Home again

Made it back today and somehow missed all the storms threading acrosss the southeast. The only rain was in Crestview, 17 miles from home and it only lasted for about 8 miles. It was a great ride 1,400 miles and the scenery couldn't have been better.  Next ride it to ????????

Sunken Trace

The Sunken Trace is one of the most photographed sites along the parkway. The trace appears sunken in this spot due to thousands of travelers walking on the easily eroded loess soil. This short trail allows you to walk on the Natchez Trace just as thousands have before you.

Mount Locust

Constructed circa, 1780, this home is one of the oldest structures in Mississippi. It functioned as both a working plantation and as an inn, where travelers on the Natchez Trace could rest for the night. Mount Locust is the only surviving inn of the more than 50 that existed during the period of greatest use of the Old Natchez Trace.

Hurricane

This is the view for about 5 miles, the results of a tornado in April 2011.

Rocky Springs

The Town of Rocky Springs. At the end of this trail is evidence of a once thriving community. First settled in the late 1790s, the town grew from a watering place along the Natchez Trace, and took its name from the source of that water - the rocky springs. In 1860, a total of 2,616 people lived in this area covering about 25 square miles. The population of the town proper included three merchants, four physicians, four teachers, three clergy and 13 artisans; while the surrounding farming community included 54 planters, 28 overseers and over 2,000 slaves who nurtured the crop that made the town possible - cotton. Civil War, Yellow Fever, destructive crop insects and poor land management brought an end to this once prosperous rural community.

Pharr Mounds

Pharr Mounds is the largest and most important archaeological site in northern Mississippi. Eight large dome shaped burial mounds are scattered over an area of 90 acres (100 football fields). These mounds were built and used about 100-1200 A.D. by a tribe of nomadic Indian hunters and gatherers who returned to this site at times to bury their dead with their possessions.

Jackson Falls

A little learning

I enjoy history and historical facts and was surprised to see Meriwether Lewis was a whole lot more than an explorer.  Meriwether Lewis is best known for his role as the co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition also known as the Corps of Discovery, with William Clark. Their mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase, establish trade and sovereignty over the natives near the Missouri River, and claim the Pacific Northwest and Oregon territory for the United States before European nations. That’s what we know about him, but read his placard, an amazing historical figure.

Deer playing chicken

I saw six deer run up to the edge of the road about 300 yards ahead of me, they stoppped, looked both ways then waited till I got closer and ran in front of me...but I had slowed so ha ha. I think the last one stuck his tongue out at me when I snapped the picture then ran into the woods.

Fall foliage in Tennessee

Pictures taken while riding

Birdsong Hollow

This bridge was completed in 1994, it's a double-arched bridge that spans Birdsong Hollowand  received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995 for its innovative design that rises 155 feet above the valley. The bridge carries Trace travelers 1,648 feet across the valley and Tennessee Highway 96.

Riding

Started late, for me anyways, at 0800 and left riding into a brisk 45 degrees. The weather was prefect, the foliage is in full swing, in Tennessee anyways, and I basically had the road to myself.

????

Have I lost my mind or has Tennessee, isn't the green handle gas pump supposed to be the diesel pump?

reminder

Somebody remind me when I get home to put the bug and tar remover in the saddlebag and leave it there!

Day 1

A little over 400 miles and made it to Franklin TN. Took rt 331 a.k.a. roadkill Hwy, what a mess, then 65 north. Uneventful ride and somehow missed all that rain that stretched from lower MS to northeastern Ky. Staying at the Drury Plaza which is only 2 months old; they are obviously trying to  build up the new customer base by immediately explaining their free WiFi and hot breakfast. Then there's the THREE free drinks tonight with free hot food! I tried to take some pictures while cruising cuz the leaves are starting to turn and obviously missed the best shots but it's not always easy riding with one hand and snapping off pics with the other. The first pic is a cotton field around Paxton Fl.

Natchez Trace

Been thinking about this ride for a long time, think it's time to just do it.

12 July

450 miles later and I'm home, that last leg seemed the longest; 2,800 miles in the truck and 3,500 miles on the bike. Good to be home after a great ride!

11 July

The ride from Bethlehem PA was rough, lunatics and accidents everywhere; glad I was in the truck. Made it to Greenville SC and called it a day.

10 July

Riding time is over, put 3,500 miles on scooter. time to load it back on the truck and head back to Fla.  Couldn't remember how to put the security system in travel mode?!?!? Googled it, that didn't work, called the local HD dealer and he was a complete jugghead, said my FOB battery was dead; he must have worked at Heritage at one point. Ended up disconnecting the battery and finally got on the road; first stop, Bethlehem PA.

9 July

It was an early start today, 0615, and it was a very cold 40 degrees. Just got up, showered, packed and left Antigonish Nova Scotia…no breakfast. It seemed to get colder and colder but my new gortex rain gear works as a great wind breaker too. One of my gas stops was a small town outside of Fredericton New Brunswick which just so happened to be the same one I stopped at when I left Fredericton back on 30 June. The bonus here was this station had two pumps on the middle of a rocky/dirt lot but also has a small general store that had a little grill inside. They whipped me up some fried eggs, bacon and English muffins that were just like home cooked. Yum! With a full tank and a full belly, and for some reason the temperature went up a good 15 degrees, it was a pleasure to get back on the road. Coming up to the boarder I was hoping it would be a quick entry, even used my Mil ID to hopefully quicken the process. So I hand it to him and he goes “I got one of these.” So I played the what service were you in game and my last guess was Navy, bingo, and when I said AF he rolls his eyes; what a sausage head. So he takes my ID hold it up, looks at it and then at me, back and forth about 20 times, then asks for my license and does the same, then I had to take my glasses off (even tho all my pics have them on). I almost asked him if he wanted me to get my camera out, there’s another pic of me there. Then there were the 20,000 stupid questions. What a jerk. It didn’t take long to realize I was back in the USA, people wondering in and out of their lanes, everyone in the left lane and on cell phones etc…welcome back to the USA. Headed on down to Bangor ME and called it a day. Tomorrow it is on to Clinton MA to end the riding time and begin the drive home.

8 July

The internet said Nova Scotia was going to be foggy with a 30% chance of rain but when we pulled in to port I saw this big yellow thing surrounded by a big blue sky, haven’t seen a sky like that in quite a while; the Cabot Trail is next. The Cabot Trail is absolutely amazing, another bucket list suggestion. It has it all, mountains, ocean views, twists and turns etc. I actually saw more on this one ride than I have for the past 7 days. Saw a moose by the edge of the road (got a pic) saw a bear by the edge of the road (kept driving by) and when passing through Aulds Cove saw a ton of Pilot Whales (got a pic but really needed a zoom). Seems every time I pulled over for a pic I ran into this same group of riders; two Goldwings, two Goldwing trikes and a Can-Am Spyder bike. They were all late 60 to 70 years old and tearing up the trail; the Spyder rider told me he has been riding since 1945. The trail has ended and I’m now in Antigonish Nova Scotia and will begin the ride back tomorrow. It has been an unbelievable ride. I will post pictures randomly as I head home.