Southern hospitality and the natchez trace.

Post for Sataurday 9/17/2011

On Friday it was a day that started out amazing and ended amazing with a couple freak out moments in-between. Started out from Jackson, mississippi and about 10 miles out, seeing that there wasn't a stop for the next 40 miles or so, I decided to ride about 4 miles off route to a small town to grab a bite to eat. I Hung out, ate a few chicken tenders and talked to a short, rather large man who rides around town all day on a purple beach cruiser. He was slightly mentally handicapped but absolutely awesome to talk to. I left there, having realized that I spent too much time talking and went back to the trace to continue on. Seeing as I was planning on only doing around 80 miles, I stopped at more places to see the sites and take in the history of the natchez trace and the Cherokee tribes who used to live there. I stopped once more along the way and hung out for a half hour, eating and charging my phone. I found out that the bed and breakfast that I was planning on staying at had a $150 rate and decided to camp at a camp ground a few miles further down the trace. It was 4:30 and I was about 17 miles from where I was going to camp when I called the park. I don't know whether it was the employee having a bad day or fate but I was told that I couldn't stay there if I didnt get there by 5 to pay. Then I started to freak, not knowing where I would stay or if I would be stranded for the evening. I wasn't planning on staying in natchez originally but I figured I would give it a shot and see if any ws hosts were there. To my surprise there was nichole. I called her and she was more than awesome and said I could stay but that she wouldn't be back until 10pm but I was more than welcome to a beer in the cooler and to hang out on the back porch until they got home. I got off the trace and headed to the Exxon to get a bite to eat and hang out for a bit and it ended up being amazing. After about an hour I see multiple cyclists getting out of cars and grabbing beer while I was on the phone with my mom. I wave but am enjoying the conversation so much that I don't get off. That is until I see Stan, the Schlitz jersey wearing, rattle snake herding cyclist. I get off the phone and find out that stan owns a music/bike store up the street and we get to talking and I end up loading up ny bike in his truck and we head there to see if he has tires in my size. One thing leads to another and we start playing music together there in the shop while drinking Mississippi brewed pecan honey nut brown ale. Now, if that wasn't crazy enough I find out that all of those cyclists are part of natchez bike club and they all did a ride that night and were heading to grill out and just hang for a few hours. Stan invited me out and I heard stories of bike rides where stan herded a rattle snake off the trail with his front wheel and really enjoyed everyone's company. I also met a girl who moved from san Francisco to natchez (which is awesome and random in its own rite) and used to be a bike messenger. We exchanged numbers and after a great evening stan took me back to the ws host and I then Hung out with them, drinking and talking until almost 1am, the latest I had been up the entire time.
I woke up at around 7:30 and adrienne (the girl from san fran) had agreed to show me around natchez and show me the Mississippi that morning so I called, we met up at 8:30 and I didn't end up leaving until around 11am after riding around almost 10 miles through natchez. She even showed me through the graveyard with tombstones from the early 1800's like Louise the unfortunate, the town prostitute. It was a lot later than I would normally start but completely worth it. 70 miles was easy after that point.
I made it to Louisiana today and it was perfect weather for it too. Got to Jackson, la and a ws host, potentially my last host for the trip outside of there in Austin. Perry and Lep Templeton (same last name as my step dad Mike!!!) are incredible. After 20 months of work, just last week they finished building their own house! I wish I would've taken pictures but I didn't feel right considering there are boxes everywhere still. You'll just have to take my word on this one. They've hosted so many cyclists through the years and looking over the comments of many others who have flew from further to ride in the us, ridden from shorter and were just starting out or are just passing through in one of their many journeys makes me wonder whether someone going to be sitting where I am, reading my comments and wondering when their trip is going to start seeming real like I've been wondering this entire time. I never would've thought I would've made it this far but it seems like such a blur and like I've been riding forever already. It's hard to believe It's been just over 2 weeks.
I have a few rest days in new Orleans (woot!) after I ride to st. Francisville and to baton rouge tomorrow. Marie is coming to hang out in new Orleans with me, which will be nice to have a little bit of home on my trip. I'm so excited to see these 3 places, you have no idea.
I'm sure i'll have loads to talk about but until then, ill catch ya on the road.