The weather continued to follow a pattern of a warm, humid partly cloudy morning followed by afternoon thunderstorms. Day’s distance: 234 miles Total trip distance: 8,848 miles While in Tupelo, I stopped by the birthplace of Elvis Presley.
After a quick stop at the local Starbucks for a latte and snack, I jumped on the Natchez Trace Parkway where it crossed Main Street. Next stop was Clinton, some 185 miles or so south. The Natchez Trace was originally created aut of a series of Indian trails by order of President Jefferson to speed up delivery of the mail, and to help hold this frontier area together with the rest of the nation through the early 1800’s, according to information signs located on the trail. Some of the Old Natchez Trace exists and crosses today’s paved version.
Like the Blue Ridge Parkway, the Natchez Trace has no lights or stop signs. Instead, bridges are used to cross over intersecting roads. The speed limit was 50mph for most of The Trace, faster the the BRP. Due to the flat landscape, the Trace was overall less scenic.
Afternoon thunderstorms arrived at about 2:30pm when I was north of Jackson. I pulled off for the worst of it, but since there wasn’t shelter, I pushed through most of the rest of the rain.
I arrived in Vicksburg just before 5pm and enjoyed a wonderful home cooked meal with two of my former neighbors before checking into my motel. I spend the next three or four days travel to and through the Ozarks. 🙂