Like a Boomerang: Natchez to Nashville via the Natchez Trace Parkway

Following our Swamp tour we pointed the CuRVy back towards the Blues Highway for a brief visit to Highway 61. After lunch in Baton Rouge we returned to Mississippi and after a stop at the very welcoming Mississippi Welcome Centre at Woodville we headed toward our night's destination. Natchez.

We headed straight to the Natchez Visitors Centre but as it was 5pm and the centre was closing we had a brief visit before we went in search of local restaurants and a bottle of wine and a beer. The different Liquor Lisencing Laws in each state make this tricky but we are tricky people...This beer/wine expedition proved to be a little more difficult than we expected but our difficulties were overcome and possibility of dehydration was defeated. Adding to our difficulty our friend Mrs G (and maybe the navigator) accidentally led us into Arkansas (other side of the bridge) but we rose above these minor difficulties.

Cotton Alley Cafe http://www.cottonalleycafe.com was our destination for dinner that evening and the reviews we had read proved to be accurate and had a great meal. Following the meal we headed "under the hill" to the original port of Natchez and it was appropriate that we called into the Under the Hill Saloon where we were entertained by one of the patrons. She gave us a local's version of things we needed (or didn't) need to visit in the area!!! She also told us about mudsliding at the New Orleans Jazz Festival as a 16 year old......

We finished our night with a wander along part of a riverside park before calling it a night. A well earned rest followed.

Rising (reasonably) early the next morning and with appetites satisified by our Hotel breakfast (the Apiarist is getting to like Grits) we left for a daytime look at some of the historic sites around Natchez. This, like many of the towns of the south has great history but unfortunately we don't really have enough time to fully explore it. But we did enjoy and learn from an excellently produced film at the visitor's centre.

A walk around River Park gave us not only an update of that history but a great view of the reason that Natchez and area has been important for thousands of years...

Yes the Mississippi, what a wonderful sight! Whether you are looking North or South!!!

The Natchez Museum of African-American History and Culture where our tall, handsome and passionate guide led us on an amazing journey through American History. Sombre and confronting at times but we left with new understanding of the past.

Our North American oddyssey includes travelling on 3 of America's Scenic Byways. http://byways.org/explore/ The first of those was along the Mississippi on The Great River Road and now we started the second The Natchez Trace Parkway.

The America's Byways websites says "Native Americans, Kaintuck boatmen, post riders, government officials, and soldiers all moved across this trail, creating a vital link between the Mississippi Territory and the fledgling United States. Pass through forests, cypress swamps, and farmland to meander through the rock-studded hills of Tennessee, cotton fields in Alabama, and Mississippi's rural countryside.

We added 2 Aussies to that list. What a great drive and what a great learning experience. Even though we didn't walk or, heaven forbid, ride all of the distance, driving, stopping, walking (parts) and photographing gave us some insight to the journey.

Some sections are still as they were and you can see what thousands of people have done by walking and riding over the years.... and the drive itself on a 2 lane road with no commercial vehicles is delightful.

But to be green like this you need to have a little bit of this..........

We talk often in this Blog about "Mrs G". Mrs G is our Garmin GPS and apart from a few minor difficulties like not working in San Francisco and occasionally sending us along roads with deep snow drifts near Algonquin Park "she" has been wonderful. Unfortunately she is sometimes thrown out of kilter by human interaction i.e. the driver and navigator don't really want to go the "shortest way", the driver or navigator "want a coffee/ photograph/toilet (washroom)" and when there is a detour due to roadwork etc.

When these communication difficulties arise life (and travel) become somewhat strained so when a number of these factors and torrential rain combined at Jackson, Mississippi, things became "hotter than a pepper sprout". For those reading this blog who are younger than 40 try and find a version of "Jackson" by June Carter and Johnnie Cash on youtube.

On a more serious note we are travelling through what is known as tornado alley and didn't want to end up like "Dorothy and Toto" and flying off in a tornado. The rain and wind that temporarily brought a halt to our adventure were unbelievable. And it wasn't only we Aussies who pulled of the road we were joined in that decision by lots of others.

As luck would have it the wind subsided, the rain stopped and we found our way back onto the Natchez Trace Parkway.

The rain started and stopped but it had freshened the area up even more, but driving through an area of April 2011 tornado damage reminded us of just how dangerous and deadly these storms are!

Driving and stopping rewarded us all the way until we reached our destination for the night, Tupelo.

Dinner was at a great restuarant, "The Blue Canoe". Great for not only the food, Fried Black Eyed Peas (served in a preserving jar), a Slider and Cheesecake on a Stick, no prizes for guessing who that was for. Tammy was the other reason this night was special. Southern people are open and friendly and a succession of them continue to make our trip even more memorable. We learned a new saying that night, if you're finished you just need to say "put a fork in me, (I'm done)"!

Tupelo is famous for a number of things but probably, no definitely it is most famous for that truckdriver who could sing and dance a bit. Yes, Tupelo is the town where Elvis was born and raised so like many thousands we headed to his first home. Not much of a house but it did produce one of the 20th century's first superstars.

Before we visited Elvis's boyhood home we took some Tupelo advice to "love me tender and love me true" our CuRVy and we headed to the suggested Mazda/ Hyundai Dealership for an oil change. By the way that advice was given by a guy who actually filled your car with petrol (gas) and checked the oil - remember those days?

While the CuRVy was in the hands of the mechanics we were entertained by some of the friendly Tupellions who were fascinating to talk with. Jerry Hood was in a band that produced and sang "Little Band of Gold" a song that was a hit in the 60's, had recorded songs at Sun Studios at Memphis and had not only known and played with Elvis when he was young but had been entertained by him at Graceland. In addition to that he and his wife had an accent we could have listened to for ages and when they were joined in the discussion by Jim (a car salesman) we were truly in the south.