July 24, Natchez Trace Parkway … it calls, it calls

Today the boys, Greg and Doug, and I would part company. Greg had to get to Kansas City and I was headed south, west toward Texas and then home to the barn in Phoenix area. I've so enjoyed traveling with my new friends, but we'll be in touch. Facebook is an awesome tool for that.

While I've traveled a lot of outstanding roads this trip, I was looking forward to riding the Natchez Trace Parkway. The northern terminus, MP 444, is about 17 miles south of Nashville, and runs south through Tennessee and Alabama,terminating in Natchez, Mississippi. The boys and I got to the Trace, at about MP 368. They got me on it, headed in the right direction. Two miles in we stopped at a historic sign, Dogwood Mudhole, said our good byes, and then they went north, and I headed south.

Another doggy name, this time on the Natchez Trace Parkway, about MP 378.

It was time.  Greg and Doug were heading north, and I was heading south.

It was a road less traveled, and I was alone on it most of the day.  Alone with the road, my thoughts and the scenery, I lived each second on it to the fullest, stopping everywhere to try to see everything.

The big draw on the Trace Parkway is the history of the area. Every stop was a wealth of information, a learning stop.

The state line, Tennessee and Alabama.  The Trace doesn't stay in Alabama for very long.

Freedom Hills, MP 317, has a short walk up to the highest point on the parkway, 800 feet.  I walked up but there was nothing to tell me that.  So I just figured I'd had some exercise and sweated off a pound.

A natural cave at MP 308.4 is called Cave Spring, and was probably used by American Indians.  The cave was made when the rock was dissolved by underground water. 

I always like to ride across a bridge, this one at MP 293.2 

The waterway makes 459 miles navigable between the Gulf of Mexico and the Tennessee River.

I was even lucky enough to see a boat on the waterway.

I couldn't ride the entire road to Natchez, but was going to do most of it, a little less than 300 miles.

The Indian mounds were fascinating as it gave insight in how they buried their dead.  These, at MP 286.7, contain 8 burial mounds dating from about 1,800 to 2,000 years ago.  They are the largest, scattered over about 90 acres (about 100 football fields). 

The Indians first made a low platform of clay, then prepared a crematory basins, built log tombs or dug graves.  The bodies were cremated or placed in the tombs or graves.  Often items of the deceased were also placed with them.  Then a large dome-shapped mount was built over the burials, sometimes with the cremations within the mound.  Then the final soil was placed on top.

If you didn't know these were burial grounds, you'd pass by and never even question them.

As I rode down the parkway, a mama turkey and her young ones were crossing the road. I slowed, but they didn't move any faster. I came upon them, and while they didn't want to fly, they did, proving to me that yes, turkeys can fly. Was fun to see them.

The road winds through gorgeous country, and I marveled at the greenness (a word or not?) yet again. The roads, the lushness all make for wonderful riding. It was hot, but not unbearably so because of the trees. It was quite enjoyable and I didn't want it to end.

All the signs had a history lesson included.  And this road also did not have a fee, like so many traveled this year.

Every pullout, or stand as these are called on this parkway, was a lesson in history. Indian mounds depicted how the Indians buried their dead, what was buried with them, how the mounds were constructed. Confederate soldier graves, pieces of the Old Trace. I couldn't help but wonder how they got wagons through these areas, how they knew which way to go, how they survived. I know I would have been going in circles, as I often do that on paved roads.

At MP 269.4 once again I had a little hike.  There was no one else around as I trudged up the pathway which was covered with broken pine cones.  A sharp noise made me jump as I was quite sensitive now to the possibility of snakes since the one I'd seen on the Tail of the Dragon.  It was nothing.  But I suddenly became even more aware of my lonely surroundings and my aloneness (another word I've made up).

It was a nice walk in total solitude.

The graves of 13 unknown Confederate soldiers lies at the end of the trail.  They may have died of wounds, sickness or hunger, it's not known.  There were originally head markers, possibly with names ... no one knows for sure, replaced by marble headstones that were stolen.  Currently these stones mark the graves, and they all face backwards toward the Trace,

A kind of semi-circle of graves marks where these soldiers lie.

Each marker was decorated with flags and flowers.  It was so peaceful, and they are certainly lying in a most beautiful location, serene and quiet for all time.

The Bynum Indian Mounds are located at MP 232.4.  These were also built between 2,100 and 1,800 years ago,.

The Old Trace Trail is visible along the Trace Parkway here and there.  Some is marked with a simple sign, "Old Trace." 

You wonder how they got anything through a 10-foot-wide swath.  Wow. 

As I rode along with the trees hanging over and shading the road, I suddenly came to this, tornado damage from 2011.  It was a stark reminder of how Mother Nature can give beauty as well as take it away.

Yep, I was here, MP 128.4.  This shows the boundaries of a treaty from 1820.  The Choctaw about 5-1/2 million acres, about one-third of their land.  Ten years later they were relocated allowing for settlements in the three states, Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee.   

When I got to Jackson, Mississippi, it was time to mosey off the Trace and head west. I was sorry not to be able to travel it the entire length as there was still so much to learn, but the road west called and I had to listen.

I wanted to get over the line and out of Mississippi, into the next state, before quitting for the day. I got to Talullah, Louisiana, and made camp for the night … in a hotel, of course. Surely you didn't think I'd C A M P???