Day 1 - Monday, 4/18 - Nashville, TN to Leiper’s Fork, TN

We ate an early breakfast at the Home2Suites and then relaxed a bit in our room until the rain stopped. The first day on the Trace was shorter so we had time to wait.  

We'd been looking forward to stopping at the Loveless Cafe for a biscuit sandwich. Located near the Natchez Trace Northern Terminus, The Loveless Cafe was opened in 1951 as a hotel and restaurant. They reportedly have the best biscuits in the country. We ordered two biscuits with egg, cheese, and meat which we ate at the outdoor picnic tables. The Cafe was very busy and they made a mistake so they had to remake our order but we got to try the Loveless Cafe. They're not flaky biscuits so not exactly what we were expecting but they were good. Lots of movie and sports stars have signed photos hanging in the restaurant - Elvis ate here.

We entered the Natchez Trace at the Northern Terminus about 4 miles from our hotel.  Shortly after starting the Trace, we rode over the nation's first Double Arch Bridge at Birdsong Hollow completed in 1994. It's a 155 feet tall and was an engineering marvel for it's time.  After taking some pictures and talking to some folks who liked our tandem and had lots of questions, we rode across the bridge. 

The traffic on the Parkway was very considerate today, usually giving us the whole lane.

We stopped at Leiper's Fork with dreams of a nice dinner and maybe a stroll through an art gallery. Research fail! Everything in town was closed on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. So, we rode back to Leiper's Fork Market by the Trace for a burger and chips and we got two small Hunt Brothers Pizzas to take to our AirBnB for dinner.

We planned a shorter ride the first day because we wanted to stay at the Quirky Canary AirBnB and because we were seeing  some contradictory info online about how much climbing there was over the hillier sections of the first few days. 

The Quirky Canary was our lodging for the night, and it did not disappoint. This 1974 GMC Motorhome was converted to an AirBnB. Cute, well maintained and very yellow, it's located in Leiper's Fork near the Trace. Though it's usually booked, we got a reservation. An AirBnB with it's own Instagram account. How could we pass it by? The motorhome had over 79000 miles on the odometer and 3400 hours on the generator hour meter. This motorhome saw a lot of use in it's day. 

After our nice showers in the outdoor stall, with the electric space heater set to 68 degrees, we ate our Hunt Bros. Pizza and later some microwave popcorn that only half popped due to the small, low power microwave before turning in.

With judicious use of NSAID's and heavy favoring of the sore knee, we made it through the first day and John crossed his fingers that the knee wouldn't be much worse in the morning.

Route ridden (color coded for altitude variation).

Daily miles: 25.3

Total miles: 51.4

Day 0 - Easter Sunday, 4/17 Home to Nashville Airport and then to Hotel in Bellevue

From home, we drove a rental SUV to Nashville, sometimes through rain and sleet, on Easter Sunday expecting to ride from the Avis rental return at the airport to our hotel in the rain. 

After returning the car, we changed into our bike cloths in the restroom outside the terminal entrance and stuffed our street clothes into the panniers.

Now on the bike, John guided us out of the airport congestion.  With the extra weight from the panniers, John hyperextended his left knee pushing off from a red light and we thought our trip might be over.  John took a antiimflamatory, heavily favored that knee, and we continued on.  After a few miles, our route led us onto the Music City Bikeway.  On the bike path there was a bridge missing and the path was closed. We backtracked and found that there was a new bridge that went across the creek a little further back on the trail.  We followed bike paths and bike lanes for most of the 25 miles to our hotel in Bellevue.  Near the end, there was a fairly busy road to our hotel, but overall it was a very pleasant ride. And the best part, just a few sprinkles the whole ride.

After checking in, we walked to the Panera Bread in the Bellevue One Center in front of our Home2Suites and had a nice soup and sandwich on the patio. After that, we washed our clothes at the guest laundry so we can start the Natchez Trace tomorrow morning with all clean clothes.

Route ridden (color coded for altitude variation).

Daily miles: 26.1 

Total miles: 26.1

Introduction to our trip down the Natchez Trace

Hi Friends,

We have been looking forward to riding the Natchez Trace and have finally gotten the opportunity.  We are planning to start our ride on April 18, 2022.

Whether you were invited to view our trip blog, or you found us on the web, we welcome you to travel along with us from Nashville, TN to Natchez, MS and then continuing on to New Orleans. 

The Natchez Trace was originally a trail used for centuries by the American Indians. They followed the bison that used the path to migrate from Nashville, TN to the Mississippi River at Natchez, MS.

In 1801, Thomas Jefferson ordered the widening of the Natchez Trace footpath to accommodate horses and wagons.  The pioneers used the road to establish settlements, The US government used the Trace to control the Louisiana Territory.  Later, the army used the Trace extensively in the war of 1812. Eventually, the Trace fell into disrepair as steamboats gained prominence and were cheaper for trade. 

Though a road was planned by The National Park Service (NPS) in 1938, the Natchez Trace Parkway was not completed until 2005. No commercial traffic is allowed on this NPS linear park which has a speed limit of 50 mph. The Trace, which is 444 miles long, is a top 10 US bike route. 

As we planned our bicycle trip down the Trace we decided to continue from Natchez and ride along the Great River Road (Route 61S) to New Orleans.

If you are thinking of riding the Natchez Trace Parkway, please contact Randy Foughts at Natchez Trace Travel. The information and itinerary he provided was invaluable in planning this trip. Thanks, Randy! Natchez Trace Travel

John and Sue