Natchez Trace from Natchez, MS, to Nashville, TN

Just imagine cycling for 445 miles with smooth roads and very low traffic but without a single stop sign, billboard, or trash on the side of the road. You will not have any loose dogs, stores, gas stations, or large trucks. This is the Natchez Trace Scenic Byway which travels from Natchez, MS, in the south and goes all the way north to Nashville, TN.

Along with 5 other couples from our cycling club and Black Bear Adventures, we cycled the Natchez Trace in May 2008. We started our journey from the Monmouth Plantation, took a quick tour of Natchez, and almost immediately we entered the Trace. This is the Deep South. As we cycle the Trace, we see Spanish moss hanging from the trees, pass historical sites of Emerald Mound and Mount Locust, the old Sunken Trace, and more. We stop in Port Gibson for a late lunch, take a side trip to the Windsor Ruins, reminisce over the day's events, and enjoy a delightful dinner at a local B&B.

Day 2 took us 69 miles to Jackson, MS. This day was very HOT and there were times when the miles and miles of trees and grass along this portion of the Trace could seem monotonous. But there is so much history and the road is so smooth that it makes for great cycling.

The next 3 days of cycling included 80-90 miles of riding each day. We cycled the shoreline along the Ross Barnett Reservoir and stayed in the rustic cabins at the French Camp B&B. The next morning we cycled to Tupelo, the birthplace of Elvis Presley, passing more historic Native American sites. This was our last night in Mississippi. As we began riding the next day, we experienced the rolling terrain of northwest Alabama, passing more Indian mounds and crossing the Tennessee River before reaching our home for the next 2 nights in Florence, AL. Here, we had a choice of cycling or spending the day sightseeing or pampering ourselves with a massage or just whatever we wanted to do. Paul and I elected to do a short 20 mile ride with a few others, then a massage in the afternoon, and relaxation the rest of the day.

Once on the road again, we are headed to Linden, TN, where we pick up our U-Haul for taking our bikes/luggage back to Texas. This was our last stop before reaching Nashville. This day was fairly uneventful but we did notice the terrain is starting to become a little hillier.

Our last day, we are headed to the Loveless Cafe at the northern terminus of the Trace in Nashville. We were all feeling good today and Paul was leading the pack. However, due to some unforeseen events, we had to miss the last 40 miles of the Trace, which is by far the hilliest portion.

We'll have to return one day just to do the last 40 miles and eat at the famous Loveless Cafe.

Bicycling Missouri's Katy Trail

In May 2008, we had the pleasure of cycling the Katy Trail in Missouri with 2 other couples. We began our travels in Clinton and headed east toward St. Charles.

Day 1 took us 65 miles along the trail to Pilot Grove. We read that Texas folks would consider this part of the trail as "hilly" whereas people in the Ozarks consider it "flat". This was definitely the hilliest part of the trail with the remainder being relatively flat. We started riding about 9:30am and about 6 miles out, it started raining. This caused parts of the trail to get soft which made it feel as if we were trying to ride through mashed potatoes at times.

Day 2 took us from Booneville to Jefferson City. This isn't the type ride you get on your bikes and see how fast you can finish but, rather, one in which we took our time to explore the trailheads, little towns and cafes, and historical sites such as Daniel Boone's gravesite and Judgement Tree. Just as we reached the Jefferson City trailhead, it started to rain again.

It continued to storm through the night but the weather had cleared before we started out on our bikes on Day 3. We woke up that morning to 45 degrees and a 30 mph north wind. The storm left downed trees across the path every few miles but we learned to maneuver over, through, and around the trees and debris on the trail. This really added to our trail experience. We rode 43 miles from Jefferson City to Hermann/McKittrick this day.

Day 4 was beautiful. The rains were gone and the further east we rode, the harder packed the trail became. We stopped at Weldon Springs so we would have time to visit with friends in the area. But we all agreed that riding to St. Charles, the end of the trail, would have been very easy that day.

In summary, we rode 204 miles in 4 days. Now that may not seem like a lot of miles to some but the fact that we were on our mountain bikes and the trail was soft made it much more difficult than had we been on pavement with our road bikes. We stayed in hotels the first and last nights and enjoyed 3 wonderful bed & breakfast inns in between. We all had a really great time.