Natchez to Tupelo

Friday, May 3, Day 11 (Continued)


We are headed out this morning for the Natchez Trace.  This is a 444 mile long road, two lane, that goes through Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee.  This route 61 takes us to the beginning.

The Trace follows a path made by prehistoric animals going from salt licks on high grounds to huge grazing areas toward the south.  Then Indians, cattle,  cowboys, pioneers, farmers,  merchants, and eventually tourists have followed the same path.

People from "Kaintuck" would build flat boats and carry goods down  the Mississippi to Natchez, then sell their wares, break down the boats, sell the lumber and walk the Trace back home.

This sunken path is one of the more memorable parts of the original trace, having been worn down about 10 feet below grade.  You can walk this and feel like a part of history.

On either side of the parkway are vast stands of trees, and small meadows, many of them being farmed.  You have to wonder how it can be profitable.  Ten bales of hay in one area, for example.  And we saw many a lone cow standing in a meadow.  The Trace is virtually flat, with the highest point being 603 feet, the second highest place in all of Mississippi.

As you can see, it's raining.  And it's cold.  All of the waterways are full, and rising.

This reservoir on the Pearl River is about to overflow its banks.

It is pouring out!  We can't get out to look at anything.  We followed this route south when our son graduated from pilot training in Columbus Mississippi.  It was January then, but not as cold as now!

We practically have the road to ourselves, and there are no commercial trucks allowed.  Despite the cold and rain, it is beautiful, with so many varieties of dogwood, redbud, cedar, oak, elm, locust, etc.  The dogwood and redbud have been in bloom along here about this time of year in the past, but I guess the colder weather has kept them from flowering out.

This is another view of the trace, probably more typical than the sunken part.  The park service is doing a marvelous job of preserving these areas.  We pass near Vicksburg, site of a famous Civil War battle, and John tells me about U.S. Grant's strategy to go through the swamps on the other side of the Mississippi and attack from the south.  He also secured the Mississippi and began to slowly win the war.

This is a map from the national weather service, showing the cold front we are in.  Predictions are that it is slow moving and we will move east with it for about the next week!  Snow in the upper midwest is already a concern, since it is so late in the season and a quick snow melt will mean flooding on the Mississippi and Missouri  rivers.

There is purportedly lots of wildlife out here, mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians.  We saw one lone young turkey, a few grackles, and these lone cows, apparently not bothered by the weather.

These three antique cars pulled into a rest stop where we were.  I'm sure it's not the outing they had planned!

A series of tornadoes hit the Natchez Trace in 2011.  Along here, it took out an eight miles long swath. We have seen many downed trees along the road, but the Park Service leaves them for animal forage, and decomposition as a natural part of rehabilitating the area.

We are disappointed that we haven't gotten to see more of the sites along the Trace today.  But, the temperature has dropped to 45 degrees!  As we pull into an RV park in Tupelo, the woman at the reception desk said she hoped it didn't snow!