Day 2: Nashville to Tupelo

We began our day with a trip to the Hermitage, the home of our seventh president Andrew Jackson. The home sits on just over 1000 acres of land that was used as a cotton farm. Andrew and his wife Rachel has over 100 slaves that worked the farm prior to their emancipation after the Civil War. We were able to tour a museum that chronicled the life of the Hermitage as intertwined with the life, military career and presidency of Andrew Jackson. The matter of fact portrayal of slavery was striking. No judgement implied - it was just part of the story. I was also interested in how Andrew's adopted daughter Sarah began the Women of Hermitage society prior to her passing. This society has maintained the home for over 140 years. Amazing for sight.

From there we found the Natchez Trace Trail and began the 260 mile journey to Tupelo. The day was very hot and humid. I was sweating Judy standing still. The welcomed breeze one creates by riding the motorcycle was very refreshing. Our first stop on the Trace was an overlook that gave us a great view of the 155 foot high double arched bridge. What was amazing was that it spanned a wheat field. I have never imagined a bridge over a wheat field.

As the afternoon wore on we watched the clouds form. The formation was beautiful. The Trace was a perfect road to allow a bit of sight seeing as I rode. The Trace was a flat, gracefully curved road. There were very few cars. What was surprising was that there were berthed motorcycles. We virtually has the road to ourselves.

One of the more amazing sites for me was when we road over the Tennessee River. The river was much wider than I realized. There were boats with people fishing and skiing. It looked so beautiful and refreshing. We had planned to stop at the Alabama state line. One of our riders was born on Alabama and we wanted a picture. We were surprised by hoe pronounced the state line was. Our first site was of a very small sign that said Alabama state line near a pull off. I pulled off thinking we would walk back to the sign one to discover a big pronounced sign with the two state seals and flowers. It was really cool. The Trace only passes through a very small corner of Alabama so we were in the state a very short time. By now it was clear we had just missed a rain shower. The road was wet and steam billowed upward. There were times the ride felt cold as we progressed through shady parts and times it was humid thanks to the steam from the earlier shower. We encountered a brief shower but was pretty lucky. We saw the storm moving in from the west, but managed to get to the hotel before the next rain.

We ordered in Italian and had it delivered to the room. We rested and shared stories and observations of our first day on the Trace.