Day 5: Natchez Trace Self Contained Ride

An excellent night’s rest at the motel. This evening was originally planned as an outdoor stop at a bike only campground at the visitor center, but commonsense gained the upper hand during my pre-trip planning. The one night at the motel was a pleasant respite. The motel also provided the opportunity to dry out my gear, do some laundry, eat something other than Ramen noodles and take a nice hot shower.

Camping has its advantages in having one’s “own place” and offered a ritual of camp set up/break down that helped mark the end and beginning of each day’s adventure. The National Park Service campgrounds are free and my only private campground at Ratliff Ferry cost $5.00.

The National Park Service campgrounds were conveniently located directly on the Trace had clean comfort stations and offered great opportunities for socializing with fellow travelers…but they did not have showers or electrical outlets. The lack of electrical outlets at campgrounds required that I husband the battery power of my Blackberry. Phone calls were made when necessary as was the checking and sending emails.

In evening, I would set my music app to shuffle and listen to some tunes as I ate dinner and wrote in my journal….but I had to kept this simple pleasure to brief periods. Now both I and my Blackberry were fully charged.

I rolled out of bed at 8:00am and chose a simple breakfast of coffee, juice, waffles, bagels, etc offered at the motel. There were many breakfast options in walking distance from the motel including a IHOP.

When I returned to the Trace at about 9:00pm, I lingered at the Natchez Trace Visitor Center for about an hour. A very well spent hour. The visitor center has a great set of displays providing the history of the Trace and surrounding areas. My frequent stops at historic markers and this visitor center visit really helped me appreciate the history of the Trace. I was back on the road by 10:00am.

Mile 269: I stopped at the historic marker noting the grave site of 13 unnamed, fallen Confederate soldiers. A solemn site. It is wonderful that respect was paid so many generations later to these soldiers of long ago, whose lives slipped away maybe due to injury or disease at this very spot. Gone but not forgotten.

While visiting the grave site, I struck up a conversation with Dale and Floyd two brothers on a two-week motorcycle tour of the Trace. Floyd was a retired university professor; Dale had had a career in HR that allowed him to travel the world. Among the delights of a solo, self-contained ride is that you can schedule, plan or do any dang thing you like. At this moment, spending 30 – 45 minutes chatting away with Dale and Floyd seemed like just the thing to do.

They were also kind enough to snap of few photos of me riding my bike on the Trace. We parted each “motoring” north in our on fashion.

On my way to Pharr Mounds, I stopped at historic markers including Dogwood Valley, Twentymile Bottom and Donivan Slough. The view from a short climb required at Twentymile Bottom was an excellent investment in energy and strain.

Mile 286: Pharr Mounds is the site of a series of earthen mounds built my native North American Indians of long ago. One needs to pause a moment to truly appreciate the enormous energy and organization required to move earth basket-by-basket to build such mounds. Those builders are long gone...but there work remains...hmmmm...what will we leave behind?

Pharr Mounds was my lunch stop. There are no services at this location so the meal I carried of fig bars, fruit and remains of a small loaf of bread was my fare. There was more conversation with families and couples traveling by car or RV.

Mile 302: I visited Tishomingo State Park which is a short ride off the Trace. It was here 10 years ago that I "survived" a poorly organized solo August Trace century ride. From that experience, I have always been keen to fill water bottles and take advantage on long distance rides of watering opportunity when they arises . My reserve water bottles tucked in my BOB netting can be directly related to that ride a decade ago.

The flat terrain of southern Mississippi was now giving way to more climbs as I left Mississippi and touched of bit of Alabama. Again nothing comparable to the miles of climbing up the gaps in my beloved North Georgia, but I was working for my miles. Miles 313-315 were clearly mentioned in my ride journal.

Mile 311: I met Alex, 23, who was a south bound rider headed to New Orleans. I later encountered his traveling companion Reed some miles down the road at Colbert Ferry. Alex was pretty impressed that an "old guy" of 59 was on a self SAG the Trace.

Mile 327: I arrived at Colbert Ferry around 5:00pm and found the ranger/visitor center "closed for the season." I also found and chatted with Alex's riding partner Reed who was re-fueling and preparing to push off to meet Alex in Tishomingo.

I made a very limited attempt to find the bicycle only campground at the Colbert Ferry. I was by myself and the picnic tables near the ranger/visitor center were an allure. The restrooms were open at the ranger/visitor center providing access to water. I pitched my tent against the ranger station and started to fix my dinner.

As I was fixing dinner, four 20 something cyclists rode down the Colbert Ferry entrance road. They set up camp in the nearby bicycle only campsite. I visited later that evening. The group was composed of two couples John, Mary Catherine, Jessica and Bill from Memphis. They were on a self SAG ride of the Trace. It was nice to have evening company and enjoy an engaging conversation.

Dinner this evening was a Pad Thai noodle dish I purchased at Kroger earlier that morning. It was delightfully tasty, filling and a nice break from my regime of noodles/rice.

Total miles 67 / average 12.7 mph