April 7, 2025
Warming Up in Natchez
Today began with the entire 15-person tour group assembled after a pretty decent hotel breakfast. Tour co-leader Jeff climbed atop the mega-van and loaded all 15 bikes without injury to anyone or anything. We had to hand our bikes up to him which was a bad idea for yours truly because of my lumbar spinal stenosis. As soon as he took the bike from me, my lower back began to ache, a condition that would continue on and off for the next week.
Meanwhile Beth Ann loaded the trailer with our gear. I worried that I had brought too much stuff but a few others had quite a bit more. The ACA information packet said that we needed to bring a free-standing tent. My allegedly 2-person bikepacking trent is not free-standing so I brought my daughter Lily's legitimately 2-person free-standing tent. It was much roomier inside.
We piled into the van and Jeff drove us two hours south to Natchez. I wore an N 95 mask and had a pretty good headache when we arrived at our hotel. We put our gear in our rooms and met at the van. Jeff expertly unloaded the bikes and Beth Ann set up a mini-deli in the parking lot where we made sammies and grabbed snacks.
After that we headed out on a 13-mile ride around Natchez. It was chill, literally and figuratively. I wore all the things.
Recently, Adventure Cycling entered an agreement with Ride with GPS. When you sign up for a tour like this one, you get complimentary (and updated) digital maps of each day's ride. We were given paper cue sheets for each day of the tour which pleased my old-school sensibilities but I decided to try the digital maps using my iPhone strapped to the stem of my bike.
Since it was cold I was wearing long fingered gloves instead of my usual bicycling gloves. Anytime I needed to adjust the GPS I had to stop and take off my gloves. In short order I decided to ditch the GPS altogether. I didn't want to be staring at a phone all day for the next week anyway.
During the ride I was chased briefly by a ferocious dog. This chihuahua gave chase but stopped at the first speed bump.
Natchez is your basic southern town; think Mayberry but poor. I stopped at the Melrose estate with its Greek Revival mansion; the Spanish moss on the trees was more interesting to me. Another stop was the Grand Village of the Natchez Indians, which had three burial mounds. Interesting but kind of underwhelming . The best stop was atop the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi.
After the ride we had a couple of organizing meetings and some dinner in the hotel lobby. I must say the tour leaders seem to have their act together which is a big relief.
Tomorrow we start the tour on the Natchez Trace in earnest; a 60+ mile day to a primitive campsite. There is an optional side trip to the ruins of a plantation but I’m planning on sticking to the main route.
The weather forecast is about as good as it gets. Fingers crossed.
Today's ride: 13 miles (21 km)
Total: 13 miles (21 km)
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