After filling our bellies and fueling the bike, we headed out of Lafayette, LA at 10:00.  Not far out of town, we hit the causeway.  It goes across a huge swamp, 2 lakes, and a river.  How they know which is which, I can’t imagine, as they all looked like one endless body of water with trees everywhere.  An hour later, we had Baton Rouge in our rear view mirror.  We went up US 61 to Natchez, MS, where we caught the Natchez Trace Parkway.  It follows the historic Natchez Trace trail the Indians and early traders used.  It’s a National Park, only two lanes, with a 50 mph speed limit.  The pavement is in great condition and no commercial traffic is allowed.  At times it seemed we were the only ones on the road.  It reminded me a little of cruising Hines Drive back home,  except the trees are closer to the road, and it wasn’t flooding.  The cruising was easy and relaxing, after the rain stopped, which didn’t take long.  We were very lucky with the weather; it stayed dry till Natchez, and didn’t rain on us long.  It must have been just ahead of us, as the road was wet almost all day.  We got about an hour of sun around 3:00, then the clouds rolled back in. 

The Parkway runs 445 miles from Natchez to Nashville.  We originally planned to drive it all, but after a close look at the maps and seeing how infrequent gas stations and rest spots are, had second thoughts.  After riding 100 miles of it to Jackson, MS, we decided the interstate was better for the rest of this leg.  So we took I 55 up to Memphis, and got settled in around 6:45.  By 7:05, we were in the hot tub!  Ahhhhhhhh…….

We did stop at two historic sites on the trace: Emerald Mound indian ceremonial ground, and the “sunken trace” a section of the original trail that is worn deep in the soft loess soil.

The ride north on the interstate was pretty relaxing.  We had a tail wind and light traffic making things nice.  It was looking like the skies would bust loose again as we got into Memphis, and as we pulled into the motel, here it came.  Do we lead charmed lives, or what?

By the numbers: 479 miles ridden; 41.6 mpg; 40.6 mpg; and 42.9 mpg.  We have now ridden 5413 miles since leaving Belleville.

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