2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 11 - Natchez #3

Selfie on the Natchez Trace

By now it's a pretty typical morning. Wake up, shower, dress, start packing, carry a load of stuff to the bike, go eat some breakfast, back up to the room and finish packing, carry the rest of the stuff to the bike, move the bike over to where the other bikes are, go sit in the lobby and wait for everyone else.

We left just after 8:00. First stop was a gas station. I had gassed up last night so I just bought a bag of ice for the ice chest.

I saw this tiny frog on the ice machine.  He moved all over

Karen's intercom has been having trouble. Her microphone keeps dying so she can't join the conversations. Ron worked on it for a little while but couldn't get it to keep working longer than a few minutes. Finally he gave up and we got back on the road.

Right now it's also become a little typical that we start our mornings by driving through neighborhood streets for some reason. This time there's actually a really good reason , we followed the GPS to Elvis childhood home. It's now some sort of a museum and tourist attraction. It's Sunday so it doesn't open till 1:00. 

World famous downtown Tupelo Mississippi

John has been giving me grief for a few days because everywhere we stop I immediately look for shade to go park in. Whatever the opposite of a lizard is that's what he says I am. But when we pulled into the Elvis parking lot he drove around in a circle and went right to the biggest spot of shade he could find . It didn't happen to be a parking spot but it wasn't open so who cares. 

Elvis Birth Place

Karen and Angela went and walked around the grounds. Angela's the big Elvis fan

In the meantime, Ron went back to working on Karen's helmet. Yesterday I ran a test to see if it was the intercom or the helmet mount.  I swapped Ron's intercom with Karen's intercom, and the problem stayed with the helmet. That's good news , it means the intercom isn't broken and that's the expensive part.

Ron couldn't get the microphone working by the time we needed to leave so Karen was stuck just listening to the conversation rather than participating.  And if you know Karen, that's a real hardship for her.

The GPS led us quickly to the freeway.  Just a minute after we got on, we rode past our hotel!!  What the heck was with all the meandering through back streets if we were 1 minute away from Elvis home via freeway??

Just shortly after that we exited and turned onto the Natchez Trace Parkway.  John announced over the intercom that the next scheduled stop was a visitor center.  He asked if anyone wanted to stop there.  I replied "It depends on how much of this Diet Code I drink by the time we get there" and he said "Good Point".

It felt really nice to get back on the parkway.  The temperature dropped by 6 degrees, and with the shade from the trees it felt cooler than that.  The trees and the neatly trimmed grass all combine to feel serene.

Back on the Natchez Trace Parkway

It's just so nice

While we were riding I got to thinking about Karen's intercom problem.  I actually have a spare helmet mount with me.  It's not the same one.  It's meant for a half helmet.  I got it so I could use it almost like a walkie talkie in the car if Nan doesn't feel like riding some days.  My mount has a hardwired microphone rather than a remotely mounted one.  But it's plenty long to to mount on Karen's helmet and get the mic down near her mouth.  I decided to make that offer.

Right as I decided that, John asked if we wanted to stop and I said yes.  When we stopped I took my spare mount over to Ron and told him what I proposed.  We then stood around for 10 minutes trying to figure out how to add my mount to her helmet.  We finally decided that her mount had to come off first.  We did that then stuck mine on.  It seemed to work but within minutes it had come loose.  The mounting pads just weren't sticking to the helmet.  Eventually Ron got some duct tape out and managed to stick the mount on pretty good.

When it was time to go, Karen got on the intercom to thank me, SHE WAS BACK BABY!!

We headed down the parkway.  I feel it gets redundant for me to say "it was beautiful" and "the road is so well maintained" or even "it's so peaceful and serene".  But all those things are true.

We stopped after 20 minutes to see another indian mound site.  This time we actually went to the big info board and read about it.  These mounds data back to about 200 BC.  The natives didn't live here but they routinely came back to bury their dead in these mounds.  So they are very important and sacred to the native.

Mounds out near the tree line

Zoomed in on a mound

When we got back on the bikes, Karen's intercom wasn't working again.  Ron tried to turn it off and on but gave up pretty quick.  We were stopping again soon anyway, so we went down the parkway.  Peaceful, beautiful, relaxing. blah blah blah.

Our next stop was a park on the Tennessee river.  John and I pulled over to a nice shaded are to park and walk around, but Ron stopped early and had Karen take her helmet off.  He sat there working on it while we took pictures.

Ron working on Karen's intercom

Selfie at the Tennessee river

A panorama of the river

The Tennessee river and the Natchez Trace Parkway Bridge

The lighting was bad so my pictures didn't turn out well, but the river was huge.  In the west we call something 30 feet wide a river.  But out here in the east it takes a quarter mile or more to be a river.  Just behind us was a big bridge spanning the river.  I tried getting pictures but the glare and reflections made them all look terrible.  And to top it off, I forgot my hat so my selfie has my scraggly gray hair sticking up and at the same time plastered down with sweat.

Eventually Ron rode over.  He'd had to completely reset her intercom.  He had no idea what Karen had done to get it so messed up, but it was working now.  That was the last of his problems with her headset for the day.  Karen was able to talk with us through the rest of the ride.

Back on the road and the first thing we had to do was cross that bridge we'd seen.  I guess it was built specifically for the Natchez Trace Parkway to cross.  The views on the bridge were impressive but none of my shots captured that.

Tennesse river from the bridge, and my finger.  I need remedial photo taking 101

Crossing the bridge.  It was more impressive in my head

It was 11:00 when we crossed the Tennessee River and we were getting hungry so we pulled over and tried to find somewhere to eat.  No one but me had cell service, and mine was pretty sketchy.  I managed to find a BBQ place about 20 miles ahead of us and not far out of the way.  John couldn't add it to his GPS so I told him I'd let him know when it was time to turn.

We got back on the road.  We hadn't gone far when I heard Angela say "Cardo mute my microphone".  That's the voice instruction to her intercom to mute her mic so it doesn't pass on wind noise to everyone.  Then I hard Karen say the same thing, then Ron said it.  I thought I'd make a joke so I said "Cardo will you talk to me since no one else wants to?"  and to my surprise the intercom system responded to me.  I didn't hear the response but it surprised me.

I didn't hear anyone talking, but with all the muted mics I didn't expect to.  So we're riding along and we get down to 10 miles so I announce it on the intercom.  No response.  We go farther and get to 2 miles and I announce it.  No response.  1 mile, no response.  As we come to the intersection I say "THIS IS OUR TURN" but I don't see John put on his turn signal so I honk my horn.  Nothing.  I start blaring my horn and get nothing.

I think try to call John on my cell phone.  It takes a few seconds to do it safely but I didn't hear the phone ring and when he answers I can't hear him.  I am totally confused about what's going on.

So I turn my intercom off and back on.  That takes about 30 seconds.  When it comes up, I hear everyone talking wondering why I'm not telling them anything.  But by now we're a good 5 miles past the turnoff.

In hind sight, here's what happened.  My "joke" with cardo somehow got recognized as a valid command to shut off all audio functions of the intercom.  John says he responded to my joke by saying "I'll talk to you" but I didn't hear that.  So all my announcements went nowhere and we missed lunch because I made a bad joke.

I looked on GPS again and found a couple towns 5 miles ahead and a gas station just off the parkway.  We pulled off and went there.  Someone told us about a cafe 9 miles west, but after we all gassed up, we decided to skip lunch and keep going to get the riding done before it got too much hotter.  It was already 100 degrees and the sun was really beating down.

We stopped by the Merriweather Lewis' grave site.  John announced on the intercom "ChatGPT said we need to stop here but I have no idea who this guy is".  We all were a bit stunned by that.  Karen said "Do you know who Lewis & Clark are" and John said yes.  We waited and John said nothing.  Then someone said "This is Lewis".  John said "Oh.  I didn't know he had a longer name".  We all laughed.

If you don't know, Lewis was governor of Louisiana but he was deeply in debt.  He left to go to Washington DC and try to to publish his memoirs to earn money.  Along the way he left the boat he was on and was shot.  It's unclear whether he was killed or committed suicide.

Monument to Meriweather Lewis

We stopped in the shade to see the Lewis monument

More parkway but now the sun is beating down and it's over 100

We stopped again at a "waterfall".  It was nice to get off the bike and the short walk was nice.  We crossed a few bridges over some barely running streams.  Maybe the "barely running" part of that should have been a hint, but the waterfall didn't really exist.  The water oozed over the rock and just clung to it and flowed down the rocks.

The slow running stream

Ron and Karen at the "waterfall" it's in the bushes somewhere

Now we were on the home stretch.  Just 20 miles to go, but it was hot.  I really miss the shade from the early mornings.

Still pretty but hot

Tennessee is far more open than the rest.  You can actually see horizon some times

Reaching the end of the Natchez Trace Parkway was un-eventful.  We just took an offramp and we were done.  We couldn't actually ride to the end because the final section is closed for repairs.  We followed the GPS through a series of surface streets for about 15 miles until we reached our hotel.  Everyone was very happy to be done.

Ron and Karen gave me back my intercom mount and said thanks.  We got checked in and moved our gear into rooms.

Ron was going to ride into Nashville and go buy a new intercom mount for Karen's helmet so he headed back out.

When I was done removing gear I got on the bike to park it.  On my way I saw a McDonalds next door and decided I wanted a cold drink so I rode over.  Once I was ordering I realized I also wanted something more than jerky to tide me over till dinner so I ordered a 6 piece nugget meal.  I only ate a few of the nuggets, but I ate ALL of the fries.

Back at the room, I started working on the blog.  We were all worried about Ron and Karen kept us informed.  After an hour, John and Angela decided to walk over to a nearby BBQ place to eat and I joined them.

I ordered way too much food.  I got brisket and a sausage with baked beans and green beans as my sides.  I ate about 1/3 and was full.  I got a box to bring it home and have snacked on it all night.

John and Angela also got some good bbq, but their order taker asked if it was their first time eating here  When they said yes, he gave them complementary banana pudding.  My server didn't ask me and I didn't know to tell them, so no banana pudding for me.  Nan will be disappointed.

I've been thinking about getting a new tripod and my friend Mike suggested I go to best buy and see what they have, so I excused myself before Karen and Ron arrived.  But when I got to the room, it was so nice and cool that I couldn't face another hour of hot riding.  So here I sit working on the blog and watching youtube.

Daily Miles: 203

Total Miles: 2700

Total drive time: 58h30m

2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 10 - Natchez #2

Ready for wheels up at 8:300

Last night John sent out a text saying he wanted to be "Wheels up at 8:30"  meaning he wanted to be on the bikes and moving at that time.  We are usually close to the desired time, but even if we hit it, we still need to gas up and load cups with ice and drinks, so it's not like 8:30 hits and we're flying down the highway at 75mph 30 seconds later.  My point is that I needed to wake up early enough to get everything done and be ready by 8:30.

Which is why my body woke me up at 4:30 and said "That's enough sleep for you".

I lay there for a bit reading news, facebook, and re-reading my blog to see how bad my grammar was this time.  It was pretty bad, plus I'd actually missed a few things so I fixed them.

At 5:00 I got up to shower, but before I did, I remembered all my wet gear from yesterday's rain.  Last night I had lain all my gear out to dry as much as possible but when I checked, it was still wet.  I took my shoes into the bathroom and used the hair dryer set to low to dry them over the next hour.  Then I dried out my helmet liner the same way.

Breakfast was a small waffle, a cheese omelet, a sausage patty, and a muffin.  Pretty meager.

By 8:30 we were all gathered and loaded except for Karen.  We heard Ron answer his phone and say something like "What do you mean you can't carry everything down by yourself?"  He  laughed then said he'd be right up.  We were a few minutes later.

Both John and Ron had "fuel low" flashing on their bikes.  I had gassed up my bike while the bandaged Ron's hand yesterday so still had half a tank.  Ron also wanted to run by Walmart to get something.  Oh, I wasn't supposed to tell Nannette that we went to Walmart.  It's an old joke between Nan and John.

We got to the Walmart.  Ron and Karen went in and I rode over to a Harbor Freight that I saw nearby.  I wanted to buy a cheap multi meter to help diagnose why my high beam headlights weren't working.  But they were sold out.

John and I found a spot in the shade to park and wait for Ron.  We waited about 30 minutes.  He came out with a new pair of gloves that would fit over his bandaged hand, but he couldn't find a good phone mount for his handlebars.

We were finally able to head for the Natchez Trace Parkway by 9:30.  While we waited at Walmart, the bike temp said it was 90 degrees, but once we got out of town and into the greenery of the parkway, the temperature dropped to the low 80s.  It was such a joy to back onto the Parkway.  The low speed, the greenery, no cross traffic, and the empty roads.  The parkway is just relaxing to ride.

Back on the parkway

We had only gone a few miles when we pulled off into a parking lot by a large reservoir.  We stopped on a nice elevated parking lot that gave a nice view out over the water.  We only stopped long enough to get a couple of photos, then headed off again.  We rode past the shores of the lake for about 6 miles and I got a few more pictures.  Then we were once again walled off from everything around us by the thick trees lining the parkway.

Stopped by the lake with a long name

All of us by the lake

Every so often a car or two would come up behind us.  And because we were driving below the speed limit, they'd often pass or we'd pull over to let them pass.

Riding along the shore of the lake with a long name

We were still chatting and joking on the intercom much of the time.  Sometimes a couple would drop off for a bit to have a private conversation.  Last night I watched a video about our headsets to refresh myself on some of the features.  One feature in particular seemed like a very fun option.  So when I knew everyone was on the chat, but the conversation had died down, I called Nannette on my cell phone.  We talked for a few minutes, then I told her to hold on while I tried something.  I pushed and held my intercom button for 2 seconds and heard a beep.  Then I told Nan to say Hi.  She did and everyone in the intercom group could hear her.  Not only that, she could hear them too.  So we spent a few minutes as Nan asked questions about yesterday's accident and how kids were doing etc.  But Nan was just about to leave to take a grand daughter to get nails painted so we didn't talk long.  But it's a neat feature to bring a phone call into the chat.

We knew that part of the parkway was closed for construction and we finally hit the detour around 10:30.  It forced us off the parkway, but we got right onto a large 4 lane highway and the detour miles just burned away.

I asked if we should look for food since we were off the parkway and everyone thought it was a good idea.  Google pulled up a list of restaurants along our route.  I started reading off names and food types.  When I hit on a mexican restaurant several people said yes.  So I entered that as a new destination.  It was only 1 mile off of our planned route.  We reached it just before noon and went around to the back to find shade to park in.

Everyone got pretty good food except Angela whose rolled tacos were extra greasy and the chicken was very overcooked.  Karen gave her a granola bar to tide her over.  Back at the bikes, Ron, Karen, and I got out our evaporative neck wraps and vests.  I had loaded the chest with ice this morning.  Much has melted so we soaked the items in that freezing cold water then put it on.  Mine felt great and cut down on the heat.  

Just as we were ready to leave, John got a call and said he needed to take it.  He walked a little way off and started talking.  And the more he talked, the bigger his grin got.  Then he told us he'd just sold a million dollar home.  We all congratulated him.  John has sold homes on many of our trips over the years.  There have been many times we've sat in a restaurant or ice cream shop while John sits in a corner filling in an offer or counter offer.  It's nice that he can ride and still keep his business going.

John giving us his news

When we backtracked our extra mile we found ourselves at the end of the detour and getting back onto the parkway.  By now it was 1:00 and the temperature was up near 100 degrees.  We rode for about 30 minutes before we stopped to see a "swamp".  Sure enough there was about an acre of land covered in slimy water with those trees that have massive root balls.  It looked swampy but it didn't really feel swampy and I bet there wasn't a single gator in the whole thing.  We re-soaked our evaporative gear and set off again.

Bridge across the "Swamp"

The endless swamp, no wait, it ends right over there

We stopped again at a place called French Camp.  I guess it's a famous christian camp with a couple of stores and a cafe.  The gift shops were interesting.  We thought about getting some ice cream in the cafe but I think only I thought that was a great idea.  When we were getting ready to go, we saw a man and his son getting onto a motorcycle.  We chatted a bit about the trail.  He's taking his son on a 3 day trip down and back.  He was surprised by the low speed limit on the trail and said he wasn't going to be able to go as far as he liked.  I told him about my 2 day ride with Penn and he thought Hannibal might be a fun ride in the future.

More scenes on the parkway

Some of the most open area on the parkway

Lots of different looks on the parkway

We stopped another time to see some ancient indian mounds.  There was no real history or trail, so we just took pictures and kept going.

John and Angela looking at an indian mount.  Ron and I are parked in the shade.

Another indian mound

Finally we reached Tupelo and exited  the parkway.  I got cut off by another car and delayed at a stoplight so I rode the last 3 miles alone.  But I had the address and it was no big deal.

We got checked in and I started working on the blog ..... again.  We agreed to meet at 5:15 to get dinner.  There was another Chili's across the street and that has something for everyone's dining limitations.  But wen we got there, they showed us to their only large table.  But the sun was shining straight in and we couldn't get the sun shade to pull down.  Turns out its been broken a long time.  They had some 4 person tables available but it would be an hour before another table that could sit 5 was free.  I told them to go ahead and sit 4, and I was in a mood to go eat something "exotic" anyway.  So I left them to it.

After some google searching I decided to go for a nice Thai Curry.  It was about a mile away.  I also got some pot stickers with my Penang shrimp curry.

Before my food came, I texted a message to John.  "Boy this spicy bulgogi beef is fantastic.  And the huge selection of kimchi is great!".  John served his mission in Korea and he loves the food but seldom gets to eat it.  So me leaving to get Korean would have been a BIG no-no.  I wasted a little bit then texted "JUST KIDDING!!"  I don't know if it really got him or not but I had a good laugh anyway.

My curry and pot stickers were very good.  I'm glad I went for them.  An this time I made very sure to get my credit card back from the waitress.

I gassed up on the way back and bought a couple water bottles.

No I'm doing what I do every night, finishing the blog.  Today wasn't nearly as eventful as yesterday, thank heaven.  I didn't take so many pictures.

Tomorrow its wheels up at 8:00

Daily Miles: 182

Total Miles: 2497

Total drive time: 53h19m

2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 9 - Natchez #1

Riding the Natchez Trace Parkway

This was a very slow starting day. Angela and Karen didn't arrive until almost 10:00pm and they were exhausted, so both are entitled to sleeping in and not rushing out the door. I didn't even wake up till 6:30. By the time I showered and got downstairs, it was after 7 and John, as usual, was sitting doing work on his laptop. 

I thought I'd give Walmart one last try. There's a super Walmart just around the corner so I rode over and look for a tripod. They had the exact same selection of the other two Walmarts I've tried, so there's no point in ever trying again , until I do.

I got back to the hotel and got all my gear loaded down from the room and onto the bike. Then I spend a wild cleaning the windshield and other parts of the bike.  When I pulled out my small spray bottle of Rain-X, I got my proof that yesterday was the hottest ride yet.  The spray bottle had melted and deformed. So not only get my watch overheat and turn off, my phone overheat and go into night time mode and then into power saving mode, but it was actually melting plastic on my motorcycle. 

Proof that my bike rides have been HOT

Getting the bikes ready.  The "foggy" appearance is the humidity in the air

While we were loading, Ron said he had a small Styrofoam ice chest that he's been using on the ride. But now that Karen is here she will be on the back seat. I had him bring it down and we put it on my back seat for the next few days. I had 3D printed a bracket for my bike so that I can stretch a bungee strap across my back seat to hold things on. It holds this ice chest fine. But the ice chest is just a little too big and pushes my seat rest forward. When I push back against it it applies pressure to the ice chest and might break it. But the worst that can happen is cold water runs off the back seat and on to the ground.

All of us have Bluetooth intercom by Cardo.  That means we can all talk together while riding down the road. But first you have to get them all paired. We spent a little while trying to get them all working and eventually managed to hear each other. But there's lots of other functions that will need to figure out along the way. For example if you leave your helmet open and the wind blast your microphone it hits all four of the other Riders very loud and annoying. Ask me how I know! 

We were ready to go around 9:00. We went to gas up and load the ice chest with ice and drinks. Angela still needed to return the rental car so he sent them ahead to the airport then followed a few minutes later.

Once that was all done and we picked them up, we were finally ready to get started with our ride.

John led the way out of the airport, but I guess he hadn't driven to the exact spot the GPS wanted him to go, so it kept telling him to flip a u-turn and go back to the airport. But in the meantime he missed our turn off to get on the freeway. Ron did take the turn off  and now is separated from the rest of us. Everybody had their own idea of how to fix the situation and with our intercoms we could all talk at the same time and tell each other our wonderful ideas. There's a specific term for what was happening and it starts with the word cluster but we won't go into that.

My GPS was working fine so I whipped around John and just tell them to follow me. We did get turned back around and when we started to eat on the freeway, there was wrong who had just pulled off to the side . Crisis averted. John also figured out that all he needed to do was hit a little X on his screen and it skipped the errant Waypoint and started working correctly so he took lead back.

We are going to spend 3 days riding the Natchez Trace Parkway . It's a road built over a famous Trail that was used for hundreds of years by farmers to deliver their goods to Market . The government bought all the land making up the trail and made a national park out of it . It's 400 miles long and about 800 ft wide .

But before we can ride the parkway, we have to get to it .  It's about a hundred miles from Baton Rouge to Natchez. We took Interstate 10 about 2 miles over to US Highway 61. It's a beautiful divided four lane Highway. When we finally got out of city limits , the temperature dropped by about four degrees and felt really nice. It was mostly cloudy that was helping keep the temperatures down.

US 61 is no slouch when it comes to nice highways

When we crossed the state line from Louisiana to Mississippi, we decided to stop and get a picture.  John tried to setup his tripod to get a group shot, but it just wouldn't stand up on sloped terrain.  So I pulled out the 360 camera.  It does OK but it doesn't give the quality that a normal camera on a tripod can give.

Welcome to Mississippi

Our bikes, us, and the sign all at once

All morning we've seen some largish black flying bugs hanging around.  While we were posing for the photo the bugs started to become a bit bothersome.  Then they got a bit worse.  Ron mentioned that they seemed to be "paired up" as it were, and sure enough they were all in pairs.  We kind of laughed it off and headed for the bike.  When we got there, we found the bikes, jackets, helmet and everything COVERED with the bugs.  You'd slap them to get them off but they'd come right back.  My windshield was absolutly full of them.  At least they didn't bite.

We all quickly tried to gear up and get going.  But I had to get a picture first, so I was behind everyone else by about 30 seconds.  Looking at the picture seems allot fewer than it felt like at the time.  Just looking at it, I find myself feeling them landing on my ears and arms.   YEEEESH!

Once I was going, they did not want to let go.  I was going  almost 80 before they were blown away.

We stopped at the next gas station to clean up and go potty.  Once I stopped, bug flew out of every crevice and nook on the bike.  They'd gotten everywhere.  I spent a while getting them out of things, then washed the windshield about 4 times to clean the mess from all the bugs we'd hit.  John asked the lady in the store about them and she said they're called "Love Bugs", and sure enough it was they're spawning season.

Once we got ourselves de-bugged, we got back on the road.  Our route had us just going through the outskirts of natchez, but it was lunch time so we deviated and followed a sign that pointed us to downtown Natchez. I'm not sure what the sign meant by downtown, but we were just riding through neighborhoods with no signs of any businesses or restaurants.

I was at the back of the group as we drove past a school.  Suddenly I heard John yell "LOOK OUT" over the intercom.  Ron slammed on his brakes in front of me and stopped.  I had no idea what was happening.  Then I noticed that Ron seemed to be tangled in a wire as something fly off to his right.

There seemed to be a wire coming from above and to the left of Ron, it was snagged on his bike then went to the upper right.  It took me a few seconds to realize it was coming from the power poles on either side of the street.  Ron shoved the wire forward, then lifted it up and over his head and let it go.  Now it shot back toward me behind him.  It thumped the front of my bike but not very hard.

Then Angela yelled over the intercom "THE POLE IS GOING TO FALL".  I quickly glanced to the left and the power/telephone pole was wobbling back and forth.  It was obviously very loose in its hole.  It didn't seem to be cracked or broken, just loose.

I finally looked at the wire and recognized that it was low voltage wire.  It was thin and covered in a plastic insulator.  If it was thick and heavy, or worse, uninsulated, then it would have been extremely dangerous.  But since Ron had touched it with no ill effects, I did the same thing.  Unhook it from my bike, lift it up over my head and let it flip behind me.  Then because of the whole wobbly pole thing, I pulled 30 yards down the street past Ron and parked on the side of the street.

I had noticed a car coming the opposite direction, and about this time I realized it was a police car.  But whoever was in it, stayed inside and didn't come out.  Ron started talking about his hand being cut and his right side mirror being ripped off.  Then Karen said she'd nearly been strangled when the wire hit.

The off duty officer and an on duty officer helping Ron

Ron's Bike missing his side mirror

The loose pole and the wire hanging from it to the ground

Within a minute, another police car showed up and started checking on things.  A man walked over from a work van parked at the school and said we should clear the wire but he didn't have anything to cut it with.  I handed him my leatherman and he used it to cut what was remaining of the wire then we kicked it up onto the sidewalks.

More police showed up and talked with Ron.  I guess they called paramedics to check out his cuts.  The officer in the first car finally got out and came over to explain that she was off duty and wasn't allowed to help until she'd called in and been given permission.

The man who's house we were in front of came out to talk as well.  He said the wire had been sagging all day.  He'd called the utility company 2 hours ago about the pole and the wire.

Then the most surreal thing happened.  As everything was calming down and the police were clearing the traffic that had backed up.  A car pulled past, the window rolled down, and the Mayor of the town waved at us and wished us a good day.  I have no idea if he came because of the accident or just happen to be passing.

The mayor wishing us a good day

Eventually the police had us all move down the street to a gas station to park and get statements.  We told him we'd move if he'd tell us where to get good food.  He told us to go to "The Camp" restaurant.

Ron's big concern was and is, who's going to repair his bike?  It ripped the mirror off and scraped several panels.  The police gave him incident numbers and the info about the utility company.  We'll see if he ever gets a dime out of anyone.

We followed the officer's advice and had the GPS take us to The Camp.  It led us down more small neighborhood streets, and all of us commented about just how many wires were strewn across the streets as we drove.

The road led us right toward the Mississippi river then turned left and onto a one way street that descended right to the water's edge.  That's where The Camp was.  We parked then went to take pictures of the nearby bridge and the river.

Parking at The Camp

The Camp on the left and the Mississippi and a bridge

Having Lunch

The Camp

The food was pretty good.  Just standard american fare, with sandwiches, salads and such.  I had a brisket sandwich and really good fries.

Once we left, we headed toward the beginning of the Natchez Trace Parkway.  It was just outside of town.  The entrance felt like were were going onto a freeway which is almost what it is.  The government designed it to be "light on the landscape".  There are no stop signs or traffic lights.  Most intersections are freeway like, but a few are 90 degree turn off/on roads.  There are no homes, driveway, stores, or other businesses.  It's 400 miles of slow speed scenic byway.

If was well past noon by now, and if it were like the last 6 days, I'd already be sweating.  But it is cloudy and the temperatures are barely into the 90s.  It feels very nice.  We were all talking about how unusual the road is.  It's not a 4 lane super highway.  Just 2 lanes, but the grass to either side is well maintained and this trees run the whole length.  Sometimes the trees are close to the road and sometimes a 100 feet or more away.  But you can never see off into the distance, there are always trees blocking the view.  Someone joked that there were subdivisions, factories, cities, and freeways just the other side of the trees.  Turns out, that's exactly how it works.

The Natchez Trace Parkway

Beautiful ride on the parkway.  If I took every beautiful view I'd have thousands

Riding 40mph means I can stand up to stretch cramped legs and get more air

Ron and Karen.  Can you see the Bat Symbol on his hood?

John and Angela.  No bat symbol, just Cool Factor

This is about as intrusive as it gets on the parkway.  A 90 degree on/off ramp

We had gone about 20 miles when someone need a bio break so we pulled off to a small building we could see.  There were restrooms, and an information center staffed by a volunteer.  There was also a group of old homes just off into the woods.  Karen and Angela went off to see the buildings while Ron went to chat with the volunteer.  The best thing about the volunteer was that he had an air conditioned room with lots of maps on the walls.  We cared a little about the maps, but we cared A LOT about the AC.

Stopped for a bio break and a 20 minute lecture on the parkway from an enthusiast

It wasn't super hot, but the humidity with no air movement was stifling.  In fact, when we were ready to leave, Ron had to work on something for 10 minutes, so John and I just drove around and around the oblong parking lot just to have air movement.

Once we were back on the road, we went about 10 miles when the pavement changed from dry to pretty wet.  It looked like we had just missed some very heavy rain. The rain really cooled the air off and once again it felt wonderful to be riding. The speed limit along the whole parkway is 50 mph but we were only going about 40 so that we can enjoy the ride better. 

It was about this time when I wanted to take a picture with my waterproof camera.  Not for any particular reason, just because the area was beautiful.  I hit the cruise control, then with my right hand I reached down and grabbed the camera.  I got my index finger positioned over the power button and turned it on.  Then lifted the camera up to take the picture.  As I got it up over the windshield, the lanyard just disconnected.  I have no idea why, but suddenly I had hundreds of dollars worth of camera in my hand, held only by a few fingers and no ALL-SAVING lanyard attached.  I very carefully reached forward and tucked it into the big pouch on my dash board, then for safety, I zipped it shut.  That's gonna need to get figured out and probably replaced.

After another 20 miles or so, John pulled over and parked. This was supposed to be a waterfall and one of the sights not to be missed. We all got our gear off and John walked over to what he thought was the start of a trail. It turned out to be the actual viewing point for the waterfall. He got there then exclaimed "WHAT THE HECK!"  and started laughing.   Angela walked over, took one look, and started laughing as well. 

Stopped to see the amazing waterfall

When we all got there we could see that the scenic waterfall was pretty pathetic. Maybe it was the drought they've been having, but it looked like someone had their hose turned on about one-quarter turn. It was just a pathetic little trickle of water coming down. And even with all of that it was only about a 2-foot drop. 

We started walking back to the bikes when, off in the distance, we heard some thunder rumbling. We could see that the clouds ahead of us were pretty dark. We had had a couple of tiny little sprinkles as we rode but no real evidence of serious rain. I tried to check the weather but we happened to be in a cellular dead zone. 

As we sat there we heard more and more thunder off in the distance. Someone asked if we should put on our rain gear but nobody seemed very excited about that. Rain gear blocks all of the wind and can be a very uncomfortable way to ride in hot weather. We were just about to start getting back on the bikes when the first big drops of rain fell. 

It quickly turned from scattered drops of rain to constant drops of rain to pretty dang heavy rain in about a minute. We all rushed to the bikes and grabbed our rain gear then ran back to the picnic table that happened to be under a big tree. We were putting our rain gear on with the intention of getting on the bikes when the rain really cut loose. 

Trying to put on rain get during a downpour

Sheets of water pouring down on us and then a massive flash of light in the sky followed by an incredible boom of thunder.  We decided to try and wait it out for a little while. I walked over to my bike and grabbed my poor little malformed spray bottle with Rain-X in it. I sprayed my glasses and rubbed it in with my fingers, then shook it off and put the glasses back on. Just like that I could see again. 

I can't believe I didn't take more pictures during all of this, but my waterproof was tucked away, my 360 was in the trunk for safety, and my phone is getting a bit old and I'm worried about it's waterproof-ness.  I should have gotten out the waterproof but it just didn't occur to me.

More thunder and lightning, more heavy rain, and we just sat there getting wetter and wetter. The storm didn't seem to be moving past us. After about 20 minutes we started talking about going ahead and trying to ride out of the rain. Many times in the past I've sat there waiting for a storm to move on and it just will be stuck over me. But when I finally get on the bike and start going, within minutes I've ridden out of it. John and Ron have both had similar experiences so we decided to give it a try. 

We all put on our soaking wet helmets, got on the bikes, and pulled out onto the Natchez Trace Parkway. I was fairly slow getting out and by the time I got on the road, they were gone. I actually wasn't even wearing my glasses because they couldn't shed the water fast enough.   So I was only riding about 30 mph.    I'd catch occasional snippets of conversation on the intercom but I couldn't talk to them.

After only 5 minutes, the rain started to let up and I could speed up.  I quickly got up to 50mph, then a bit more and finally started to hear their conversations.  I finally caught them after another 5 minutes.  John asked what the problem was and I said "It was pouring and I wasn't wearing glasses, the road was more a suggestion, and I wasn't going to speed in those conditions".  That's when he realized he was going 55.  He just naturally gone back to his normal "blash through it" mode of riding.

The rain never fully stopped but it never reached flood proportions again.  We had to ride for almost another hour before it was time to leave the Natchez.  Once we turned off it was like **POOF** you were in the wilderness and now you're in civilization.  We had no idea we were that close to a city.  They've really done a great job with the isolation of the parkway.

We only had to ride a couple of miles to reach our Hampton Inn.  We peeled off the rain gear and helmets, then went in to get our rooms.

Once I was in my room,  I took off my soaking wet shirt and got a towel to dry myself off.  I pulled out all my clothes.  Everything I have is dirty, so I piked what I thought was my cleanest shirt and put it on.  Then I got out the laptop and started the blog.  If I don't start it immediately, I probably won't do it.  I also started pulling photos off my cameras and uploading them.

We were all hungry so we'd agreed to meet at 6:15 in the lobby.  I didn't get much done before it was time to meet.  When I got there, John was missing.  Angela said he was on the phone with a client and might just sell a house.  I've been on many trips where John winds up selling a house in the middle of the trip, so this was just normal stuff.

We started looking for somewhere to eat and decided to try out Lou's.  Angela said she'd wait for John, so Ron, Karen, and I headed off for the 6 minute ride.  When we got there it turned out to be a bit fancy for us.  We were very underdressed.  Plus it was a 90 minute wait.  So we said we'd go somewhere else.

Just next door was a place called the "Eatery".  It was a fast casual place with pizza, salads, soups, and sandwiches.  Ron and Karen split a chicken sandwich and a bowl of soup.  I got a french dip sandwich and a cup of lobster bisque.  They loved their, and I loved mine.  Very warming.

In the middle of eating, Angela texted and asked us to bring them something.  I texted the restaurant info.  They got salads.  Karen and Ron finished their meal and Karen was freezing, so I told them to go and take the food with them.  I texted with Nan and other friends and enjoyed the rest of my meal then headed home as well.

When I got to the hotel, I was surprised to find people spilling out the doors and all over the parking lot.  It must have been a reunion or some other party going on.  There were people everywhere, including kids having foot races up and down the main hallway.

I walked over to check out the laundry facilities.  You needed quarters to run the washer & dryer so I went to the front desk.  They let me get quarters for $5.00.  Then I went up to the room and changed into my swimming suit with my "clean-enough" shirt on.  I put all my clothes in my duffel and went downstairs to do my laundry.  No one blinked an eye at me.  There were many people less dressed than I was.

It took $2.50 to run the washer.  I threw everything into one long and started it.  THEN I REMEMBERED I NEEDED TO PUT IN SOAP.  Luckily I remembered in time before the door locked.  I pulled out a tide pot and tossed it in.

The very height of laundry fashion

I pulled out my laptop to try and work on the blog, but the laptop ran for only 5 minutes before shutting down due to low battery.  The laptop keeps doing this to me.  I fully charge it, do a full shutdown, put it in the bag for the day while I ride, and when I pull it out again, the battery is near 0.  Why is it using battery while it's OFF?

So I switched to my cell phone.  The voice to text app is pretty bad.  It constantly miss-hears what I say and it has no context intelligence so it chooses the wrong spelling of a word all the time, but it gets a good starting point.  Sometimes I ask AI to correct my blog, but way too many times AI will completely change the tone of what I've written by rewriting whole sections.  So I don't do that very often.  If anything I ask AI to point out problem areas and I fix it myself.  But with a blog like this where I have to write a whole blog every day, there's just no time for all that.  So you get my raw blog, warts and all.

The wash took 30 minutes and a sign on the wall said drying was 30 minutes as well.  I knew 30 minutes would never dry jeans, but I figured I'd at least start it before I went hunting more quarters.  But when I put in the $2.00 to start the dryer it gave me a full hour.   The dryer also allowed for a hot cycle and I took that.

After 30 minutes I pulled the lighter stuff out and it was all dry.  Then another 10 and I pulled my shirts out.  I figured it would take the full hour to dry jeans, but they were done at 45 minutes.  I stuffed it all back into the duffel and headed to the room

It's now 11:15.  I'm nearly done with the blog, but I still have to process the 360 photos.  Hopefully I'll be done with the blog by midnight.

Daily Miles: 208

Total Miles: 2315

Total drive time: 48h45m