Elvis is alive!

Day 3     French Camp to Tupelo, MS      90 miles

Elvis was born in Tupelo, but lived here only a couple of years. Yet, he lives on. Everything here is Elvis!

But first, we had to get to Tupelo. We had a superb breakfast in the dining room at the B&B, with quiche, bacon, and fruit. I created my blog quickly before departing, and had to chase down other riders since I left late.

After riding 12 miles (at Mile 193 of the Trace Parkway), I reached a campground called Jeff Busby. If you rode up a steep hill for a mile, you reached a lookout from the highest point on the Parkway within Mississippi. How high is this highest point? 603 ft. This doesn't sound so high, does it? But the photo above is what you can see from up there - tree tops. Where are the snow-covered peaks, lakes, and waterfalls? haha

By the time I descended the Jeff Busby lookout, I was way behind all the other riders except for the two who came riding up just as I was getting back on the Parkway. It was Paul Wood and Nate, the Category 1 racer who is one of the staff. They are so good that they typically can catch everyone even when starting very late. Well, they encouraged me to try drafting with them to catch up, and I agreed. Paul knew I didn't like to draft other bikes when riding fast, since I cannot fall, but he reassured me that Nate was a predictable, steady rider, and the Parkway is smooth and straight -- favorable conditions for not having a mishap. So, I fell in behind Nate, with Paul behind me, and off we flew. WOW, that was exhilarating! I had not ridden like that since the day of my accident in 07.

We finally caught up to everyone at the first rest stop, 22 miles in. I was pooped. The good thing was that I had cell phone service and could text with Janet for the first time since yesterday afternoon. Last night we couldn't connect at all. By the way, the treats prepared by Rod and Lisa were top notch, as usual.

I continued on. It was another good day for bicyclists because the Parkway was still flat, and we still had a tailwind. I eventually came to a spot where the Original Trace was next to the Parkway.

This spot looked especially cool, sunken down a bit which gave it the "well worn" look. Kind of neat knowing that this trail had been trampled for thousands of years.

I'm going to post one more picture at this spot because it's about the only one from today showing me in my cool Appenzeller Cheese jersey, and you know how vain I am about my cycling appearance!! haha

The original Trace is behind me there if you look carefully.

Shortly after that stop, Paul and Nate caught me again, and again invited me to join their fast paceline. I did, and off we flew for about 11 miles to the lunch stop (at a place with a great name - Witch Dance). My avg speed was almost 19 mph at that point!!

As always, we had an incredible lunch. My legs desperately needed the rest. Eventually, I climbed back in the saddle and rode behind the tandem and two of the women.

Here's a photo of the tandem and the other two. Those trees on either side of the road were typical scenery, except this morning we passed a broad section that had been hit by the tornado in April, 2011. I wish I took a picture, because the entire forest was chopped off. All the trees had been snapped in half, and it gave an eerie sight to the landscape.

After 84 miles (at Mile 260 of the Parkway), we reached Tupelo but had three miles of city to reach our hotel. On the way, there was a welcomed sight:

Reminiscent of what many of us did when we rode across the country in 07, I stopped in for a milkshake! I kept watching for others to wave them in, but I never saw any (only Paul, Nate, and Thurman stopped later). That cherry shake was such a welcomed treat, and I'm certain it helped me recover for tomorrow!

In the downtown, they had decorated guitars all over the place. It was just like the pianos in Lockport,NY last summer, the cats in Catskill, NY, the pigs in Cinci, the frogs in Erie, PA, and the cows in Chicago. Here are some samples:

This last one has our hotel in the background. I later took a much-needed jacuzzi there to massage my neck and legs, but first I just HAD to ride over to Elvis Presley's birthplace.

I couldn't believe how small it was. As Janet replied when I sent her a photo of it, "He had humble beginnings."

See how narrow the house is? They had a theater and lots of other Elvis stuff, but I wanted to get back to the hotel so I did not buy a ticket and linger.

To celebrate Cinco de Mayo, we enjoyed a Happy Hour filled with margaritas at a next-door watering hole, and then walked a bit farther to our fabulous restaurant. As always, we had our own room, which is nice so that we can be noisy. After dinner, Paul gave us jerseys. You will be able to see the one I got if you read the blog tomorrow night, because I will wear it tomorrow. We will leave Mississippi, pass into the corner of Alabama, cross the Tennessee River, and ride 20 miles east of the Parkway into Florence, AL. It will be about 95 miles, and I can't wait!

Flat and Fast

Day 2    Ridgeland to French Camp, MS       84 miles

The sightseeing highlight of the day was Cypress Swamp. We all spent our time there swatting mosquitos!

Five of us got going at 8:45, about 20 minutes after the rest of them. It was a nice sunny Sunday morning, with only a slight wind. Within one mile, we were back on the Parkway at Mile 100.

The other scenery highlight of the day was this lake – the Ross Burnett Reservoir. Bob Long and Thurman are rolling along in this photo. The lake was huge, and it paralleled the Parkway for eight miles.

The final two riders to leave the hotel were Paul, the tour leader, and Nate, the 22-yr-old mechanic who also is a Category 1 racer. They have the ability to leave way after any of us and still catch us within not too many miles. Well, in this photo, they have caught us. You also can see that the Parkway itself hasn’t changed a bit. Except for a few more cars due its being a weekend, it’s like a bike path for us.

We five riders finally caught up to the original group, and here we all are other than a couple who deliberately dropped off early to take photos. Can you see our tandem couple? Yesterday was the first time either of them had ridden 100 miles.

We all arrived at Cypress Swamp at Mile 122. Isn’t it cool to see the reflections, and all those cypress trunks coming right out of the water? The sign said if you took the self-guided trail, you might see an alligator or two. None of us, in our cycling shoes, took the hike.

The Chief and me. Everyone loves our leader, Paul Wood. He and his staff know how to take care of us in style. Everyone on this tour has ridden with him before, which made us all want to do another.

Here is our first rest stop another couple miles up the road. Stopping at the swamp was a rest, yes, but it wasn’t an official rest stop for us because we didn’t have our layout of foods, treats, and water refills. It was at River Bend, which was on the Pearl River. Sunday boaters went by frequently, making their 90-degree turns right in front of us.

I’ve mentioned how well we are treated. Well, at this rest stop, THEY put the peanut butter on the apple slices for us, THEY put the Nutella on the cookies for us, and so on. YUM.

The Parkway today was flat. Our total “up” for 84 miles was only 800 feet. It can’t get any flatter. Plus, we had a tailwind, so today was FAST. My average speed was in the high 17s. The scenery was nice and green, lots of trees, Ross Barnett Reservoir, and more swamp land. So, I didn’t take any more photos until…

Lunch! With the food Rod and Lisa prepare, we absolutely look forward to lunch. As you can see, it was a nice shady oasis, at Mile 154. The chairs were all in a circle waiting for us. They made vichyssoise soup, cut up a fresh pineapple, and cut a watermelon which they then served to us without us having to budge from our chairs!

We happened to have cell phone service, so I had a nice long conversation with Janet to get all caught up!

It was kind of tough getting on the bike again after lunch. I had been there for a LONG time. I settled into a rhythm with Bob Long, and we rode together for quite a while. This picture shows him headed under one of the bridges over the Parkway.

We had only 28 miles after the lunch to our destination, and it was still flat, so it went by relatively quickly. Along the way, I let Bob go on so that I could go see:

A section of the Old Trace. This is a funny story: When I saw this sign, I assumed you had to walk somewhere to go see the original Trace. So, off I walked into the brush, with all its mosquitos and mushy ground. I didn’t see a trail, but I just kept going thinking I would “get there”. I finally gave up and went on back, with several bites to scratch all evening. When I got back to my bike, I realized the original Trace was just right there, paralleling the Parkway. See in the photo, how there is a wide flat section that looks mowed? So, the arrow pointing to right could have said “15 feet from here”.

I continued on alone, and took this picture of the first cemetery I’ve seen on this ride. Usually, on my rides in Ohio, I pass cemeteries all the time. This was next to the Berea Baptist Church, only a few miles from French Camp.

At Mile 181, at exactly 3:00 pm, I got to French Camp. The church bells played Barcarolle to welcome me. It is a small village, dominated by the French Camp Academy (begun 1870), which also runs the B&B we are staying in. It is all a National Historic Place.

This old cabin, moved to this site from nearby, is where two of our group are staying. Other couples are in other cabins, while seven of us are about a mile away in a lodge. This academy is a non-denominational Christian school for pre-12th grade, with 190 kids actually boarding here.

We walked or got a ride in the car back down to the old-cabins area where we had a great dinner. They served all of us a southern classic: fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, salad, and apple pie ala mode.

We walked on back, through the campus, to our lodge where I’m now composing this in a Word document. These dorm rooms have no Internet, no TV, no clock, no phone, and no radio. So, I could not do my blog tonight, Instead, tomorrow morning while waiting between breakfast and departing, I hope to transfer this pre-written text onto my blog and publish it before taking off (they DO have Internet back where we ate dinner tonight, and where we’ll be for breakfast).

Perfect Cycling Day!

Day 1       Natchez to Ridgeland, MS      107 mi

Here is our whole group at the beginning of the Parkway. I guess my orange jersey really sticks out in the crowd.

Yes, we had a superb bike ride today along the first 101 miles of the Parkway. We got to watch our mileage notch upward, because there are mile markers the entire 444 miles. The weather was in the 80s, and I loved it after our horrendous winter.

Although we started together, we soon spread out based on riding strength, as is common on bike tours.

This picture shows what the Parkway looks like for the entire distance, although, of course, the background scenery always changes. As I mentioned in my initial posting, there are no stop signs, stop lights, services like stores or gas stations, and no commercial traffic allowed for the entire distance.

We had seen the special sights during the first 11 miles yesterday, so our first highlight today was at the Mile 15 rest stop.

This is the Mount Locust "Stand", which is their word for "inn". Its heyday was 1790 to 1830, after which the Trace declined as a travel path due to the river steamboats. Today, it is the only remaining stand on the Trace.

But I got in trouble taking this photo. I walked halfway from the parking lot to it and realized I didn't have my camera. By the time I went back to get it, the riders were departing the rest stop, so I "hurried" to the stand by riding my bike. Oops. Not supposed to ride on the pedestrian pathway (even though no one was there at the time). The lady came out and told Paul, the ride leader, not me, but luckily an apology and some jokes solved the "crisis".

In the Visitor Center, I met a man who grew up in Simi Valley. We had a lively discussion for about 10 minutes. Fun!

At Mile 41 we came to one of the iconic sights of the entire Parkway. Its photo is on the cover of Natchez Trace books and the National Park Service brochure -- Sunken Trace.

As you can see in the photo below, the original pathway is in a ravine with high sides. It got this way due to trampling from all the animals and people over the centuries because the ground here is so soft and porous.

The ground is soft because it is "loess" (you should Google it), which formed millions of years ago when dust left from the receding ice age blew in and settled. In this part of the country, and along the Mississippi River (within 30 miles of it), loess hills exist and erode easily. That's why in my photo from yesterday of the bluffs above the river, you can see the steep cliffs with their fortified walls - to prevent erosion. Natchez sits on loess.

I just HAD to do a selfie at Sunken Trace. Haha

The scenery was always forested or crop land or pasture land, and we went over cool-looking rivers. My only stop for a photo was of this swampy area. They say alligators can be in these swamps.

Our lunch stop was at Mile 54. On this, the Cadillac of bike tours, the staff makes your lunch and they cater to your every whim. This morning, THEY pumped my tires and took my luggage to the van. THEY put out chairs for us. They put out bike racks for us.

The staff in the foreground, Rod and Lisa, have an incredible spread for us. And we just relax in the shade, eat, and shoot the bull. One pleasant surprise when I arrived at lunch was to learn that Myron's bike had been delivered! The airline got it sooner than they thought, and they actually agreed to deliver it to him right at the lunch stop on the Parkway! So, he happily got to ride the final 48 miles today - and boy is he strong. We have several strong riders!

Myron and I, and later a few others, powered pretty fast the rest of the ride. I was pooped, so I hope I get a good night's sleep. My average speed was fast for me - 17.6 mph. The entire Parkway today was level or only rolling hills, no steep climbs. This is illustrated by the fact that I never had to use my small chain ring (which allows you to use your low gears for hills).

This town of Ridgeland is adjacent to Jackson, the state capital. Five of us got to the hotel before the vans, so we did what any tired biker would do while waiting -- had beers and yakked! Of course, the first thing I did was call Janet. I miss her. At the Mile 84 rest stop, I also received three photos from Katie of little Liam, and Jeremy. While there, Myron had us all record a video singing Happy Birthday to his daughter, and we sounded pretty darned good!

About 90 minutes after arriving, after showering and resting, we walked 1/4 mile to our fancy restaurant, and they had a sign out front welcoming us:

My final picture below is a quick shot at dinner in which only a few of us posed (mostly me). We're pretty serious about eating, so we were getting restless when they started out a bit slow in putting any food out for us, or getting our drinks. But Paul made a few "suggestions" to management, and soon we were "off and running". Great food! I had another of those Pecan beers, only this one was on draft.

During dinner, two folks across from me, Thurman and Bob Long, kept grimacing with cramps. Oh, the effects of a hard day in the saddle. I have been stretching and rubbing-down my legs to prevent any cramps in my tired legs.

Paul, the tour leader, joked that since tomorrow is "only" 81 miles, it will be a day of "active recovery". Hahaha. Nice term to try to make you not think about what 81 miles will feel like after today!

Warm-Up in Natchez

 With wild and crazy Thurman at our lunch spot today, where we pigged out.

Things are all going great. Wonderful group of riders, most of them from Pasadena, and I'm almost the youngest (the youngest just turned 60). So, we have much in common. The rest of the riders all know each other and take cycling trips together. I'm the only one added in to this "private" tour. Well, come to think of it, Thurman is not part of their group either, but they've all ridden with him before on the Blue Ridge Parkway tour. And he's the kind of guy whom you love having around.

Today we took a 28-mile warm-up ride along the Natchez Trace Parkway, and stopped at several sites along the way. Now we won't have to stop tomorrow at these since we have a long, 105-mile day. We still will have many scenic or historic stops, but can skip those we saw along the initial 11 miles.

This is the view of the Mississippi River from our hotel room. My roommate the first night was Thurman, in the photo at the top. He's from Georgia, and met me at Helen and Peter Falco's home on Thursday morning and entertained us in the van all the way to Natchez. He's been everywhere in the country, and broken every bone in his body. What a hoot he is too!

On Wednesday, I left home at 9:45 am and drove 490 miles to Atlanta. All but five of those miles were on Interstate 75, so navigation was a breeze. What a pleasure to get to visit with Helen and Peter again. I worked with Helen for so many years in nutrition and regulatory. She's now with Coke.

Here are Peter and Helen. Their home is gorgeous, with tall trees and azaleas and decks outside.

The next morning, Thurman arrived and we shared biking stories. Shortly after noon, the tour leader, Paul Wood, and two of his staff, Rod and Lisa, arrived with the van and trailer. We packed our luggage and bikes, and off we went into...stop-and-go traffic for many miles. Atlanta traffic can be horrible! Anyway, it was a fun and interesting 9 hours to Natchez, with music, stories, reading three books about the Natchez Trace, and meeting new friends.

Our hotel, the Natchez Grand, is right on the bluff overlooking the river and is big and fancy. This morning, I took a walk along the bluffs and down to "Natchez Under the Hill". This was the old (19th century) degenerate part of the town, a hangout for riverboat mates, gamblers, prostitutes, saloons, and pirates.

This saloon in Natchez-Under-the-Hill is still in operation, the oldest in the city. A lot of the group ate dinner in this area the night before and loved it.

After a quick trip to a bike store with many of us in the van, we assembled for our 28-mi warm-up ride. But wouldn't you know, there cropped up several mechanical problems and so we got a late start. Speaking of bike problems, the final three guests were flying in late yesterday, and in all three cases, their bikes suffered serious problems. One bike got lost by the airline, and they're saying it will be delivered tonight in Jackson, near where we will be. Oh my, we're hoping they can find solutions to the broken parts.

This rock monument for the Natchez Trace is directly across from the hotel on the bluff, put there in 1909. Nine of us rode off toward the Parkway, about 2½ miles from the hotel. Once up on the Parkway, we had essentially our own bike path. Such fabulous scenery and a smooth roadway.

We soon came to a sign that said "Old Trace", meaning there was a section of the original trail. Here it is, and there will be numerous other places this week where our Parkway will cross or be near sections of the original Natchez Trace path.

Our destination was at Mile 10, where we turned off and rode ½ mile on a rough side road to Emerald Mound. This is the country's 2nd largest Native American ceremonial mound - eight acres. We all walked up to the top of a three-story mound where a temple had been, and then got back on our bikes and returned to the hotel.

We quickly changed into clothes and walked all of 100 yards to the Pig Out Inn for a scrumptious BBQ pork lunch. I chose a local beer called Lazy Magnolia Southern Pecan Nut Brown Ale - "...the first beer in the world made with whole, roasted pecans." I couldn't taste much pecan, but it was excellent!

After lunch, I walked around the old downtown with its 19th century buildings and Southern charm balconies. I toured an African American Museum (whose guide was white) and learned much about the slave life and history in this area. He showed us a local preacher's treatise from the early 1800s on how the Bible supported slavery! I later walked along the bluffs and got this photo of how tall they are and how stabilized they are now to prevent erosion.

For dinner we drove in two vans to a magnificent plantation and its Castle Restaurant. Incredible meal and conversation with an incredible group of people (fortunately for us and others in the restaurant, we had our own room). This is going to be a great tour. Total of 18 people - 14 guests and four staff.

My roommate tonight, who is patiently waiting for me to get this finished so we can turn out the lights and hit the hay, is Ken from Toronto. Yes, we have a double-Ken room. We could compare winter horror stories, because they had even worse cold and snow. For the rest of the trip, I will be in a single room, so I won't keep anyone up with my blogging.

Preparing for the ride

The 535-mile ride, with six days of riding and one rest day, begins in one week.

This photo is from a ride last summer. That's the Chagrin River in Ohio.

About the Natchez Trace: Here is a weblink if you would like to read all about it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natchez_Trace_Parkway

In a nutshell, the Natchez Trace Parkway is a 444-mile roadway from Natchez, Mississippi to Nashville, TN. It is a national park the entire distance, as the Park Service owns the road and about 20 yards on either side. In this regard, it is the same as the Blue Ridge Parkway, which I rode with this same company (Black Bear Adventures Bicycle Tours) in Sept, 2008 - my "comeback" ride after my broken neck. Both National Parkways were constructed during the Depression by the CCC.

As with the Blue Ridge Parkway, there is no commercial traffic allowed, it is not a throughway for commuters, it has no services, no stop signs or signals for the entire distance, and the speed limit is 50 mph. Entrances and exits are infrequent, and traffic is minimal at this time of year. Therefore, it's almost as if it's a bike path for us!

The parkway commemorates and follows the original "trace" (an early term for a pathway), a trail from the days of Native Americans, which continued when early European Americans used it as their trade route. The Trace survived almost completely undeveloped and unspoiled along its whole route. Many sections of the original footpath are visible today, and I plan to see and photograph these for this blog.

Itinerary:

May 3 - Natchez to Ridgeland, MS 105 miles
May 4 - Ridgeland to French Camp, MS 80 miles
May 5 - French Camp to Tupelo, MS 85 miles (Tupelo is Elvis Presley's birthplace)
May 6 - Tupelo to Florence, AL 95 miles (We will cross the Tenn-Tom Canal, where Rick and I boated in 2010)
May 7 - rest day, but optional rides 50 miles?
May 8 - Florence to Franklin, TN 110 miles
May 9 - Franklin to Nashville 60 miles

With our long and cold winter, it's been a challenge for me to get into shape for this ride. But I'm thinking I have done it. I could not begin riding outside until March 6, and even then it has been spotty (with more bad weather, getting two colds, and having a week off for a Spring Break vacation trip). But I have managed about 1000 miles during these past six weeks, and I've pushed hard enough that I think I will be okay. We shall see!

I will get to and from this bike tour via visits with Helen and Peter Falco in Atlanta. Helen worked with me at Nestlé from 1987 to 1997, then worked at Nestlé in Switzerland until 2006. She then moved to the Coca Cola Co. She has been a close friend these past 24 yrs.

On April 30 I will drive to Helen's home and spend the night. The bike tour leader, Paul Wood, will pick up my bike and me there on his drive from North Carolina to Natchez. When the ride ends, Paul will drop me back off at Helen's on his way home. I should be back home to Monroe late on Sunday, May 11.