DAILY BLOG

Today was a most unusual day for us. Our original plan was to travel from Little Rock, AR to Jackson, MS yesterday, going essentially as many miles south as we were going east, so we could pick up riding this morning on the Natchez Trace Trail, a scenic byway that goes across Mississippi. However, late yesterday, before we left Little Rock, we found out about a chance to meet the folks at Family Life, Dennis Rainey’s organization in the morning. So, we changed plans and stayed in Little Rock last night.

“Enough Paparazzi”, Justy exclaims.

This morning, after my time at Family Life, I was going back and forth on the best way across Mississippi to Tupelo, where we are scheduled to arrive on Sat. As I mentioned, the original plan was was to take the Natchez Trace, which was highly recommended for cycling across Mississippi. However, the more direct route would be to go due east from Little Rock to Helena in eastern Arkansas and then on to Tupelo. In the end, we opted for the more scenic route, even though it meant an extra drive south to pick up the Natchez Trace near Jackson, MS.

Riding on the Natchez Trace

The flat roads and little wind made for some strong average speeds today

After the drive down to Jackson, we started riding. The byway is great for cycling—quite pretty, nice smooth road, relatively easy traffic, little wind. Tomorrow, we have 100 more miles on the byway until we get to Tupelo. We are going to try and make the distance in 5 hours, which would be a good non-wind time for us.

Jordan explores the swamplands

Here’s an example of relying on GPS technology too much. We are staying in Kosciusko tonight, a small town of 5,000 or so. When we arrived this evening, we used Google Maps to find out what restaurants were in town. Not much except fast food. However, it should that just 8 miles out of town there was a Lone Star Steakhouse. After riding, Lone Star seemed like a great option. I remember thinking that the location specified seemed like a weird location, but who am I to question Google? So, we began to drive using the directions provided by Google Maps. Things continued to seem strange as we headed out, because the road was a country road with farms and little else. I kept thinking that it must lead to an interstate exit area or something, but when we got the supposed destination of Lone Star, all that we saw was a grassy field with cows in it! Needless to say, we backtracked and headed back to Pizza Hut instead. The kids got a kick out of that one!

Funny Store Names we saw in Arkansas: The Mad Butcher, Hillbilly Realty