Tuesday, June 18, 2024

5/20/24-5/21/24: Home to Natchez Trace and Return

Weather forecast called for nice warm days today and tomorrow so I saw this as a perfect opportunity to go on a 2 day bike trip.

I left the house about 6:15 a.m. and met Mike, who rode with me about 35 miles before turning around and heading back home.

A lot of the route today was on roads I had not ridden before.  It was almost entirely back roads with plenty of forests alongside the road which allowed me to enjoy the sounds of the short-lived cicadas during the heat of the day.

The communities I went through today were Minor Hill, Ethridge, and Summertown, all of which are in Tennessee.  The dispatcher at the Minor Hill Police Department gave us each a couple of bottles of cold water. She told us she also drives the firetruck for the city.  I guess you have to wear multiple hats when you're employed by a small town city. 

I saw several horse and buggies being driven on roads and a horse pulling a hay rake in a field around Ethridge. There must be a fairly large Amish population there.  I always enjoy watching how efficient those horses are at their jobs.

I was on a gravel road about 5 miles today outside of Summertown.  There was a short section that was very rutted with some deep mud puddles. Since I was on a bicycle, I was able to avoid riding through the deepest part of the puddles.  (Pic of portion of the gravel road below - phone made pic sideways view)

I am camping at the Natchez Trace Bike Only campsite on Hwy 50.  I've camped here a few times previously.

Total miles today: 90.5

I woke up about 4 a.m. and decided to go ahead and break camp and start my return trip home. Today was another great day for bicycling and the route I took, which was different from the route I rode yesterday, was again primarily on back roads with very light vehicular traffic.

Pic below of early morning scenery.

Total miles today: 77.2

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