Off we go again…heading down the Natchez Trace Parkway.
Roz and I left home on the Honda to a beautiful sunrise heading for Nashville with the purpose of entering the Natchez Pkwy at it’s origin there. This beautiful highway stretches from Nashville, Tn 444 miles down to Natchez, Mississippi. No commercial traffic, this includes tractor trailer traffic, no stop signs or traffic lights for the entire distance.
Our first night was spent in Tupelo, Ms after abut a 200 or so mile day. Just a little rain shower as we were entering the Tupelo area. Just enough to dirty the bike.
Our second night was spent in Natchez, the end of the Parkway.
From Natchez we headed north on Hwy 61, up the West side of the State.
A short ride of about 75 miles or so and we were in the historical city of Vicksburg, sight of a major civil war battle between the North and South. We made a stop at the Vicksburg National Park and took the 16 mile riding tour of the North and South battle emplacements throughout the area. A lot of statues and memorials depicting folks involved in this battle.
The USS Cairo, the first ironclad battleship of this was to be sunk, was on display here. Very interesting ship, was built in Jan 1862 and placed on the Yazoo River to protect Northern shipping interests and in Dec of 1862 was sunk by a Confederate mine. 175 men on board, all of which survived the sinking.
Very interesting steam propulsion system and cannon placement, not to mention the many tons of iron cladding supposed to protect the ship.
Entrance to the cemetery.
Many brave men died and were buried here.
After our visit here was complete we headed on up north and stopped to spend the night at Cleveland, Ms and stopping just in time to avoid a huge thunderstorm.
The next day the weather had changed, somewhat cooler and much windier….Almost a direct crosswind of 20-30 knots all day. Later that day, after going through a lot of traffic in the Memphis area we reached our overnight area of Navy Memphis in Millington, Tn. putting up there in the Navy Lodge. Of course Roz had to make her mandatory trip to the Navy Exchange, even though we were on the bike and had virtually no spare room, she simply had to browse…it’s a genetic thing…
We had planned on spending a couple of days here, but upon getting up the next morning to a beautiful day we decided to hit the road and make for some place around Kentucky Lake for the evening.
After around 200 miles we arrived at Kentucky Dam Village, we got a room overlooking the lake and settled in for the evening..
View from our room the next morning.
After much too much breakfast we loaded the bike and bid Kentucky Lake farewell pointing the Honda towards home, a short 120 miles to the East.
This was a much better ride than the previous day, even though the wind was still blowing strongly from the WNW, we were now heading East and that meant a nice mostly TAILWIND…We made a couple of stops on the way and arrived home around noon or so. Our dog was waiting in the drive with tail wagging…
Another outstanding trip, thanks Roz..and Honda..and of course, God…..for our health and ability to enjoy this wonderful country…May I never grow up….
