The Nachez Trace Scenic Parkway

While having dinner in Clarksdale, we met Joe and Dorothy Middleton, causing two things to happen: (1) we decided that not just Arkansans were friendly, the WHOLE south was; and, (2) Joe changed our route for us. Initially, had the weather cooperated we would have gone right down to New Orleans and on to Florida but we had decided to swing north. Joe described the Nachez Trace Parkway and we changed our route. By continuing down the Great River Road and then crossing over to hwy 82 over to Indianola and on to the Trace.

THANKS Joe, it was really a relaxing and enjoyable road. We saw Indian burial mounds, and part of the original Trace. This was a trail first used by animals and then Indians and then the white men moving to the south west. The picture you will see shows part of the original Trace along with 13 graves of confederate soldiers who died along the trail during the civil war. The Trace really has no stops, rather overpasses and bridges such as the one in the photo over the Tennessee River.

While travelling, we came upon a "biker" with a dead bike (a suzuki). One thing about bikers, they help each other. We stopped and gave him moral support while we located a towing service from the GPS database. Bev had her trusty Harley card.....another part of the culture is for anyone travelling with a Harley driver; they can get help by calling the 800 number and a tow truck will be sent (to keep the Harley rider on the road...). The Harley people said that the closest dealer was in Jackson Mississippi, but since he had a Suzuki it would be better to get a more local tow truck as Jackson was several hundred km away and he didn't need to go so far since it wasn't a Harley. They were very friendly. Included in this post is a picture of Craig Chilton with Bev, near the sign where he broke down....can you believe it? It was "Friendship Road" so we just had to get a snap. Craig is a Catrina survivor who now lives in Tupelo, Mississippi, the birth place of Elvis. Hey Craig, keep on ridin' and you made the right decision for your daughter.

We left the Trace in search of food, got lost in Florence, Alabama, but found a great Mexican restaurant there and finally ended up in a motel in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee, across the road from a Walmart that sold beer.

Tomorrow we're going to Nashville and the Grand Ol' Opry.