I can now report that my first ever over night trip was a resounding success. The trip up from Houston to Jackson, MS went pretty much as planned. Basically it was a freeway romp east on I-10 to Baton Rouge, LA, then I-12 for a few miles to Hammond, LA, then north on I-55 to Jackson. Weather was threatening rain all day. I think I geared up and geared down for rain four times. Finally caught up to the rain in Brookhaven, MS and rode for about hour in fairly solid rain. Gear worked great, stayed dry, and of course the NT was not fazed.
On Saturday I rode over to Flora, MS to visit the Mississippi Petrified Forest. This is an interesting area of fossilized trees. Some are very large. The one in the picture with the bike weighs over 1,800 lbs. It was transported to Philadelphia, PA for exhibit with the Liberty Bell. the log is so large and heavy, they had to modify the exhibit hall and use a crane to get it inside.
Here is shot of a petrified log as it sits in the ground. These come to light mostly by erosion.
It is spring in the south, so yes, there is poison ivy.
Lunch was at the Blue Rooster in Flora. Doesn't look like much, but the place was packed and the food was good.
Sunday I headed home by riding down the Natchez Trace from Jackson to Natchez. The 'Trace is a Federal Parkway so the speed limit is 50 MPH and enforced, though I didn't see any rangers this time. I used to run this from Jackson north to get to college and saw many rangers back then. The ride is very pleasant and traffic is low. At the lower end, new Natchez, I took a side trip to visit Emerald Mound. This is the econd largest earth mound in the US. There is one bigger in Illinois. Given that it was constructed before 1300 using hand tools and baskets to move dirt, it is amazing.
This view is from the top looking to the opposite end of the mound.
In this view I tried give some idea of the size of the mound. The picture above is from the top of smaller secondary mound to the left in the picture.
Following the mound visit, i altered the original plan and ran US 61 south to Baton Rouge the retraced the Friday route home. Weather was close to perfect on Sunday, sunny, warm and no rain. Winds got quite strong in the afternoon but that is fairly normal for this time of year. Sunday's trip took about 12 hours with the stop and slower first leg.
Total round trip came to 1,036 miles for the week end.
Keep the shiny side up,
Chuck
