July 7th, 2006
We are writing this tonight from a National Park Service campground at Mile Post 193 on the Natchez Trace Parkway in Mississippi. We rode 66 miles today, and it was just gorgeous the entire way. The horrendous humidity and rain that has been plaguing us the last week or so finally lifted with a strong breeze last night, actually more like a wind. It finally dried off our tent, and took away the humidity and the clouds, leaving the air much cooler as well. What a relief!
The only bad news was that the wind became headwinds for us the entire day, which slowed our progress a lot. We felt up to having our first 80-100 mile day, and feel convinced that we could have if we hadn’t had the headwinds. The wind has died down tonight, so we are aiming to do significant mileage tomorrow.
We are steadily climbing, climbing, climbing, but the grade is so gradual, and the conditions are so beautiful, that it’s nearly painless. 🙂
The Natchez Trace Parkway is really quite amazing. The old Natchez Trace was originally a Native American “roadway”. When the white man came, it was taken over, and has played a huge part in the history and settlement of this area, reaching its peak of use in the early 1800’s. Today the Old Trace still exists, and is still walkable. Chelsea and I took a break one morning and looked at one of the historical exhibits, walking back in to see the Trace. It’s a clear footpath among the trees.
The new Trace Parkway is a beautiful paved 2-lane road that runs for hundreds of miles up through the heart of Mississippi. No commercial traffic is allowed, the speed limit is 50 mph, strictly enforced, and it’s an official bike route. The scenery is just gorgeous, and the hills, while noticeable, are gradual, and aren’t too bad at all. We have been on the Parkway for 6 days now, including our layover days. The road is dotted with historical sites every few miles, and occasional campgrounds.
There are campgrounds off the parkway, which tend to be private, and some right on the Parkway, which are the National Park Service or the US Forestry Service. The NPS campgrounds are really nice – they have only washrooms – no showers, electrical hookups, or other amenities, so it only attracts the tent campers – no RVs. We have been amazed and truly delighted at how quiet the campsites are. Tonight, in a campground of many acres – we are the only tent campers, and there’s one very quiet RV, which we can’t even see. There’s not another soul here. The grounds are absolutely beautiful, and there’s a gorgeous overlook just a half-mile up the road.
When we stayed several nights at the Rocky Springs campground over July 4, we were the only ones the first night, and then one other tent showed up, but no one was in it until late at night, and they left early each day. The campgrounds are quite a find, and they are free! Other than not having showers, they are heaven for two very tired cyclists at the end of a long day of riding.
Tomorrow we will be just outside Tupelo, and on Sunday we will be on the far side, headed up towards Tennessee. We expect to take only another day to get to Tennessee. When we reach Tupelo, we will have finished yet another whole map section!