October 16, 2021
Day Seven: Houston, Mississippi to Kosciusko, Mississippi
I woke up very early, as usual, to find that it was much, much cooler this morning - high 40s - and by the time I got everything together and was ready to ride out into the bright morning after 8:00, it hadn't warmed up much.
I rode out of the back of the motel parking lot into the back of the Walmart parking lot. Despite the bright sun, it was too cold for me to ride in summer cycling attire.
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I put on my ear warmers, and attempted to put on the arm warmers, but they kept falling down, and I could tolerate that intense annoyance less than a mile before I stopped, took them off, and put on my yellow rain jacket instead.
I rode a few very pleasant miles on country roads before entering the Natchez Trace Parkway.
The Trace was pleasant this morning. Not much traffic. I had a nice tailwind.
I recalled that the Parkway was 444 miles long, so when I approached the "222" marker I stopped and photographed it. (When riding southbound, the mile markers count down to the zero at the terminus of the Parkway in Natchez, Mississippi.)
After several pleasant but slightly boring miles, I exited the Parkway and rode a mile to the small village of Mantee (population 232.) No one was around.
I walked around and took a few photos.
There was a diner - closed until the afternoon, unfortunately -with a bench in front, where I sat for a while. I observed as a car drove past, slowed, and then the driver opened the car door, leaned out, coughed up a giant wad of phlegm onto the road, closed the door, and then continued down the road. During this operation the car slowed, but never completely stopped. Charming.
I rode back toward the Parkway, but this time I stopped at a dusty gas station, and walked inside.
Boiled peanuts are very, very popular here in rural Mississippi.
I'd tried boiled peanuts earlier this year when I was bicycling in Plains, Georgia, and hadn't liked them. As I purchased my Diet Pepsi and M&Ms, the woman checking me out expressed shock at the possibility that someone could not be a fan of boiled peanuts.
Back on the Trace, more pleasant miles. It was slowly warming up. My tailwind was awesome.
I talked to Ellen, a northbound rider for a while. She was having a nice time despite what was, for her of course, a headwind. She loved the scenery along the trace. "I'm from Chicago, and I have to drive miles and miles to see anything like this!"
It finally warmed up enough that I could remove the rain jacket. (I'd removed the ear warmers a couple of hours before. Unless it's really chilly, those things are overkill.)
I stopped and took a break at a picnic table situated in some trees one or two hundred feet from the road. I ate a king-sized Payday bar I'd been carrying with me for while, then called Joy and talked for a while.
More great riding. This tailwind was amazing. It was almost making up for the difficult first day of this tour, when I had 18 mph headwinds much of the time.
A northbound bike tourist approached, and I had an extended conversation with him. He was Mark, from Iowa City, riding the Adventure Cycling Great Rivers Route. This guy was an experienced cycle tourist, and unlike Ellen earlier, he immediately sort-of-casually mentioned my great tailwind (and by implication, his terrible headwind.) Ha - I've said the same thing many times. Because it seems like I'm almost always the rider with the headwind. But not today!
While we were talking, two very unusual touring cyclists, riding northbound, appeared. They appeared to be Amish, and told us they had just gotten married, and were riding the entire length of the Natchez Trace as their honeymoon!
I stopped in French Camp, a village just off the Trace, and had an ice cream cone. There was a restaurant there, but it looked a little too fancy for me - the kind of place where a grilled cheese sandwich would cost $15.
The last twenty miles to Kosciusko flew by. I checked into a crappy motel whose best feature was its proximity to a good Mexican restaurant next door, did some chores, and then, suddenly very tired despite what had felt like a relatively easy day, went to bed earlier than ever - before 8:00 even.
Today's ride: 79 miles (127 km)
Total: 544 miles (875 km)
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