Days 8&9 Natchez Trace

Today we passed the halfway mile marker for the trace 222 miles. To date we have pedaled 570 miles so we are about a quarter of the way. Weather has but good but very warm, high 80s and some hours over 90. Fortunately the humidity has been around 40 to 50 percent. Right now thunderstorms are rolling in from the east and we might have a wet night.
Again the Trace is a wonderful cycling route only complaint there are very few stores to stop and get food or drink. Photo attached are the half way mark, part of the original trace as it would be in 1810 and an Inn from 1830. Tupelo is tomorrow.

Day 6&7 Natchez Trace

First item… I do know how to spell Mississippi.!! The problem is using a small screen where you cannot see the whole, my problem was not spelling but counting…. I lost track of the number of iss‘s.
We are now 115 miles up the Natchez Trace. Some facts:- 444 miles long from Natchez to Nashville, old Indian. trail, 356 archeological sites, 36 cemeteries etc.. There is very little traffic and the road surface is perfectly smooth. Simply awesome biking. We are now 115 miles up the Trace.
The folks from Decatur bicycle club are not only fun to be with but are also extremely well organized. They have about 60 members and because they are in corn country, they complain about riding in a desert of corn. They organize at least 2 major tours a year, spring and fall.
Hallelujah mother nature has worked, my butt and saddle have called a truce and now we have peace. Now I just need to get my shoulders and neck to call a truce. Otherwise the body is doing well.
Attached are some photos, next posting will be from Tupelo, Missippi!!!!!!!

Days 4&5 Natchez Missippi

We just arrived here at Natchez and met up with 25 other riders to start the Natchez Trace ride tomorrow. Yesterday we were in Jackson La and did some sight seeing, another fine Plantation.
In Jackson we met up with John Finagan from California. The big surprise was where we stayed the night. There is an Internet based organization called ” warm showers” which you can use to find a place to sleep for the night. John had booked us at a warm shower host in Jackson and this was no normal host. Perry and her husband Lep have hosted nearly 300 cyclists so far this year. They have turned their homestead into a small hostel , showers , bunks, laundry etc.. They are avid cyclists themselves. For dinner we had gumbo and for breakfast grits….. Not bad. If you think of Southern Hospitality this is it. What a pleasant surprise. Officially this could have been free but we left $20 each.
Today was 70 miles so we have done 318 miles total so far. I am afraid I have been using my other camera most of the time and cannot down load it. So today’s photos are limited.

Days 3&4… Plaquemine to St. Francisville

So far we have completed about 250 miles and are on schedule., but following a different route as we learn where the best tourist sites are. From Plaguemine we rode to Baton Rouge to meet a close college friend of Mark’s brother’s wife. She works for FEMA and is helping with the Katrina cleanup. She shared a lot of stories about the crazy stuff going on down here. We had lunch with her and her boss and he was very vocal about the money being wasted and the suspect politics. Not good. Enough on that.
Bonnie offered us the floor at her place and we took her up. We had 4 hrs to kill and rode 24 miles around the Capital city but spent most of our time at LSU campus.
This place is football mad!!!!! the stadium is modern and huge, holds 96,000 and is being expanded to 110,000. On game day there are 250,000 fans inside an out. Baton rouge goes from the fifth largest city in La to the first. The defensive coach gets paid $1.1 million a year. Makes you wonder what the Coach gets. LSU mascot is a Bengal Tiger named Mike that lives in a $2.2 million compound which is a lot bigger than a gopher or badger cage.
Yesterday we rode to St. Francisville, a small town on the river …. Very nice! Of course we had to see the local Plantation which again was impressive.
Today we ride to Jackson La to meet another rider then on Saturday we have our longest ride to date, 70 miles to Natchez to meet a group of 26 riders. For the next 6 days we will ride the Natchez Trace with them.
All is well, wind is at our backs, Paul

First two days…..lots of wind

Arrived in New Orleans late Saturday And met up with my traveling buddy Mark Hansen. Mark came early with his wife and 2 granddaughters revisit the city he once lived. Sunday I went downtown and was really surprised how much there is to see and do. I spent about 2 hours walking around the French Quarter, much more there to see than bars. Most of time I was at the river looking at ships.
There was something of a celebration of 100 or 200 years of Naval presence in NO. This meant there was a number of Naval vessels visiting, a small aircraft carrier, 3 destroyers, one from England, and two tall ships. One from Indonesia and the other from Ecuador.
The paddle steamer Natchez gave a concert with a steam driven organ, short video attached.
So the Monday arrives and the ride home starts. Sunny day but lots of wind right into our face. Followed the lavee for 50 miles riding on the top for some of it, really cool. Camped at an Rv park that was once a Plantation that was really good.
On day 2 the owner of the RV park told us we must stop and see Houmas Plantation, the finest in state. He was right. Awesome estate and tour. From there we crossed the river by ferry and spent 2 hours fighting the wind to get to Plaquemine to find the worse motel you can imagine….really bad but the only place in town. Day 2 was another 50 windy miles. The good news for the next few days the wind has shifted and should be at our back….. Hurray!!! Next 2 days are real easy, Baton Rouge today. Here are some photos and the video of the ” concert”.

New Orleans to St Paul April/May 2012

tt This is my first attempt at a blog, remember I am an Engineer thru and thru so do not get your hopes up that this is going to become a literary wonder. So it will be a simple update on our progress from New Orleans back to St Paul, approximately 2000 miles.

The last time I did a long bike trip like this was when I was 16 , nearly 50 years ago!! Many things have changed since then especially with the bike I am now riding and the body that is on it. 50 years ago 3 of us toured Ireland, 14 days at nearly 100 miles per day, kinda crazy when I now think about it. My bike was a Claude Butler, it had 5 speeds, and cost about $70.Concerning the body on it….. I was 16, weighed about 11 stone ( 154 lbs), had hair, and there was nothing this boy could not climb on a bike.

Roll on 50 years, the bike is a Salsa Vaya, it has 24 speeds and the cost is currently unknown, the accountants are still working on it. Like the bike the body has also changed, weight is now 192 pounds ( 13 stone 10lbs) , the hair got lost somewhere and the only thing I can climb easily is getting in and out of ….is bed.

My neighbor, Mark Hansen, is leading this effort and the two of us will ride from New Orleans to Natchez starting this Monday and meet up with a group of 27 on the following Saturday. We will then ride the Natchez trace together, about 440 miles. The nice thing about this leg is all our gear well be carried in a van. Below is a map of the route. After the Natchez trace we call into Nashville to see Hobby, the son of Hob and then it is a hard ride back home.

As promised I will keep this short, next update will be from New Orleans. Wish me luck!!!!

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