Enid Lake, AR to Nashville, Tennessee

We left Enid Lake and traveled east on MS Hwy 6. At Oxford we passed near the Univ of Mississippi (the Rebels), where James Meredith, in 1962 became the fiirst African American to be enrolled. This sparked riots at the campus resulting in federal troops being sent there by President Kennedy. (We had meant to go to Central High in Little Rock, but forgot to do so.) We continued on to Tupelo where we turned onto the Natchez Trace Parkway. The Natchez Trace Pkwy is a 444 mile two lane road from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN. It has a historic significance from Native Americans hunting trails, early French explorers, 18th century farmers in the Ohio River Valley returning from New Orleans, a slave route, to an important wilderness road for travelers in what was then the Old Southwest. We drove about 200 miles of the pkwy. It is a pristine road, devoid of commercial vehicles, extremely wooded, and vividly green. It is without doubt, in terms of its length, the most beautiful roadway we have ever seen. There are no traffic signals, no commercial establishments, no traffic, no litter, only a very few farms, and the roadway itself is excellent. There are numerous places along the way where you can stop and hike on the Old Trace, and visit sites where inns (called stands) once were. We stopped at several places. The most significant was the grave site and memorial to Meriwether Lewis (Lewis of Lewis and Clark), who had been sent by President Jefferson to explore the newly acquired Louisiana Purchase. Lewis died under "mysterious circumstances" nearby. Photo of memorial to the right. On one of the hikes we did on the Old Trace, we returned to find 8 ticks on Tinsel and 2 on Steve. They were huge! Started in 1937, the modern Natchez Trace parallels the Old Trace. The last phase was completed in 2005. It is administered by the National Park Service. ("Trace" is a French word meaning "route.") Photos to the right also include: the road, the old Trace, "mounds," (burial sites of Native Americans from 2,000 years ago), and a view from Freedom Hill overlook. Also on the pkwy was a double arched bridge over Birdsong Hollow. The bridge received a Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995. Innovative in design, it rises 155 feet above the valley and eliminates the need for spandrel columns. We also traveled on a bridge over the Tennessee River. Photos of the bridge and river are included to the right. Ending the pkwy in Nashville, we stopped at Costco for gas, groceries, and, of course, the premium ice cream bar from the foodcourt (we purchased two). Unlike California's Costco's, there were no lines at the gas station, hardly anyone in the store, and only two check out lines. Richard asked an employee about the lack of customers and was told "this is Sam's Club country!" We ended the day at Defeated Creek campground a bit northeast of Nashville.