Today we did a bit of exploring up the Trace. We pulled out of Natchez Trace TT, passed under the low underpass that keeps the stupid honest and broke out onto the Trace northbound.
As usual, the road is very scenic with gentle curves, abundant flowers, creeks running clear water, no signals, very few intersections and low speeds. It may be the most relaxing drive in the U.S. except when certain drivers decide we should lead while they attempt to have vehicle sex with our rear bumper. For these folks we have devised a strategy. We have named this strategy the “I.Q. Test.” Since almost the entire Trace consists of gentle curves with long straightaways having a dashed line painted down the center, passing slower cars is extremely easily almost everywhere. For rear bumper fiends, we wait until their front license plate goes out of the rear view mirror and we start slowly reducing the setting on our cruise control. Some of the idiots will actually stay right on our bumper until we come to a complete stop before finally realizing they could pass us anywhere. For some reason, they become fixated on our rear bumper and our alleged ability to lead. Eventually, even the dullest tailgaters will swing around us and blast up the Trace, despite the speed limit of 50. We figure at this time that their speed in mph has exceeded their I.Q.
Up toward the north end of today’s cruise, we found a section of road where motorists can drive the actual Trace instead of the two-lane highway built by the WPA that basically follows the old trail. We followed it for a few miles despite it being the dirt road trod by so many feet back in the early 1800’s. We quickly found this side trip was not a place we would take the Barbarian Invader because this dirt road is narrow and overhanging branches are considerably lower than our travelling home. It is pretty, though.
To finish off the day, we drove back to nearby Hohenwald and made a tourist stop at the local ScabMart for groceries. Funny – the folks in ScabMart in Tennessee look just like the folks in San Diego’s ScabMart.
We took photos of things other than the ScabMart crowd that you can see by clicking here