Sayings:

  • Land Ho
  • Water Ho
  • Yo Ho
  • Globel (sic) Warming
  • Adrenaline Rush
  • It’s a Dry Cold
  • It’s a Sunny Cold
  • It’s aDry Sweat
  • Squirreled
  • Don’t Squirrel With Me
  • F*&%ing Pit Bulls
  • Go ‘Tangs
  • DALAS (Driving Around Looking At Stuff)
  • SALAC (Sitting Around Looking At Computers)
  • SATAS (Sitting Around Talking About Stuff)
  • AJ Kokopelli
  • “I have a theory: The altitude makes you fat.” – Jenny Coleman
  • Garde Moo … Woooooo!
  • Night Crap (Cap)

1/24/11 Monday … Naweedna to Marysville, OH …

Trip anxiety – neither of us slept well Sunday night. We got up early – before dawn showed her crack – and started loading the boxes of stuff we’ve kept in the house for fear of freezing, and finished necessary preparations including morning beverage and shower. I’ve been going out to the back porch to run the water and flush the toilet when the outside temps are down in the wee numbers. It was all of -9 this morning so I performed the now familiar ritual. Hmmm, the cold water ran normally, but the hot water tap produced nothing, zilch, nada, not a drip. Panic flushed through me, but then rusty water started flowing. Must have been right at freezing for the hot water. I put on coveralls, opened the crawl space door, and went in to check. Oops, I forgotto put insulation in the little vent windows when I winterized this fall. I did that now,and left the 100w light on to add justenough heat –I hope. Then I crawled out, shut the door, and tried to put it out of my mind. Onward to NM.

By 8AM, we were crunching down the driveway with very cold snow squealing under our tires. The first 2 days of the trip had definite destinations: Terri & Gunter’s in Marysville OH and Joe & Berniece’s in Nashville TN. We needed to make time and that means IOF (Icky Ol’ Freeways). Soooo, onto I-390 to Dansville,short jaunt on NY-36 to I-86 (formerly NY-17), west to I-90, then I-271, finally I-71 to Delaware, OH, where we picked up “smaller” roads to Marysville.

Somewhere along the line, I formulated the anxiety-induced question: Did we unplug the coffee pot? It is very revealing how these things come to mind once you can’t do anything about them. We are both sure we did, but … at least we know we did not leave the iron on ;-)

Roads in NY were clear but almost completely white with salt. Just west of Salamanca we saw an immature Bald Eagle perched in a tree overlooking the Allegheny River. Ah, nature. Along this stretch of highway, they find it necessary to put up signs informing the vehicle occupants that this is a Scenic Area. Why some areas and not others? Why is it necessary – do people have to be told it’s scenic? We believe this is one of the most scenic IOF’s we’ve seen –this part anyway. The weather was actually very good – cold but clear – until we got to I-271 east of Cleveland. Then it started snowing and continued to do so all the way toMarysville. We only saw 2 other RVs the entire day –both RoadTreks.

Since we were on IOF’s, we had access to broadband Internet all day so we had fun keeping Terri informed of our progress. This technology thing might just catch on.At least, it makes for some interesting exchanges ;-)

TripEMails.DOC OR TripEMails.PDF

We arrived at the Paradox Ranch around 4, greeted Terri, Gunter & Calvin, and retired to the living room for an I’m-done-with-driving-for-the-day libation. Stress removed and details caught up on, we headed out to dinner. The original idea was to go to the famous Bun’s, but when we got there –we found it CLOSEDon Monday. Not to fear, Marysville has the wickedly famous Old Town Inn, so we headed there. They almost never close, but this Monday was slow, so we got to sit in the much-desired “porch” table. It reminded me of the porch on the Prairie Home Companion set (full screen, see bottom picture in left sidebar).

In honor of Janie’s upcoming 60th, we went all out with potato skins, garden salad, filet mignon, onion rings (really good), green beans … all accompanied by a nice bottle of Layer Cake Shirazand topped off with 1lava cake for 4. Burp … We were back at the Paradox for more conversation and turned in around 10 PM. Yawn … big day tomorrow.

1/25/11 Tuesday … Marysville, OH to Mt. Juliet, TN …

We were up early, enjoyed our morning beverages and bagels (with delightful honey-nut cream cheese – and bid our good friends goodbye – for now – with hospitality like this, we WILL be back. We completed our Volvo diagonal across OH, went around the Queen City, and continued on across the hump of KY to Louisville. I-71 in KY was badly rutted and clogged with truck traffic. Grit your teeth and motor on. I rediscovered the strange reality of having to speed up as traffic became more congested. You just get caught up with the flow and have to go with it. Onward …

I-65 between the “villes” of Louis and Nash was much better … still lots of trucks but better road surface and spacing. Shortly after going around Louisville, we lost the snow cover that had been present since leaving Naweedna. Ah, but fate would provide us with more. Read on …

Joe and Berniece get home from w-w-w-work around 4:30, which coincided nicely with our ETA. Like yesterday, we exchanged emails with Joe all day – we could really get used to this (TripEMails.DOC or TripEMails.PDF). Unbeknownst to us, we had crossed into Central time just over the TN border; we’d gained an hour, so we had some time to slow down and smell the roses or perhaps the residue of last night’s feast. We pulled into a welcome center and was greeted by Janna, one of 3 women behind the counter with absolutely nothing to do. “You need some help, hon?” Why yes I do.

Joe had told us about the “storm” coming tonight, so we asked Jenna about that and the Natchez Trace, our next destination after Joe’s. Man did we get an earful. Yes, they were predicting 2-4 inches of snow starting after 9PM. Temps were to be just above freezing, but the wind would be brisk enough to keep the snow from melting. We had looked at the Trace’s web site before leaving NY and discovered that was closed from milepost 420. Hell, the Trace is only 444 miles, so that means it is nearly all closed. Oops, that conclusion was the result of North-centric thinking.

Janie & I had both assumed the mileposts start at 1 … on the northern end. We should have remembered the Trace was used by river boat-men (Kaintucks) who floated down the Mississippi on cargo barges, sold the goods and barges in Natchez, and then returned home via the Trace. Thus, it makes sense to start the mileposts at 1 IN NATCHEZ. More thought would have led to the conclusion that the northern end was most likely to beclosed due to snow. That means only the northern20 miles or so was cordoned off. The southern 420-some miles wereopen. Duh and Yay!

Well, Janna set us straight and gave us a number to call to find out if the northern end of Trace was closed and, if so, where to get on. We told her where we were heading for tonight (Joe’s), she whipped out a couple maps and started annotating them. As she highlighted the route for us(upside down), she interjected things like, “My brother lives at this corner. My other brother lives at this corner. My other, other brother used to live here.” It got to be pretty humorous real fast.

Janna just kept whipping out maps and brochures until Janie had an armload of neatly folded paper-products. The best part of Janna’s directions had us getting off I-65 just 4 miles down the road and taking back roads down to Joe’s. Yay, we get to do a little touring without our new-found trucker friends. By now, it was raining steadily, which I welcomed because it washed off some of the road grimeaccumulated over the past 2 days.

We were still a little confused by the time thing. Clocks in RVan showedTHREE different times: Eastern (regular and daylight savings) and Central. So as we moved from the front seats to the bed, it was 3:34, 4:45, and 5:45. Just too much for our feeble brains to deal with. So we pulled into Woods Ferry boat launch on the shore of Cumberland Lake (formed by damming the Cumberland River), and I reset all clocks to one time – Central – I think. We scanned the lake shore to find several gulls and just about as many Great Blue Herons. It was good to be in a quiet location with birds to look at – and to know the actual time.

We pulled into Joe’s very nice circular-driveway a little after5. Hey, this is a really nice house; Joe and Berniece have done very well for themselves. Are we worthy of such heady trappings? They have good jobs, a nice house in a wonderful neighborhood, and 2 very good sons: Chris (16) and Joe (off to college at Middle Tennessee State in nearby Murfreesboro). Yeah, we are very proud of our “children” and “grandchildren”. We got the 25 cent tour and settled in the kitchen for dinner: a good, hearty stew and some beer (Yuengling Black & Tan as fate would have it). Oh yeah, there was a delightful banana-nut bread and loads of animated conversation – unfortunately dominated by yours truly after the second beer. Some of the abuse was heaped on poor Chris who joined us in the kitchen. He is “into” vinyl so I proceededto bend his ear about music stuff. I’ll sendhim a compilation with tracks by his favorite artist: Johnny Cash. What we got here is a retro-boy … I love it.

I eventually throttled back and we headed out to RVan ~10 PM. It was 34 outside, but with the furnace’s help, a comfortable 55 inside. We prepared for winter camping by zipping together two 40-year-old down sleepingbags as a double-thick comforter. They provided such good insulation we discovered they “remembered” the cold from the north, but once we got the bed warmed up, it was really very comfortable.

1/26/11 Wednesday … Mt. Juliet, TN to Meriwether Lewis Campground, Natchez Trace TN

Well, it did snow, but not until after we werezoned out asleep. We awoke around 5 to white ground, which we couldn’t see very well due to heavy condensation on our windows and darkness outside. It was still 34 outand 55 in. We fixed our morning beverages and rearranged things as darkness gave way to twilight. We’d told Joe to turn on the front porch light when they are ready to receive morning guests, but before we noticed the light, we heard a welcoming meow uttered by the housecat Joe had let out after turning on the porch light. I could see little cat tracks in the snow, but they were only ~1/2 inch deep.

We gathered up our stuff and went in the house. There we watched local weather people showing their fascination with what we northern-tier people consider a routine dusting. There were reports from on-scene reporters at what seemed like every street corner in and around Nashville. Ah, but it was still snowing with a fairly strong west wind; there may be more accumulation before this whole thing blows over.

School was closed, so Chris and Berniece had the day off – she’s a school nurse. Joe, it seemed, could go to work whenever he wanted, so we sat around the kitchen table for a couple hours talking about things and watching birds at their feeder. They have a wider variety of birds than we do. It was pretty neat. We looked at maps of the Natchez Trace, I called to see if it was closed, and, if so, where we could get on.

The obviously over-stressed and less-than-happy woman at Trace headquarters told me that the Trace was closed from milepost 420 north. That’s only about 24 miles, so it seemed we were good to go – assuming we could actually get to the Trace. A quick look at a map showed the nearest town to milepost 420 was nearFly TN. Okay, we never been to Fly, TN; seems like an altogether fine idea. Onward ...

Joe whipped up some sausage and toast. It was yummy, and after leaving just a couple patties for Chris, who wasn’t out of bed yet, we headed to the shower. Joe decided to go to work, so we thanked him for his hospitality and hugged him goodbye. Once showered and dressed, we also thanked Berniece and gave her a big farewell hug … and threatened to descend on them again on our way home. It may not be in your best interest to be so nice to us ;-)

It was ~10 AM before we pulled out of Joe’s driveway. The roads were clear but still wet. I don’t think they had been salted, so we only had to deal with road spray from the surprisingly sparse traffic. Lots of people were taking the day off – or at least the morning. We were grateful for that.

The road signs were plastered with snow and we managed to miss our turn for Fly. But we did see a tree with about 6Black Vultures hunkered down against the unusual cold. Driveways were covered with limonite stained pea-gravel that I remember from other trips through the mid-South. Although we missed Fly, we found the equally interesting Sawdust TN and shortly thereafter we turned onto the Trace at milepost 408. We immediately took a right, and drove up to where the Trace was barricaded. It was beautiful. Tree trunks were all plastered with snow on the west-facing sides; finer branches and twigs were also covered with snow. It reminded me of those 50s Christmas trees with fake snow blown on them … I think they called it flocking. The real thing was much better.

The Natchez Trace Links: Wikipedia, America’s Byways, Map, Web Pictures

Our Pictures: Picture Picture Picture

It was around 11:30 and we essentially had the Trace to ourselves. I put RVan on cruise at 35 MPH (the lowest possible) and we just turtled along looking at the wondrous surroundings. The stress accumulated over 2 days of IOF driving was melting away – even if the snow wasn’t. We saw more Black Vultures, Red Tails, Bluebirds, Juncos, a small flock of Meadowlarks, Flickers, and one lonely-looking Killdeer. The only other vehicles were an official pickup truck and 2 tractors, which were about 3 models bigger than mine but had the same 5 foot snow blade on the back. If this is their snow removal equipment, it’s a good thing it doesn’t snow more down here.

When we got to MP 428, we discovered the road was barricaded. No matter mind, turn around and head south. We were coming to a pullout called She Boss Stand when we noticed 2 horses ambling out of the parking area and across the road. They’d obviously escaped from their quarters and were having a grand old time just walking down the Trace munching the grass along the road. They really looked quite content – a little surreal but still happy. Picture

Somewhere along the Trace, we came to a pullout with a snow-covered exhibit podium covered with 2-3 inches of snow. A previous traveler had patted the snow down to spell out GLOBEL WARMING. Sarcasm? Realism? Science? Why didn’t we get a picture of that? We thought we had one, but it’s now only a mental image.

The Trace was originally an animal path, then an Indian path, and then a more formal trail (trace) for Kaintuckswho had floated down the Mississippi to Natchez, then used the Trace to walk/ride back. Thousands did this, so there was a need for inns along the way – stands, as they are called down here. One stand was operated by a white woman and her Indian husband. He didn’t speak much English, so if someone asked him, he’d point to his wife and say, “She boss.” Hence the name: She Boss Stand. Ha! Things haven’t changed all that much have they?

We got to Meriwether Lewis CG a little after 3 and set up housekeeping in site #17 … we’re the only ones in the entire campground, so it should be nice and quiet tonight. The gathering evening light with snow plastered to the trees and frozen to their twigs made the whole scene look like a Bev Doolittle painting. It was beautiful and serene - what we call “serenery”.

There are 3campgrounds on the Trace and all are FREE. They have no hookups, no dump stations, and no showers, but they do have clean, heated bathrooms with running, albeit cold, water. The restroom at Meriwether Lewis was essentially new. We had it all to ourselves; it felt like the whole place was just for us. Yeah, we are that special - brand new restroom, clear, deep-blue sky, the remains of a waning gibbous Moon, a ruddy glow to the East - all just for us – alone. Wonderful.

1/27/11 Thursday … Lewis Campground to Jeff Busby Campground, Natchez Trace MS …

We awoke to a clear sky immersed in a winter wonderland. It was 25 degrees outside, but a very comfortable 55 in RVan. The big orange ball was just cresting the east ridgeline – things were looking very good. We had all day to saunter down the Trace and that is just what we did. We saw Fox Squirrels scurrying around in the snow, then a small group of deer ambled across in front of us –two backsliders were from this year’s crop. There were Phoebe, Palm Warbler, Coots, Terns, Loons, Gulls, Bufflehead, GBH, Ring-Necked Duck, Red-Shouldered Hawk, Towhee, and possibly a Mississippi Kite. And … maybe a Coyote skulking into the scrub along the road.