50 States, Day 315

  Vicksburg to Natchez,  178 Miles

"People can be more forgiving than you can imagine.  But you have to forgive yourself.  Let go of what's bitter and move on."
~Bill Cosby



The Natchez Trace was a rustic road that connected Natchez (hence the name) to Nashville, Tennessee. Today's Trace is a wonderful two lane rural highway with no commercial traffic. Yum. And even through it was Saturday, traffic was super light, bike traffic heavier than we've seen since Florida. Of course, the weather being really nice makes the scooters come out to gleam in the sunshine. 


We stopped at one place to see the Sunken Trace and it looked like a creek bed, a good ten feet below the adjacent grade. It was the original road and after over a hundred years of people walking, wagons, carts, and horses, the Trace hangs low between the sides. 



Along the Trace we saw historical markers, indicating battles fought and byways for travelers. One house remained of the fifty or so where people put up for the night and which provided a bit of food and perhaps some horse shoeing. As we rode, the Trace cut through the woods, and except for the sites, featured nothing but a few streets. But no gas stations. At mile 180 on the tripmeter, I began to study the gauge, calculate the mileage and the miles left. Are we going to make it? Spoiler Alert: We made it, but it was close.

Natchez looks intriguing, and we decided to add a day for touring, especially since today begins the mansion tour season, so we'll check out some interesting ones, like one that's mostly unfinished- since 1861. Tomorrow we may tour a bit and Monday we'll continue with the fun. And that answers the question, are we dying to get home? We are  leaning that way, but realize some states we visit we may never revisit, so we'll take our time and enjoy them.

And now, picking up a bit of a Southern accent y'all, Quilter Girl!



We lucked onto a really, really great restaurant this afternoon.  We were trying to head into town from our motel but must have missed the turn when we rode past Roux 66, a place I had read about in the dining guide.  The parking lot was pretty full at 3:30 in the afternoon so we decided to try it.  It was a good decision!  Kevin had fried catfish and mine was a chicken sandwich.  Everything was top notch, even the salad that came with Kevin's dinner had dark green lettuce.  It has been a while since we have seen anything other than iceberg lettuce.  We both carried home leftovers and really wanted to try dessert, but there was no room.  People were waiting all over when we left, the sign of a great place to eat.  Now I have to figure out which houses we want to tour.

QG


See you tomorrow for the Weekly Wrap-Up and Church Surch. Thanks for following!





2 comments:

Mel said...

QG said, "People were waiting all over when we left" the restaurant. They were probably mumbling to themselves, "These stupid bikers wouldn't have taken so long if they hadn't cleaned their plates so well. They didn't leave even a Trace of food!"

Unknown said...

It always takes longer when you keep stopping and saying, "Ooohh... that's good. Mmm... oh, yeah... that's good."
KP