Bob and I were completely enchanted by the village of Natchez on the Mississippi River. A high bluff protected the town from the flooding of the river and bayous surround the area.

It also has the great advantage of the recently opened Natchez Trace Parkway, a 440 mile road linking the town of Natchez to Nashville to the North-east. Following the route of an old Indian path that had been tracked by boatmen for a century or more after they carried their goods down the Mississippi, and, being unable to float the barges up river would walk this route back.

The town has a real small time feeling, which suited us just fine. Everyone waves and says the southern equivalent of "G'Day" when you see them, even if they are in a vee-hick-al on the other side of the road. We're staying in the most wonderful turn of the century B&B in town and couldn't be happier. I also was able to run on three consecutive mornings, not too far, but boy was it wonderful!





We hired (or rather sought to hire) a bike so that I could ride along the Trace Parkway with Bob. Having dropped him at the 40 mile mark on Monday, I knew that this road was too perfect not to ride, and we found that Western Auto on route 61 would rent me a bike. The bike guy, Tommy was a cyclist and fixed me up with a slightly too large Cannondale Road Bike. He undertook to pump up the tyres and put on flat pedals for me the next day.





We did cycle the Trace, Tommy refusing to accept any payment for the 3 or so hours that I had the bike. I was a little nervous, being my first cycle for a hell of a long time. The road was so beautiful to ride on though that the miles just floated past. Smooth, black top, wide and tree lined, with all commercial vehicles prohibited and a speed limit of 50. Cycling perfection really.





I reluctantly decided to turn around after about 25kms - which turned out to be the 15.5 mile mark where there was an old farmhouse, and water and restrooms. Despite a slight headwind, I was slightly faster on the way back and was over the moon. I would be keen to come back and cycle the whole route.





Armadillos were also along the way!





We had our voting papers sent from the consulate in New York to the Post Office in Natchez, and filled them in and sent them off in time to be counted. There was a slight problem with my senate paper - they sent me the 79 candidate NSW paper instead of the ACT election paper, however I hope that my vote will count in this most important of elections.