly charged Andrew Jackson $75,000 to ferry his army across the river. (Our government dollars were at work then too) We stopped in Cherokee for lunch at Lucille’s. What a hoot the 2 waitresses were, Nikki and Janna. They were quick to point out what we shouldn’t order and applauded what we should order. Of course all of the conversation with them was in their southern Alabama drawl. It was a fun stop as they also got a big kick out of us riding across America by bike. We went off the route 18 miles to the city of Tuscumbia, AL where we saw several sites. First was the Colbert County Courthouse, old railway depot, Cool Springs Falls and Ivy Green (Helen Keller’s birthplace). Then we saw something that probably none of you have ever seen. It was the world’s only Coon Dog Cemetery. This can only happen in Alabama. You must go look at our photo album to see the homemade tombstones, the epitaphs and elaborate headstones. Only coon dogs can be buried here. While there two good ole Alabama boys in bib overalls and a mouth full of chew rode up on their 4 wheelers to pay their respects. They also gave us directions to Red Bay, AL where we completed a factory tour of the Allegro motor home plant. Considered by some to be one of the better motor homes on the road today. We can see why, they are wonderfully constructed and appointed beautifully. But they also have a nice price tag to go along with that – lets just say they are quite proud of their units. We arrived in Tupelo, MS today. The weather has been rather warm (Ann thinks this is great), highs in the upper 80’s and high humidity. We are trying to get used to these shorter days, daylight at 6:30 AM and dark at 7:00 PM. Tomorrow we leave for Jackson, MS.