Rene's Site

Today the real ride began! This is my only day going Southbound. I left the hotel in Clinton around 7:30 am to dark clouds and a cooling breeze. It took me a few miles to get out of Clinton, but soon enough, I found my “home” for the next few days – the Natchez Trace Parkway!

Today I learned “the Trace” truly is as quiet of a road as they said it would be. I saw a few cars and motorcycles today, but not really that many, and all were very courteous. I saw a few other cyclists heading northbound, but they all looked like they were out for a day ride. The unpleasant thing I learned is the facilities on the Trace have changed a lot since the website I used to help me plan this trip was last updated. I tried to stop at three different Trace-run sites and none of them had potable water, and only two had functioning restrooms. I talked to the only Park Ranger I saw today and he confirmed that funding cuts over the last few years have meant they haven’t been able to keep most facilities up to snuff. Basically, none of the Trace sites have potable water as far as he knows, and many have closed their restrooms. Personally, even the picnic tables at many of the sites I passed looked really worn out and even dangerous. It’s really sad to see considering this route was truly lauded by many people I talked to.

Unfortunately, this makes my plan a little harder to execute as basically the only place to get water is in the few towns along the way. Most likely, I’m going to end up carrying a lot more water than I had planned, and I’m quite sure the last couple bottles won’t be nearly as refreshing as I hoped! It’s not the end of the world, but it is a bit of a monkey wrench…