Mission

In early 2013, a rare weekend came along in January in which neither of us had other obligations to attend to.  We considered options. Last minute flight?  Expensive. Road trip? Possible, however we’ve traveled to most places available by vehicle.  Additionally, we always attempt to visit a new state on random road trips.

So similar to spinning a globe and making your destination spot wherever it happens to land, we picked a place.  Somehow, we ended up here.

Natchez – an old historical town set right next to the Mississippi.  Why Natchez?  For one, the driving distance.  Just over six hours, this allowed for a Friday night to Sunday evening road trip.  Also, Mississippi, a state which one of us had not traveled to before.  Six hours in any direction would result in the following places: West Texas (not appealing and we’ve been there – several times).  South Texas – somewhere in between Hill Country and the coast – the coastal plain south of San Antonio is not exactly a stimulating destination.  Oklahoma – we tried that once and we were denied alcohol on Sunday.  Not just the liquor stores, but alcohol wasn’t served in restaurants.  We couldn’t go back.  Louisiana – New Orleans is an option but it’s a 10-hour drive which makes for an almost impossible weekend.  We couldn’t find another place in Louisiana we felt like driving to. We opted for this little historical town on the banks of the Mississippi.  We did not regret our random road trip destination.

Friday 2013 01 11

Post work Friday evening drive was long, as usual.  After wading our way from downtown Fort Worth through 60 miles of DFW rush hour traffic, we finally reached cruising speed.  After a quick drive, we crossed the border and stopped in Shreveport.   After an unsuccessful attempt to visit a hole-in-the-wall bar and grill (they were under construction, and the sidewalk concrete was still setting up), we wound up at  Ernest’s Orleans – an “upscale” seafood place in a questionable area of town with leather seats, a bathroom tucked in next to the front entrance by the bar, and ceiling to floor mirrors on the walls.  Food was decent, with properly poured beverages. Would not object to going back.

Realizing the lateness of the hour, we started off through Louisiana, a long, boring 4 hours of driving down Interstate 49 and then across farm-to-market trails in the dark.  Stopping at the random 24-hour gas station / liquor store in eastern Louisiana didn’t convince us we should move out that way.

When we finally got to the Mississippi border, it was after midnight and we were exhausted.  Not so much that we couldn’t stop to capture evidence of our midnight ride over the Mississippi:

After a few more minutes of driving and sanity checking of Google Maps, we found our lodgings.  We had a better view in the daylight the next morning – we were at least greeted by an old Basset hound, a friendly introduction to the state.  While we slept here, we spent minimal waking hours in this place.

Saturday 2013 01 12

View from the house – appeared to be a 1920’s era farm house that had been refurbished into a guest cottage.  A fun place to stay:

The weather did not cooperate.  We never saw the sun.

In case you didn’t notice previously, here’s The Great Mississippi through the trees and looking across at Louisiana.  Not a bad place:

The bridge in the half-ass daylight – little more impressive:

This area is quiet, no traffic, slow southern atmosphere, but used to be a busy, bar and prostitute-thick dock before Natchez went to sleep:

Bringing bikes was a great decision.  We were able to visit most of the little city on two wheels instead of four, making parking and navigation while taking pictures a lot easier. Added benefit – calorie consumption to offset the less than healthy options in local cuisine.

We rode all over Natchez, admiring the old houses and historic landmarks , offset by the knowledge that this area of the United States is still one of the most racially segregated and historically brutal places in the bloody landscape of our history. Sobering.

Bike tour pictures – the long straight road is the slope up from the old dock area in Natchez towards downtown.  Hauling ourselves up that on 40-pound mountain bikes was a heart-rate raising exercise:

As usual, we found at least one “road we weren’t supposed to travel”.  On our bike ride, we discovered this huge Antebellum plantation, now converted to a bed-and-breakfast.  The gates on the driveway specifically requested visitors to remain on the outside of the gates.  We pretended we didn’t speak English and rode up the hill.  We did a quick bike-drive-by and admired the place before heading on our way.

Across the street, we found this graveyard – there are a lot of dead people in Natchez, many of whom seem to have spent more on their resting place than their living space:

Quiet, definitively Southern burial ground, draped in Spanish moss and carpeted in leaves around the palmettos, with former Natchez residents buried in between thick tree roots.

Our all-day Saturday bike ride also included a stop at a unique place that combined architecture, American conspicuous consumption, and hubris with Southern history.  Tours were available, and we decided why not?  Presently a historical house museum, this place was once the future home to a wealthy cotton planter.  Unfortunately (fortunately for us, however) he passed away during the Civil War and was unable to complete the project.  The house stands as is and is a fascinating and creepy place.  When we decided on a random trip to a small town in Mississippi, we had no idea we’d have the opportunity to visit the largest octagonal house in the United States.  Check that one off the bucket list.

We were the only tour participants who arrived on bicycles.

Private graveyard holding the owners (and family members) – their final resting place on the plot of land next to house they were supposed to live in but never finished.

Riding bikes back through town, we discovered that Santa gets his suit dry cleaned here. Of all places … :

We spent the rest of the day roaming around Natchez, visiting various plantation homes and old buildings.  The town is full of history and decaying Southern charm.  Central Natchez has a mix of good soul food places, coffee shops, and some good dining / drinking down at the riverside.  Biking around ensured we got to see more of the town and stop where we felt like stopping – a nice change from the live-in-your-car of DFW.

2013 01 13

Natchez City Cemetery, just a bit north of town and on the road to our cottage was right up our alley – sprawling, American-old, holding a wide mix of gravesites and tombs.  We visited it on our way out of town, walking around between rain showers.  Like any old cemetery in the US, full of intriguing and sometimes cryptic markers and reminders of people who’ve come and gone before:

We were especially curious about a grave which included stairs headed down into the soggy earth. A little research turned up a story of a very sad mother who desired to comfort her deceased daughter during inclement weather. She accomplished this by visiting during storms in the stairwell. Creepy.

The drive home involved a lot of daylight observation of very flat central Louisiana on straight two-lane roads.  Periodic groves of evenly spaced pine trees didn’t exactly break up the monotony:

In the interest of finding something interesting, we stopped in Nachitoches, LA, to check out their “famous” meat pies.  Downtown Nachitoches was a winding tour along a muddy river, with some refurbished buildings housing various restaurants, clothing stores, and antique shops.  We picked The Landing based on Google’s recommendations and were served possibly the worst meal we’ve ever attempted to eat.  We had salmon that looked and tasted like it had been cooked on the sidewalk, boiled plain asparagus, and meat pies that were basically skillet-fried ground beef in pie crust.  I had a picture, but it was so horrifying that I had to delete it.  It’s rare that we don’t finish a meal, but in this case it wasn’t possible.  We’ll probably pick gas station burritos over this if we’re hungry in Natchitoches again.

After that unsuccessful venture, we began the long and circuitous drive home.  Of course, driving back up a busy interstate sounded unattractive, so we headed towards the most interesting thing we could find on the map – the location where Bonnie and Clyde were unceremoniously slaughtered by law enforcement officials, somewhere out south of Gibsland, LA on highway 154.

That goal achieved, it was time to wrap the trip up. There’s not a lot to look at on I-20W between Shreveport and Fort Worth – not the first (or last) time we’ve wished for a teleporter to get us back home after a long wandering weekend.  Natchez was worth the visit, even if getting there and back was less than amazing.  Recommended.