What IS the Natchez Trace Parkway?

The "Trace" is an ancient pathway from Natchez into the the Ohio Valley northeast. Natchez was settled at the point in the Mississippi River that could be comfortably paddled against the southern flow. It was the gateway to  New Orleans the Gulf and the wider world. It peaked around the turn of the century (1800) as the country was being settled east of the Mississippi. Natives, traders, refugees, et al. used it mainly as a walking trail. Farmers from Ohio and Tennessee loaded their crop and livestock onto wooden barges and sailed down to Natchez to sell it all including the boat as scrap wood and walked home on the Trace. They called them Kaintucks because locals thought they were from Kentucky.

In the mid 1800s steamships arrived on the river and it was game over. People could sail Northward and presumably Natchez was in decline. 

Around 1900  the Daughters Of The American Revolution (DAR) wanted to commemorate the now defunct but famous Trace so they began lobbying for a ROAD to be built in it's place. Kind of weird, kind of clever. So they did it over the next hundred years or so. 444 miles of a two lane road that now is a linear national park.

No commercial trucks, no billboards, on and off ramps every 20 miles or so. There a few basic rest stops with a picnic table and maybe a bathroom along the way. Mainly it's forest on either side for 300 feet and that's what you see.

It's like a paved rail trail with a few rolling hills on the northern half. Bikes are legally allowed to use the whole lane and cars need to change lanes to pass the cyclist. Traffic is light and respectful.

The tiny towns along the route are mostly hollowed out of all commerce. To provision we would generally need ride 3 to 10 miles east or west- not an attractive option. So we provision at the smattering of mid sized town en route and carry enough to the next stop. This is interlocked with planning sleeping spots at occasional campsites on the route or hotels in the major towns. The farther you ride in a day the fewer lunches and dinners you need to carry. That is the puzzle challenge...60, 70, 80+ kms in a day to get to the next stop or the following one? Tupelo, Jackson,Natchez and Baton Rouge are R&R stops, food, laundry, clean up etc. required.

We are 25% of the the way having a day off in Jackson and recharging for a largely unserviced 4 day 250km ride to Jackson MI. Except there is a place called French Camp...and they have a real bakery there, of course they do.