day 3: st. francisville to natchez, mississippi 66 miles

today was a day of juxtapositions.  geographical, thermal, you name it.

we started out the morning with an en masse detour to the rosedown plantation.  well, we sorta got there.  a half-mile driveway, flanked by cotton fields, up to the manor house.  there, we ran into an electrified fence and iron gates that wouldn't open until 9:00 am.  oh well.

the best ride of this trip so far was the 20 miles of northern louisiana countryside.  smooth roads with canopies of live oaks that kept the temperatures cooler than normal.  well-manicured plantations and other farmlands teaming with horses or cattle all the way to the mississippi border.  such natural beauty.  what a joy.  oh yeah, i found out why they're called "live oaks."  this species never loses its leaves, which are smaller than the oak trees around the rest of the country.

the "offical" border between mississippi and louisiana

the actual border between louisiana and mississippi on our route was a bit surreal.  were it not for the chalk demarcations left from last year's tour, the only way you'd know you were in a new state was the distinct seam between the different pavements for each state.

once we got out of the meandering roads through the farmlands of louisiana, we ran smack dap back into civilization and onto route 61.

woodville, mississippi on route 61

from woodville, mississippi, where we entered the state, we spent the next three hours on our familiar four-lane blacktop.  as years of sand and soil have taken its toll, the highway is actually colored a sort of rusty tan.  and, unlike the coolness of the morning, the sun beating down on the roadway made life a little tougher for all of us.  while the air temperature hovered in the high 80's, the road temperature, according to many of our bike computers, was registering over 100 degrees.  it was tough keeping hydrated throughout the afternoon.

the one respite, and probably the most un-pc place i've seen in quite some time, was a second en masse detour...mammy's cupboard.  a small restaurant with killer pies and curiously good blueberry lemondade, and air conditioning, mammy's was just what we all needed to duck out of the sun and heat.

mammy's cupboard; great pies and lemonade

the boyz @ mammy's

oh, a note about my fellow cyclists.  among the five guys i've been most riding with, it seems they average around 4500 miles a year on a bike.  for perspective, i'm lucky if i can get 1250-1500 miles a year.  two qualifiers:  the guys did point out that they are retired, so they do have extra time to get around.  cycling is only one of many sports in which i participate and the summer is mainly when i can ride.

from mammy's, it was another eight miles on and off the main highway into natchez.  unfortunately, where we are staying tonight isn't close to the stunning plantations we've all heard or read about.  tomorrow, we're heading up to vicksburg with nearly 40 miles along the natchez trace.  more on that tomorrow.

sunset on the mississippi in natchez