2026 Natchez Trace ride - Day 8 - Baton Rouge

Standing up while riding down a hill...my hat nearly flew off

This was a really casual morning. I woke up around 5:30 and I started packing my gear. Then at 6:00, I walked down to the breakfast area. A waffle, hardboiled eggs, and yogurt were as good as it got.

It will be time to do laundry once I get to Baton Rouge, so I left at 7:30 and drove over to a nearby Walmart. I picked up some Tide Pods and laundry sheets, and then rode back to the Vicksburg National Military Park. 

84 degrees and the bike is covered in dew, it's THAT humid!

It was 8:15 and the gates apparently don't open until 8:30. So I parked in the shade and enjoyed a few moments of peace and quiet. There were about 20 cars in the parking lot, so I figured everyone was waiting for the gates to open, just like me.

But, when the gates opened, I was the only one to pull out and go through. In fact, on my whole ride, I only passed two other cars. But I passed 30 or more people walking the roads. Maybe that's the big thing here, to walk the park while the roads are closed and before it gets hot.

Waiting for the gates to open

Anyway, it was a lot cooler than yesterday, about 82°.  It felt great. I followed the audio tour, but this time I spent a lot more time reading signs and looking at the positioning of the cannons. In some places you could clearly see Federal lines versus Confederate lines.  The road was sometimes behind the lines and sometimes in front.

When I was in Shiloh and again yesterday, I used my 360 camera to take all of my pictures except the few that I took with my phone. Today, I was sitting there thinking it would be a lot easier if I could hold my phone to take pictures without trying to position the bike.  That's about when my brain went "DOH!!"  I had purchased a new waterproof camera with a lanyard specifically to let it hang around my neck so I could take pictures exactly like this. What a dunderhead. 

I stopped and dug my camera out of the trunk.  It made a world of difference. Well, you can see for yourself if the pictures were worth it. Hopefully they are good pictures.

Union cannon emplacements

A full battery of Union guns.

Monument to "Old Abe." Wisconsin's mascot that travelled with them.

Typical civil war monument.  There are hundreds of such.

A famous Union attack is documented here, with markers depicting each event.

The mysterious monument off in the distance.

Another view of Hill Fort that overlooked the river.

I followed the route just like yesterday until I got to the ironside ship. There was a one lane road that terminated by the ship. It had big sign saying no entry.  I was left wondering where the heck the entry to the one-lane road was. My audio tour mentioned at the very beginning that floods had closed a large part of the park. Maybe this one lane road was one such closed section - except it sure didn't look closed to me.

The display of ironside Cairo.

A bit closer view of Cairo.

The Spyder parked by Cairo.

I pulled up Google Maps and traced the road way back to near the entrance. So I got on the bike and rode back to the head of the one way road and turned onto it.  There were signs at the entrance warning of construction but the road was open.

The road went to the very north edge of the park. I'm really glad I came back to ride this because it's some of the most interesting part of the Vicksburg story. Before the siege and everything, General Sherman tried to attack Vicksburg from the north. And even though he had a large army and was well prepared, they just could not overcome the defenses. And this road really showed why. It quickly dropped down off the raised parts of Vicksburg into real low scrubby woodland. Everybody in history books talks about the swampy terrain and them trying to climb up unscalable hills. I was able to see all of that on this road. 

Even without someone shooting at me I don't think I could cross this landscape and climb the hills. 

Looking down, across, and up at the defenders positions at Vicksburg.

More of the terrain north of Vicksburg.

Much more shade with the sun low in the sky.

The new section of road recently re-paved.

Mysterious monument turned out to be the US Navy Memorial.

Union Ave turned out to be great.  I'm glad I came back to ride it.

I also found an explanation for this massive obelisk.  I could see the obelisk from several places on the road yesterday, but I had no idea what it was. I thought maybe it was some monument in the city itself. But this road came around the north side of town and the park, and there sat this monument to the naval officers and ships that helped to take Vicksburg. 

The Mississippi River has changed course since the Civil War. You can see where it used to run and how the heights used to be able to shoot any ship coming down the river. But being down here at the bottom of the bluffs, you can also see how protected the Vicksburg cannoneers were. They were able to hide back over the crest of the hill and there was almost no way to get anything to drop down onto them. 

Old course of the Mississippi. Now it's a "backwater." Connected but no flow through.

When I came out at the bottom end of the one-way road, I was once again by the ironside ship. 

I had spent almost two hours in the park and it was starting to warm up. I still had three hours of riding to get to Baton Rouge, where I was to meet up with my friends. So I turned for the fifth time up the road towards the park exit. I continued listening to the audio tour but I was going quicker and several times the audio tour cut itself off when I reached the next spot before the last one had finished. 

Once I got back to the visitor center, I parked in my favorite shady spot. After a quick bathroom break, I put my hat away and put my helmet back on and all my other safety gear. I also made sure my water and everything else was topped up and good, and picked my destination and headed out. 

I deliberately picked a route that avoided the Natchez Trace Parkway so I could ride it with my friends. And I didn't feel like riding the freeway, so I also avoided that route. That left me changing back roads about every 20 to 30 minutes, but it was a very nice drive, other than the constantly increasing temperature. 

After an hour I picked a random gas station and pulled in for a quick break. I think I was the only person who actually used it as a gas station. Cars kept pulling in and going up to the pumps but they wouldn't turn their cars off. They'd leave their stereo blasting as loud as it could go, and they'd walk into the store and come back out. Then get in their car and drive away. This happened over and over again. All the while, I ate a little piece of lemon pound cake that I bought, drank some Gatorade, then wet down my vest and headed out again. 

Wetting the evaporative vest.  Put it in a trashbag, dump water over it, let it sit a few minutes.

By the time I reached the outskirts of Baton Rouge, the temperature was back up over 100 degrees. I made one quick stop to pick something up from an Amazon locker. Then I headed over to a restaurant to get some lunch. I thought I had picked a Cajun place but it was mostly just a seafood restaurant. I got blackened fish tacos and they were very good. But the real star of my lunch was the fresh corn. It had been freshly cut from the cob, cooked, and then served with a lobster bisque soup poured over the top. The combination of really good corn with that lobster bisque was fantastic. I'd eat that again any time. 

I also ordered a Diet Coke. She brought me a cup of ice and one of those teeny little Coke bottles full of Diet Coke. I didn't dare look at how much I paid for that stinkin' little Diet Coke. The whole meal was $22 with tip, and I just left with the happy memory of the corn. 

I rode over to the Hampton Inn and tried to check in, but the lady at the front desk had no reservation under my name or John's. After a bit of checking around, it turned out the reservation was actually at a different Hampton Inn, but fortunately, one not too far away. Once that was figured out, John then had to call the correct Hampton Inn and put my name on the reservation so that I could check in without him.  Then the final curveball was that this Hampton Inn didn't have a self-serve laundry, and I'm out of clean clothes.  Tomorrow's hotel has one so I hand-washed a few things, then hung them to dry.   It will be fine.

In the meantime John and Ron were riding over from Arizona and today they got stuck in a massive rainstorm - four hours straight of heavy rain crossing Texas. 

Then just to pile on, John and Ron's wives were flying in to Baton Rouge today, but their flight got delayed, which in turn meant they missed their connecting flight in Houston. So they had to rent a car and drive from Houston to Baton Rouge (about 270 miles). 

And finally, to add insult to injury, while at dinner last night, the waitress lost my credit card.  She swears she brought it back, but no.  So I had to cancel it and get a new one in the middle of a trip.

But all these little things eventually turn into great memories and funny stories.

I did one other thing with my extra time this morning, I figured out how to buy a single song on Amazon.  For a few weeks I've been wanting to buy James Taylor's "Secret O' Life."  It's all about enjoying what you have. As little things have piled up today, I've had that in mind.  Even the stupid little Diet Coke bottle incident is a memory that will provide me years of laughs.

John and Ron did finally arrive to Baton Rouge safe and sound - and a bit damp.  They got checked in and we walked to a nearby Chili's restaurant for dinner.  Ron started teasing the waitress who teased him right back.  We talked and caught up on lives and plans.  Like I said, this is what these trips is really about.  Seeing the sites and having experience is nice, but good friends and memories are the real treasure.

Daily Miles: 207

Total Miles: 2107

Total drive time: 43h45m