Off Course on the Natchez Trace Parkway; Mile Post 0 to 54 miles

My bike mentor Richard Weaver, MD, and I rode the Natchez Trace Parkway (NTP) officially 422 miles from Natchez, Mississippi, to near Nashville, Tennessee. The parkway is a national Park much like the Blueridge Parkway. There are no commercial vehicles allowed and no commercial hauling. The roadway is a smooth paved two lane road with no paved shoulders but near lawn quality shoulders and the most polite drivers I have ever seen. There are no stop signs and very limited access other than interstate style interchanges. The path has historic significance that is well documented on line. It is a marvelous bike riding area and much literature is available on line and several bike guide books are available.

We loaded our bikes in my Dodge 1500 Quad Cab Pickup truck and drove 334 miles from Pensacola, FL, to Natchez, MS to the home of Dr. Joel and Kathy Guyer. The Guyer's are old friends from my running days where Joel was actually competitive in our 50 mile races. Kathy also ran a few ultramarathons herself being an excellent athlete. They still go out at 4 AM each day before Kathy goes to work! Joel, like me is retired (Ph. D. school psychologist) and just loafs around all day. They were gracious hosts and Dick and I and Joel (the non-workers) stayed up too late drinking wine and telling old running war stories. Joel and Kathy are quite knowledgable about the Natchez Trace Parkway having cycled much of it so advice was flowing. Of all the wives in ultrarunning, Kathy and my wife Millie attended all the races with us. Many of the wives over the years refused to go back to race after race, but not these two. It's probably because Joel and I treat them so well! It was great of the Guyer's to put us up just five miles from the start and to store our truck for the week.

We drove the truck over to the start and Joel was to come pick it up later. However, as we geared up I found my helmet chin strap broken and had to go into town and buy a new helmet. This delayed us so much that Joel arrived for the truck before we departed. So we had an unruly crowd of spectators (Joel) to see us off and prove we actually pedaled. On day one we rode to Rocky Springs Campground seeing one deer and several turkeys (not us!) and Dick saw an Owl. The campsite was a free campground surrounded by large motorhomes and trailers mostly Canadian.