October 18, 2021
Day Nine: Raymond, Mississippi to Natchez, Mississippi
I slept very, very well last night. For the first time in a while, I didn't wake up even once.
I took my time getting ready while talking to the woman who, with her husband, owns the the historic home. I asked about the mattress in my room, which was surely the most comfortable one I'd ever slept on. She told me the brand, and, laughing sheepishly, said "They were an investment."
Before I left I called Joy. I mentioned the mattress, and she looked it up while we talked, and then proceeded to mockingly read to me from the extremely over-the-top, ridiculous marketing copy on the company website. Apparently the mattresses cost several thousand bucks each. Yikes.
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I rode past the courthouse, rolling my eyes again at the monument to the "Lost Cause", and stopped at the grocery store, which I'd learned yesterday served breakfast.
I wanted an egg and cheese biscuit, but when I ordered that, the no-nonsense woman stated, very emphatically, "WE DON'T DO CHEESE." I very briefly considered asking her to reconsider, but the warning look she gave me as I opened my mouth caused me to abandon that idea.
I sat outside the store and ate my cheese-less egg and biscuit and drank my Diet Coke. Multiple people wished me good morning. With the exception of the anti-cheese woman, everyone in Raymond had been very friendly. I liked the place.
I rode out of town, stopping a few times to look around.
In a few miles I was back on the Natchez Trace Parkway. I was very bored with the Parkway by now, but I was stubbornly determined to see it through to the very end.
The ride was pleasant, as expected. Weather was nearly perfect. I encountered a group of cyclists on a van-supported tour of the Parkway and rode beside some of them for a while. One woman mentioned that it was a good thing it wasn't hilly, since I would surely have trouble on hills with my heavy bike. I suppressed a strong urge to forcefully contradict her, and instead just told the woman that I'd seen my share of hills on this, and other bike tours. How dare she doubt me. Ha!
I counted down the miles. I was ready to mark the Natchez Trace Parkway off my list of things to do on the bike.
Lodging was not cheap in Natchez. Unlike the last time I was here, I decided not to stay at one of the expensive, kinda crappy chain motels, and instead located an "historic" B&B, which cost less than the motels.
My route through Natchez to the place was through a pretty seedy part of town, and my place was on the edge of this area. It looked like some gentrifying was going on.
After checking in, I went walking in search of a cold Diet Pepsi, the unavailability of which for 80+ miles today on the Parkway had confirmed my opinion about the road: Pleasant, but boring and slightly irritating.
The lady at the B&B gave me a meaningful look and warned me that the area containing the only convenience store in the area was "sketchy." I braved the "sketchy" area, and successfully returned with three cold pops.
I had several work-related tasks to do, so I decided to take the day off from riding, and stay in Natchez tomorrow.
Today's ride: 84 miles (135 km)
Total: 711 miles (1,144 km)
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