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Louisiana Tour
Bienvenue à Bayou
November 25 - 30, 2004
Friday, November 26
Day 1: Canton, MS to Port Allen, LA
Total miles for the day 244
Arriving so late last night turned into getting up so late this morning. Then we needed to unload the bikes, pack and load our luggage, plus I forgot the luggage straps for my saddlebags so we needed to improvise with zip ties. At 8:00AM as we walked over to the lobby for our free breakfast, it was only 35 degrees. When we pulled out of the Holiday Inn Express parking lot at 9:45AM it was in the upper 40’s and the sun felt warm. We stopped at the gas station on the corner for gas and an air pressure check. Brian and I have not ridden our bikes since October 17th, him - due to a busy work schedule, me – trying to conserve the tread on my tires in order to be able to do this trip without having to get new rubber. We both needed air, but he could not fill his rear tire. After some playing around with the hose he finally he gave up and we took off. He would try again later on at another gas station.
This morning I took a look at the map and decided to go around Jackson, Mississippi avoiding any traffic around the malls and stores having post Thanksgiving sales. We took 22 West, which was a very pleasant winding road through the countryside with many sweepers and hardly any traffic. In Edwards we took 467 Southeast, which dropped us off on the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Natchez Trace Parkway commemorates an ancient trail that connected southern portions of the Mississippi River to salt licks in today’s central Tennessee. Over the centuries, the Choctaw, Chickasaw and other American Indians left their marks on the Trace. The Natchez Trace experienced its heaviest use from 1785 to 1820 by the “Kaintuck” boatmen that floated the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers to markets in Natchez and New Orleans. They sold their cargo and boats and began the trek back north on foot to Nashville and points beyond. The Natchez Trace Parkway is 450 miles long and connects Nashville, TN with Natchez, MS. Commercial traffic is not allowed on the parkway.
We started heading South on the parkway, which was actually less twisty than the previous two roads. The pavement was very smooth and well kept. Even though the speed limit was only 50MPH, it didn’t bother me too much; we went a bit over speed limit per usual and only saw one patrol car. There was not a lot of traffic on this road today. I’m sure everybody was at the local malls trying to score some deals instead. It turned out to be a very relaxing ride though the park. The scenery was mostly of trees, rivers and nicely manicured fields, nothing spectacular, but in the winter months I’m not that picky. My favorite feature of this road was the fact that you never had to slow down or stop for anything. No towns, restaurants, gas stations, traffic signals or stop lights. The temperatures kept climbing until reaching the upper 50’s with partly sunny skies. At the end of the Natchez Trace Parkway, traffic merged with 61 and we continued south to Natchez, MS. Natchez is about 200 feet above sea level, which makes it the highest promontory in the Mississippi River basin. After a gas stop I was adamant about finding this restaurant I read about. I didn’t have the exact address for it but it was on 61. After about 30 minutes I gave up. I just couldn’t find it. We took 61 Business, then 61 up and down for a few files though town - nothing. It was 3PM and getting late in the day and we still hadn’t had lunch. We decided to eat at Sonics, first time for us but obviously not the best choice especially when Natchez is known to have good restaurants.
The route I had designed had us crossing the Mississippi River west of Natchez, then heading South along the river, but there would not be any major cities in that direction and possibly no motel rooms. Sunset would arrive at 4:55PM tonight and in order to not ride around in the dark and cold I wanted to check in to a room before 6PM. The best chance of getting a room was if we headed toward Baton Rouge, LA on 61 South, so we did. Just a few miles outside of Natchez there was the restaurant I was looking for. Mammy's Cupboard, a restaurant designed as a 28' tall woman with a 20' diameter skirt, supposedly serving good southern cooking. She was built in 1939 and there are tables in the skirt area where the dining area is. This restaurant has been recently restored and was back to its original splendor. It was closed anyway so we stopped for a few pictures and kept going. For some reason the temperatures were climbing now and I took off my electric vest that I had just put on before leaving Sonics, anticipating the falling temperatures. Brian’s thermometer was reading 62 degrees now.
Next stop was at the Mississippi/Louisiana state line at the welcome to Louisiana sign for a photo op.
Anna “Did you turn on my heated grips when we stopped at Mammy’s Cupboard?”
Brian “ No, why?”
Anna “They are on”
Brian “Why would you think I would have turned them on?”
Anna “I don’t know, to mess with me. Well I didn't turn them on either”
Brian “No, I didn’t touch your bike” looking at the switch mounted under the instrument cluster “ But the switch is off”
Anna “ I know it’s off … but they are working - they are on, they are warm. They have been on since we took off from Mammy’s. So what’s going on here? How could they be on when the switch says they are off?”
Brian “ The wires going in to the switch must have rattled loose”
Anna “So how do I turn them off?”
Brian “We’ll have to disconnect the wires from the grips. You won’t have heated grips on this trip. After we get home we’ll have to look at the switch and fix it”Per usual, we both just had installed the heated grip kits on our bikes prior to this trip. We didn’t even have time to test them out, except turning them on for a minute or so in the garage to make sure they worked. As they always say, don’t do any major modifications to your bike prior to a big trip; well … apparently we never listen to such smart advice. It didn’t really look like it was going to be that cold on this trip so I guess I could do without them.
After getting on I-110, we found highway 190 and took that to 415. At 6PM we arrived in Port Allen, LA just a few miles from Louisiana’s capitol Baton Rouge, which was first discovered and named by the French explorer Iberville in 1699, almost three centuries ago. Wow, so much history here. We checked in to the Holiday Inn Express. Since we hadn’t ridden in a while we were both sore and tired after only 244 miles. Unfortunately, there were no good restaurants near by the hotel, the lady at the reception desk told us the truck stop/casino had good food. Truck stop? We took a short walk and there was nothing else except for a Shoney’s and a Chinese Buffet. We took a closer look at Cash’s Truck Plaza, it would just have to do. The place was a diner/gas station/casino. I had a seafood platter, which consisted of stuffed crab, stuffed shrimp, fried shrimp, fried catfish, fried oyster and a fried white fish filet looking thing, plus a baked potato. Brian ordered red beans and rice and ate my catfish and oysters. Good food at diner prices. The only thing that had us perplexed were the “Please No Profanity” signs hanging on all the walls. Is profanity a big problem at a truck stop and could a simple sign prevent it? Tomorrow the plan was to get up earlier and make up some miles.
