Bonus Natchez
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Day 22: May 8, 2018 Bonus Natchez Comment via blog |
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It's long and narrow and straight and, except for a couple of widely
spaced humps, flat as a billiard table. It's the Lake Pontchartrain
Causeway. At 23.875 miles, the longest continuous bridge over water in the
world.
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I hadn't given much thought at all to my route home. When someone
mentioned the Natchez Trace it made me think. I'd driven the Trace
end-to-end once before so I wouldn't be checking anything off of any list
but it is a most enjoyable road and it goes just about exactly where I
wanted to go. I decided I would at least start out on the Trace and see
what developed.
My chosen route to Natchez was across Lake Pontchartrain (because I wanted to) to I-55. Less than a mile into Mississippi, I left I-55 and took two-lanes to connect with US-61 around twenty-five miles south of Natchez. The first two pictures were taken on the same stretch of MS-33 in the Homochitto National Forest. The third in on US-61 about seven miles after I turned onto the U.S. route from Buffalo Road. |
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Despite it being closed on my two previous visits, I wasn't the least bit
surprised to find
Mammy's
Cupboard open when I arrived today. That's because I knew it would not
be closed for its Christmas break and had checked before setting out this
morning and determined that I would be here during its quite small window
of operation. Mammy's is only open 11:00-2:00, Tuesday through Saturday.
The menu is rather small, too, but the food
is good and the service great.
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On both previous occasions when I'd stopped by Mammy's, I'd also stopped
at
Under the Hill Saloon. In
2006, I'd spent Christmas Day there
while staying in one of the room upstairs. In
2007, I'd merely
stepped in for a beer. This time the only open parking spot was behind
this gorgeous 1958 Dodge Royal Lancer and I was indeed rather nervous
doing my parallel parking routine in its vicinity. Few things have changed
in the saloon. The elephant is still there although the furniture around
it has changed. Perhaps the biggest change is the
new urinal. Fans of the old one (look for
links on the '06 and '07 pages) will be disappointed. Others are no doubt
cheering. The really important stuff remains, however. For example, Beth
is still there.
I wasn't certain, so asked her name. Instead of answering, she asked mine. I told her but she still didn't answer. I offered my guess and two guys at the bar burst into laughter. She asked how I knew, and I answered that, "I once spent Christmas with you." This really got the two guys' attention although Beth wasn't even a little flustered. I went on to explain that I'd stayed upstairs in 2006 and pulled up her picture from my '06 journal. Of course, those guys at the bar wanted a look, too. When I left, I promised to come back in another dozen years and Beth said, "Make it ten." |
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I carefully undocked from behind the Lancer and bid farewell to Natchez.
Away we go.
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I've noted before that I probably do far too many down-the-road windshield
shots and I know there are already several on this page but that's all I
got. I wasn't out to explore the Natchez Trace on this trip and simply
drove on by the many points of interest. I was just driving toward home in
a leisurely way on a most attractive road. Maybe that's bad news to some
and I apologize and offer up the 2006 drive which starts on
page 4. But the really bad news is
the very dirty windshield. I also apologize for that while pointing out
that it's a beautiful day and there's some really pretty stuff on the
other side of that windshield.
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