Day 81: The Natchez Trace

It was a good ten degrees warmer this morning, and the highs today are in the low 70s, so we are once again moving south.  After returning to where we left our Adventure Cycling route, Alea set off toward the Natchez Trace.  The Trace has no shoulders, but there is a 50 mph speed limit and no commercial traffic is allowed.  And this time of year the traffic seems very light.  There seem to be opportunities to stop and explore something every few miles, and public toilets seem to be available fairly often.  Life seems to have become a bit easier for us and promises to stay that way for the next couple of weeks...

Alea enters the Natchez Trace Parkway.

A viewpoint along the Trace.

Alea enjoys the mild weather and fair roads.

A section of the old Trace.

Alea rode about 35 miles today (we plan to do between 35-50 miles per day from here on out, unless there is some compelling reason to go farther, or to take an extra day off now and then).  After all, the amount of time per day for optimal riding conditions has diminished with the cooler temperatures and shorter days.  So doing more mileage severely limits what else we can do each day, either along the way or once we reach our destination for the night.  

The terrain seems to have flattened out a bit, and once we are inside Mississippi it should be mostly flat (but hopefully not boring).  Tonight we are camping in a free primitive campground in the Meriwether Lewis National Monument.  There is no power or water available, but there are flush toilets located in a heated building.  The sites are large and thus very private, and each has a picnic table and fire pit.  So we couldn't be happier.

If we were to linger here, the forecast is for rain in another three days.  But by that time we hope to be around Tupelo, MS, where it will be cloudy, but should remain dry.

There's a distinct change that is evident, now that we taking the "road more traveled:" we are approached more frequently by people who are curious about our teardrop camper.  We noticed the same thing whenever we'd be traveling near National Parks, that we were a novelty to a much larger audience than we are while passing through small town America on narrow secondary roads.

Our neighbors tonight include Jerry and Kris, who are traveling with their cat in a restored Argosy travel trailer, which we learned was an Airstream brand that was created to allow the company to try producing something other than aluminum trailers, without having to risk their reputation in case any of the new ideas didn't turn out so great.  If I followed the story correctly, Argosy trailers have a superior roof design that avoids the #1 problem with neglected Airstreams - the roof leaks and the floor gets rotted out.

Jerry and Kris are from the Finger Lakes region of New York, where they have an organic farm near Dansville.  They've registered their farm as a site on boondocking.org, which offers an anonymous means for people to offer or request a place to boondock (camp free) for an agreed-to amount of time.  That's an interesting coincidence, as their farm is located where my 2nd and 3rd great grandparents (Charles Augustus and Mariah Lucinda [McEveny] Wiggins and Selden and Sarah Ann [Mapes] Wiggins, respectively) were living when the 1850 Census was taken.  Charles then moved to Illinois and Selden moved a short ways away to Wellsville, NY.  Thus far, solid proof that they were father and son has eluded me, though the family lore appears to be accurate.  I plan to go there to do some deed and probate research to see if I can find anything that proves the connection.  So potentially we won't need to worry about finding a convenient place to stay while we are in the area?

Kris also warned us of what they call "red bug," a sort of chigger (only worse) that burrows into your skin as part of it's reproductive cycle.  They get on the skin or clothing around your feet, and they say that spraying with DEET is one way to keep them off of you.  Once you get infected, they found washing with bleach as an effective solution.  Truly Nolen's website states that painting the bites with nail polish works well and that some people have had good success with Vaseline.