Nashville to Indianola

After a great sendoff breakfast (thank you family & friends for joining us!) at the Loveless Cafe, we departed Nashville on the Natchez Trace Scenic Parkway. BeamerPop and I have been on the Trace before, a rainy, cool day in May. Needless to say we had the road to ourselves for that ride! Well, not this time. We were immediately immersed in a bicycle rally and there were hundreds of bicyclist all over the road, coming and going. They were like fleas on a farm dog. Actually it made the ride even more interesting as we had to navigate among them. Eventually we moved beyond the range of the bicycle rally and enjoyed the ride with only a few other travellers. During one of our rest stops (there's a story here about Beamer Pop never looking in his rear view mirror for the 'stop needed' handsignal), we were alone until we heard it...the rolling thunder of lots of pipes. And sure enough, led by a big cruiser whose driver had a beard at least a foot long that was flapping in the wind. More than 20 bikes went by!! We waved to them all and I am sure they were unsure whether to wave to us or not...(it's the orange safety vest thing.) Other living things we saw on the Trace were hawks, turkey vultures, wild turkey, and deer.

The deer really surprised us as they crossed the road right in front of us, but it was a pretty site! We have a hand sign for deer. Open your hand and spread your fingers as far apart as they will go. Now hold your hand up to the side of your head with your thumb pointed into your temple. I mention this because I was the tail man and it was so funny when the deer crossed the road; the lead man, Beamer Pop gave the deer sign immediately followed by Cvstar and myself. It looked pretty silly and I laughed to myself.

Well yes we did have a few mishaps...or misdirections..or miscommunications, really. A few turnarounds as we had to find gas in Cherokee AL, and then later when we stopped for lunch in Tupelo (Elvis's birthplace). I'm sure BeamerPop and Cvstar will exagerate this story but I was in the lead for finding the restaurant and after a few missed turns, we ended up near the restaurant in the parking lot of a motel. We had the option of making a left turn into the main stream of traffic or trying to find a backway to carry us the one block to the restaurant. I led the crew behind the motel and onto a sidewalk that connected to a street that ran behind the restaurant. I thought I had been pretty clever; BeamerPop and Cvstar decided that was the last time I got to lead, and I think I have been designated as the official caboose!

Tonight, after 359 miles, we are spending the night in Indianola, MS, birthplace of B.B. King. We had a successful day and are looking forward to our ride tomorrow. BeamerPop is watching the weather forecast on TV; Cvstar is chatting on the phone. I'm ready to call it a day.