Natchez Trace Parkway - Part Deux (March 13-14, 2014)

Some History 

Just imagine you are a farmer in the early 1800’s who has been harvesting and preserving your crops and you need a place to sell them.  There isn’t a big population center near you, but you know that the lower Mississippi is a good place to sell your goods.  So you build a wooden flatboat, and load it with your year’s bounty and drift down the Ohio River to the Mississippi River and down the Mississippi to Natchez.  There you sell everything, including the timber from your boat.  Carrying your years’ income, you commence the 30+ day, 444 mile walk up the Trace to Nashville TN, and from there to wherever you call home.

This ancient trail used by prehistoric Native Americans and animals has over the years been trampled into a clearly marked path by other travelers. Then in 1801, the US government widened it into a road so that postal riders can carry mail and government documents, thus binding a fractious territory closer to the government.  As thousands of people have walked or ridden on this highway, their feet have worn down the path, so that in places it is a trench through the woods.  

Your way is not necessarily safe.  It goes through the lands of 3 Native American tribes who have an uneasy peace with the white men.  You may travel with other Kaintucks (though you may not actually be from Kentucky) to help protect yourself from bandits.  Every day or so you come to a “Stand” where a settler will sell you a place to sleep and some food.  

Mount Locust - Only Remaining Original "Stand" on the Trace.

Eventually, the riverboat will be invented and travelers will have the option to return North by boat.  The number of travelers along the Trace will dwindle and disappear.  The Trace will be reclaimed in places by nature.  Then in the 1930s efforts will start to revive the memory of the Trace and a beautiful parkway will be built following along its path.

Resources:  
Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway by F. Lynne Bachleda.
Mount Locust Inn and Plantation by National Park Service

Roosevelt State Park, MS (March 13, 2014)

The Place

Our habit has been at 3:00 each afternoon to project where we think we will be at 5ish, and to call a campground near there to arrange for a place to stay.  This lack of planning does not take into account that Mississippi schools are on Spring Break this week and that the weather is finally warm again.  We are trying to stay in publicly owned campgrounds.  I guess other folks have figured out that they are desirable as well.  The state park in Jackson MS near the Trace was full (surprise, surprise), so they directed us to Roosevelt State Park about an hour off the Trace.  They have over 100 RV campsites, and 6 were still available.

The Adventure

Roosevelt State Park has camping, cabins, a motel, a lake, a forest, nature trails, and very narrow roads.  Let me rephrase that, very, very narrow roads.  The section with the 6 available sites is obviously older and was probably built when “campers” were housed on pick-up trucks and John Steinbeck and Charlie were driving them.  The one-way loop was just barely wide enough for our motor home.  Certainly not wide enough for our motor home and the Ford F-150 coming toward us (yes it was supposed to be a one-way road).  Since the Ford had towed a trailer into this place, the driver was courteous as we negotiated a wider spot in the road to pass each other.  As were the drivers of the cars that came up behind us and wanted to get back to their campsites.

All said, the park is lovely.  It surrounds Shadow Lake in the Bienville Forest.  To be honest, it looks more like what I would expect in the Adirondacks in New York than what we’ve seen so far in Mississippi.  Tall hardwood and pine trees.  Rugged ravines and slopes down to the lake shore.  Heavy carpet of fallen leaves underfoot.  Well worth the adventure.

Natchez Trace Parkway (March 12, 2014)

The Place

The Natchez Trace Parkway follows an ancient foot highway that was used by pre-historic and more recent Native Americans, by military during the War of 1812 and the Civil War, by Kaintucks who floated their goods from the Ohio River down the Mississippi River to Natchez MS and then walked home, and by postal riders.  It is 444 miles long, running from Nashville TN to Natchez MS.  We entered the Trace at Crocket AL near MP 320 and headed South into Mississippi.

The Adventure

Today, we saw two notable sites.

The Pharr Mounds are 9 burial and religious mounds in an area  inhabited as early as the Late Archaic period with the mounds built during the Woodland period (CE 1-200).  They sit in a 90 acre site.  You can see 6 mounds from the parkway.  They are lovely, large mounds built by hand on a large flat plain.  The site has a quiet beauty to it.  There are other mound sites along the Trace and the surrounding area.

The Confederate Grave Sites can be seen along the “Old Trace”.  We no longer know who is buried there, their graves are marked with more recent stones.  In the photo you can see the track of the “Old Trace” to the left and the headstones to the right.

 

Cold weather arrived along with the predicted wind storm.  Tonight we are camping at Davis Lake, a beautiful gem of a campground run by the Forest Service.  It is located just a few miles off the Natchez Trace Parkway with its own exit off the Trace.  The shaded campsites are dotted among the trees along the banks of Davis Lake.  Most of the sites are right on the water, all of them have great lake views.  It is very lovely and peaceful, and Tiki got to swim.

Resources:

USA's Best Trips from Lonely Planet

Guide to the Natchez Trace Parkway by F. Lynne Bachleda.

Sunny, Sunny Knoxville TN (March 7-11, 2014)

The Place

Coming down off the mountain to Tennessee the weather suddenly became, well, warm.  In fact, the wool sweaters and socks that we needed in the morning in the snow were all wrong.  Finally, warm weather!!!









We came to Knoxville to see Leslie and Natalie's new home.  It is spacious, beautiful, welcoming and comfortable.  We also came to celebrate Leslie's 30th birthday.  They had a birthday/house warming party on Saturday that was a ton of fun.  It was warm enough to have an outdoor cookout.  Everyone lounged in the sun, soaking up the Vitamin D and enjoying each others company.





The Adventure

Leslie and Natalie's house is in the Lakeside neighborhood that is (wait for it) beside a lake.  None of us could withstand the tempting lake and warm temperatures for long.  Sunday we broke out the inflatable kayaks and the girls kayaks and took them out on the lake for a paddle.  Bliss!  Our new kayaks are maneuverable and easy to paddle.  It felt so wonderful to be out on the water.  In March!!!

Enjoying the Snow at Claytor Lake State Park (VA) March 6-7, 2014

The Place

Claytor Lake State Park is an absolutely beautiful, well maintained park along a lovely mountain lake.  The campgrounds are connected to the close by swimming and boating areas of the lake by trails and paved paths.  We encountered a small herd of 7 deer on our walk through the park.

The Adventure

We woke up in the morning to find that it had started snowing during the night.  There is something very peaceful about a lovely snow in the mountains.  A visit to the Weather Channel app and a conversation with the ranger reassured us that the storm would only bring us a few inches and would end before lunch.  So we played in the snow, did some projects around the motor home and got under way when it stopped.

The ShorExplorers Hit the Road!!! (March 6, 2014)

The winter of 2013-14 has been tough for much of the country, including Northern Virginia.  We learned a new term, "Polar Vortex", which came to mean bitter cold, snow storms, and an unusually high number of snow days from work for Dana (Russ being already retired).  Through it all we planned Dana's retirement and our trip to the Gulf of Mexico. Reading about Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama kept our spirits warm even though our toes were cold.

So, it seemed only fitting that there should be yet another snow storm two days before our planned departure, causing us a days delay.  FINALLY, with kayaks loaded underneath and bicycles hanging on the back, we were ready to go, and hit the road mid-day.

See You In March

After a wonderful few months traveling, we are putting the ShoreXplorer to bed for the winter.

We will be back in March!