South on the Natchez Trace was our direction for today. At the end of today’s drive, we will have driven the entire length of the Trace from Natchez, Mississippi, through a bit of Alabama up to milepost 405 here in Tennessee. We will only have the length between MP405 and the northern terminus up by Nashville remaining and we have enjoyed every bit of it. It is the kind of road where you roll down your window, set your arm on the door and cruise along without bothering to hurry. It is a magnificent drive.
We headed south from Hohenwald and continued until we made it to the Tennessee River over in Alabama where we had a great picnic along the shore of the river. Peggy had put together a lot of finger food and I took care of breaking out the kippers. We spotted very colorful birds in the trees and sunning turtles hanging out on partially submerged logs. The weather cooperated and our picnic was a big success.
On the way home we tried another section of actual Trace to drive and again it was narrow and the branches are low but at least this time there was pavement. We stopped by some wonderful turnouts alongside the road where we could loaf next to the creeks. Now that we are out of the flat lands of Mississippi and Alabama, the water in the creeks is crystal clear and the limestone creek beds can be easily observed through the water. Wildflowers are everywhere.
There’s a few photos if you click here