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Published: April 21st 2009
Old Country Store
Alton says it has the best fried chicken, and I got to agree its great chickenFriday, 10 April 2009
This is the second day of 4 day trip I took over Easter, from KC to see the Natchez Trace.
I forgot to set the alarm for this morning. So my watch woke me up at 8:05 am, it goes off every morning about half the time I will hear it. Not a drop of rain overnight, but Effie was as snug as a bug in this cave outside my door. I would highly recommend this motel if anyone needs one in Vicksburg. It’s the America’s Best Inn, Ridgeland Suites, Vicksburg MS , the first exit as you come in from LA. I had a great big room it had 2 beds, couch, 2 tables and a desk, vanity area out side the bathroom. But they went out of their way to be accommodating. The room was $49.50 for the night. I wanted someplace I could park Effie under cover so they hooked me up with this room, it had a private cave entrance thing. But the best was the bed the one I slept in was the best bed I have used for years, firm yet it was spongy. So at
Ridgeland Suites
Effie was well protected from the forecasted elements in her little cave area outside my motel door. 9AM I was at the Vicksburg National Park. I wrote the park visit up in a separate blog:
09 Vicksburg National Military Park There are pictures of the national cemetery in this blog:
09 Vicksburg National Cemetary The courtesy movie started at 9:30AM so I waited. My original plan was to be at Goldie’s Trail BBQ at 11AM when they open for a quick lunch. I was told it was a must do. Anyway I thought there wouldn’t be a problem getting through the park in an hour and a half, Goldie’s is 5 minutes away. So at 12:30PM I knew that I really needed to get going. VNP is awesome. I could have spent the whole day there and still not seen half of it.
Vicksburg had closed the Mississippi River to union traffic during the civil war. They had 4 miles of cannons along the river. It was vital to the north to open the river back up, so Grant brought an army of 10K from TN to get the river back open. He was later given even more, I believe he ended up with almost 30k. It took him 6 months to come down from TN, as they built the road and bridges
Goldies Trail BBQ
The food was good, the wait staff was good and the walls were full of history. as they came. By the time he had got to Vicksburg he had already torched Jackson MS. The engagement at Vicksburg started on 29 MAR1862 and ended on 3 JUL. When they couldn’t win in a battle, Grant decided to just lock it up so no supplies could get in. On 3 JUL Vicksburg surrendered. The first half of the auto tour takes by the union trench line. All along the way there are blue markers telling you exactly what unit held that position. Then there are hundreds of monuments all along the route. Some are for individuals, some are for units. Some are the size of a gravestone, some are buildings. About half way through the tour they have the USS Cairo Museum. The Cairo was an armored ship, equipped with at least 11 cannons, it had come down the river to fire on the bank. It was not sunk by CS cannon fire, but by a torpedo. That torpedo was ingenious. It was more like a mine, in that it was stationary glass jar of gun powder, held down by an anchor, it was electrically fired from shore. It was made of timbers the size of railroad ties.
Old Country Store
This is the inside. It looks in better repair than the outside. In 1964 they brought it up from the bottom of the Mississippi. It is on display. Beside the Cairo is the National Cemetery. I have been to several, this is the worst kept one I have seen. But it really brought home how hilly this whole area is. The cemetery is terraced so they would have flat land to bury the soldiers. The whole park was full of steep hills. The park surrounds the East and North side of Vicksburg. The second half of the tour was following the confederate trench line. More monuments, lots more monuments. It was sad to read many of the same state names with monuments for their sons that had also died on this side. TN, MO, AR, were just a few. The trench markers were red on the CS side. The park is awesome and I highly recommend it. It alone was worth the trip from KC.
It was almost 1PM when I got to Goldie’s and it was worth the wait. The lunch special was beef and Ham BBQ with potato salad and BBQ beans. Really good. They have been on the food channel, but it was a friend of mine that
told me I had to go. I woofed it down in no time and was on my way. I had 66 miles to the Trace. As I am heading down there I pass through Lorman MS. Lorman is home to the Old Country Store. The plan had been to eat supper there, but its 2:30PM so I decided I had better stop and get some chicken for later instead of detouring off the trace later to get here. I do not know how late they will be open. Now the only thing that is visible in Lorman is The Old Country Store. It looks like its ready to disintegrate at any time. It needed painting about 20 years ago and still needs it. Alton Brown said it was the best fried chicken he had ever eaten, so I got to try it. Stuffed now I pack it away for dinner on the trace. A leg and a breast $4.95, the all you can eat was $8.95. They are open until 6PM. The 3rd food stop I had planned was a drive-up donut place Alton Brown also had on the 2nd Feasting on Asphault. The place was The Donut Shop in
Natchez Trace Origin
Here is Effie at the Origin Natchez. I figured it was probably closed by now, no need to find it to find out. At the start of the Natchez there is a small display so we stopped there to read up. The speed limit on the trace is 50 MPH. I had been cautioned that it was strictly and energetically enforced. I knew I was in trouble when it took me an hour to go that first 15 miles. When it took another hour to do the next 30 I started thinking about plan Bs. I had options, I could race through and see if I could get to the end this trip OR I could just take my time on the lower section and come back some other trip if I need to finish the upper section. Upper section is closer to KS. I opted to take my time and see what I wanted to see. It is a great ride guys, you got to do this. Put it on your list of rides you NEED to do. There is history here from the 1500’s. I had stopped about 6PM and ate my chicken. I wasn’t all that hungry but wanted to stop before dark.
It was indeed awesome chicken, even cold. There is so much to see on the trace, that I don’t know where to start. One of the first big stops I did was at the Emerald Mound. This was built by Indians. They took a hill and chopped the sides off of it, carrying that dirt to the top to level it out. The top of the ‘mound’ is 7 acres. This place was used for a variety of ceremonies and social events. Throughout the trace there were Indian Mounds but it is the biggest in North America. There was the remains of the women’s college that went belly up as the traffic on the trace decreased and the state capitol was moved from Natchez to Jackson. There were numerous historical markers pointing out facts of the area. There were lots of places to pull over and walk on the ‘old trace’ or the ‘sunken trace’. Sunken trace happened where erosion hit the trace. At one point the trace could be found 30 feet below ground level, this was caused by erosion. Every mile held its own treasure.
I did not make it to Tupelo MS but I am about
Pic of the whole mound
In the previous picture we were in the little drive you can see in the its display. 100 miles short in Kosciusko MS. I am going to continue on my original plan. The weather in an AR shortcut promises to be really bad, so I just ride late Saturday to get into KY or MO.
I told you guys I wanted warmer weather right? Well today it was just that, started this morning at 70F and the thermometers on the bike both were over 95F today. Sweet! I have a sunburn on my forearms! I love summer.
262 miles for the day.
Its 928 Miles on the trip so far.
Effies odometer is 109695.
If you hit the "next blog" icon it will take you to the Vickburg National Military Park blog then the National Cemetary blog.
If you want to continue on with the Natchez Trace blog it is here:
09 Natchez Trace Day 3 & 4
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