Natchez & Vicksburg, MS Trip 04-06-07

After what seemed to be a long winter, a few of us were more than a little ready for a road trip. For the past 20 years, Mike & Rhonda Jennings have made an annual trip to the Natchez-Vicksburg, MS area as their first trip of the year. This year, with an invitation in hand, I decided to join them.

Friday, April 6th. 2007 dawned cold!

Mike & Rhonda Jennings, Ray and Susan Nichols and myself had all agreed to meet at the Raceway in Mayfield, KY at 8:00 am. I opened my garage door in Paducah to a nippy 34 degrees around 7:15 am. Oh what the heck, I'm all too well insulated anyway ......

We had one no-show but didn't let that stop us from leaving right on schedule. We rode south, down the Purchase Parkway to Fulton, KY. From there we crossed the TN state line and continued on to Jackson, TN for breakfast at Casey Jones. If you like a mega breakfast buffet, you'll be in the right place. After a nice warm-up and full bellies, we continued south across the Mississippi state border.

It wasn't long before we stopped at the visitor center at Grenada Lake for a break. The lake appeared to be in winter pool with vast areas of exposed flats and blowing clouds of dust. Obviously the lake had suffered low water conditions recently but remains beautiful.

From Grenada Lake we continued our ride south, arriving in Gluckstadt, a small suburb just north of Jackson, MS. in the late afternoon.

Saturday morning we rode the southern 80 miles of the Natchez Trace, viewing wild turkeys and beautifully wooded scenery. We also stopped at the Windsor Ruins.

Click any picture to enlarge.
Windsor Ruins


Stanton Hall highlighted our tour of Natchez along with a quick trip across the Mississippi River to Vidalia,LA for fried chicken, red beans and rice.
Arriving at Stanton Hall, Natchez, MS

Stanton Hall

Vidalia, LA

From Natchez we rode to Vicksburg, enjoying the sites and a quick visit to the Ameristar Casino. I very much doubt if, collectively, we spent more than three dollars in the casino.

After a very entertaining, twisty backroad ride to our motel in Gluckstadt, we enjoyed a nice dinner at a local steakhouse in Jackson.

We returned via I-55 and Hwy 51, arriving back in Paducah mid-afternoon Sunday, 04-08-07. (1007 total round trip miles from Lone Oak)

Any idiot can face a crisis - it's day to day living that wears
you out. ~Anton Chekhov~

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. ~Mark Twain~
Pudd'nhead Wilson (1894)