The Tanglefoot Trail runs from New Albany to Houston.
This is a rail-trail that stands out for doing the most basic of amenities incredibly well — shelters with running water and real toilets (and even outlets to recharge your phone).
Continue reading “43 miles on Mississippi’s Tanglefoot Trail”
(It’s always about the food isn’t it? Much nicer than my usual style!)
I’m getting away from a northern winter to join a small group exploring Mississippi on a bike. And no, this is not part of the East Coast Greenway.
Now Mississippi is a long state (more than five hours to drive from the state line with Memphis down to the Gulf of Mexico) and we only have four days, so I admit there’s some assists coming via a car. We’re going to skip some of the more obvious tourists sites (sorry Tupelo, Oxford and Natchez) and instead spend a good chunk of time on rail-trails you may not have heard of. And yes, the Natchez Trace.
As a Northener who has spent less than 24 hours in Mississippi until now (and that was only in October), I was shocked to learn this deep-red state has a pretty new 43-mile rail-trail that opened all at once. Quite a feat! Then we hear that the time between the railroad abandoning the line to Tanglefoot Trail opening was just 10 years (eight years if you start counting from the first meeting), and we’re all stunned by the speed. Oh, and it’s asphalt, so a lot more expensive than crushed stone.My town struggles to just put in sidewalks along a road to the train station (we’re starting year 5 – it could happen this year for the first five or six homes.) And before you ask, 80% of the money came from the federal government (grant). Someone knew how to push the right buttons.
I intend to find out the full story — but I’m already hearing about the trail’s economic impact.
So here’s the basic itinerary:
Day 0: I’m on a rental bike because I couldn’t deal with shipping my bike and then needing to ship it back. But the others have brought their various fold-ups and spend time after dinner reassembling their bikes at a beautiful B&B while I … chat (what a surprise!).
Day 1: 43 miles on the Tanglefoot Trail (New Albany to Houston).
Day 2: 35-mile loop involving the Natchez Trace Parkway from Ridgeland, a bike-friendly suburb of Jackson, the state capital. Then another 27-mile section of the Natchez Trace from Rocky Springs to Windsor Ruins (what a name for a town!). The Natchez Trace is run by the National Park Service and runs from Nashville to Natchez. Until now, it’s the only place I knew about biking in Mississippi, and it’s a 50-mph road.
Day 3: 16 miles around Vicksburg National Military Park (can I just say I love the National Park Service?) and then 41 miles on the Longleaf Trail from Prentiss to Hattiesburg
Day 4: 28 miles along the Gulf coast.
Total is 200 miles, and no coincidence that this is Mississippi’s bicentennial year.
Ride your bike by the water from Providence toward Bristol on this Rhode Island multi-use trail.
This trail runs 15 miles starting in Providence, Rhode Island, along the Narragansett Bay south to Bristol. The East Bay Trail connects to the main East Coast Greenway route, and we rode 10 miles of it while in Providence in mid-November. It’s an old railway line, so it’s flat. Yes, there’s wind to offset that. You’re always near the water, but it also runs past a supermarket. How cool is that — being able to get groceries via the trail? Continue reading “Rhode Island’s beautiful East Bay Trail!”
A last look at our hurricane-shortened bike ride along the East Coast Greenway.
This is (most of) the group as we gathered in Raleigh. No sign of the hurricane yet:
And where many of us went to dinner in Elizabethtown three days later:
Which set of wheels?
Dennis showing off his yoga skills on a bouncing “bonding board” at Cape Fear Vineyard and Winery in Elizabethtown:
Chris’s bike matches the East Coast Greenway colors! (OK, also, Holiday Inn’s)
For another perspective on our hurricane-shortened adventure on the East Coast Greenway, read this blog. The wind and rain is fierce in North Carolina today — we all know the ride had to end when it did. Here’s to sunshine next October as we head from the Wilmington area to … Savannah?
Once again, thank you to everyone who supported the East Coast Greenway through my fundraising efforts. I hope you’ll go enjoy your own bike adventure.
The battle at Moores Creek probably doesn’t get much attention beyond fourth-grade North Carolina history class. But it’s the colonists’ first victory.
Our ride ended prematurely, as I mentioned earlier, at Moores Creek National Battlefield about 20 miles outside of Wilmington, NC. It bills itself as the first victory by the American colonists, in February 1776, and came more than four months before the Declaration of Independence. Depending on who you believe, the fighting lasted as little as three minutes (an early account) or 20 to 30 minutes (the volunteer at the visitors center).
This is a battle that I am guessing doesn’t get much attention beyond fourth-grade North Carolina history class. Basically, a group of Scottish loyalists needed to get to Wilmington to link up with the British. In their way were a few groups of patriots who came together at Moores Creek. The loyalist commander sent an emissary the night before saying give up and all will be forgiven … or else. And reported back that it was just a small group of fighters. The main group was actually across the bridge, and the small group moved there under the cover of night. So when the loyalists attacked just before dawn (with just broadswords, not guns!), well, it didn’t go well. It’s a really swampy area (this is the view from the boardwalk, not the bridge), so no one knows how many drowned as they fled.
Beyond the immediate victory, this battle undermined hopes that the South would side with Britain. Instead, North Carolina was one of the first to instruct its delegates to vote for independence a few months later.
Stopping at sites like this is part of what I enjoy about touring by bicycle. This is not the sort of National Parks Service site that draws lots and lots of visitors. How many will detour off Interstate 40 for this? But it’s on the East Coast Greenway. And I would have stopped even if it wasn’t the end of the ride.
Another factoid: in the aftermath, the patriots captured more than 15,000 pounds, which is nearly $14 million today (maybe I should say $13 million given the pounding sterling has just taken!).
The bridge itself has been replaced many times since the battle, most recently after Hurricane Floyd demolished it in 1999. Here’s hoping Hurricane Matthew doesn’t do the same.
My North Carolina food discoveries: a (fried) collard sandwich, a fried croissant and that pig picking cake.
This East Coast Greenway trip was surprisingly light on barbecue. Based on a sample size of one barbecue restaurant, the eastern Carolina style of vinegar sauce may not be my thing anyway. I did discover collard sandwiches, which apparently is what fieldhands brought for lunch. I’m hoping it’s usually better than what I tried.
The collards just felt really overcooked and a soupy mess. One of the riders from the Triangle area says you should want to eat that collard liquid, so if you didn’t, the collards probably came from a can. They were sandwiched between two pieces of cornbread — deep-fried, crispy cornbread. I could have seen pan-fried to help keep it together, but this…
On the side were two strips of fatback, basically pg fat. I think they were fried too.
So vegetables, yes. Healthy? Doubtful.
This is what the barbecue plate looked like — lot of meat (half a pound?), hush puppies (think cornmeal mixed with a few other ingredients and deep fried — yes, more fried food) and my two sides, in this case collard greens and baked beans. Chris had the candied yams and, no surprise, they were incredibly sweet.
And then there’s that pig picking cake that I have wanted to try ever since that bakery stop on the first day. I found it at Burney’s Sweets and More, whose reputation goes beyond Elizabethtown. I’m not sure it had mandarin oranges, but crushed pineapple was definitely in that frosting (not a buttercream frosting, so I am going with another rider’s guess — what he calls grease frosting.) The recipes I have found call for a box of yellow cake mix. I don’t know if this was a mix or made from scratch, but it was certainly yellow.
Interestingly, not all of the Carolinians on the ride had heard of it.
Was it great? No. (Of course, it lacked that key ingredient of deep dark chocolate.) Did we demolish it? Yes.
Here’s something else I found at Burney’s: I think it’s their fried croissant. I’m telling myself it was healthier than the doughnuts offered in that bare-bones Knights Inn breakfast. At least there was chocolate. And I only had one.
I don’t know when I last ate so much fried food. Should I be surprised that 30.1% of North Carolinians are obese, ranking the state 22nd in the nation?
Here are some impressions of North Carolina — the generosity, the sense of community … and the poverty.
We saw this yard sign a lot in a wide radius around Elizabethtown.
He’s a kid who was diagnosed with a brain tumor in 2013 and seems to be doing OK now. I also saw a sign praying for someone else, and the local newspaper office had an announcement about an event to benefit a sick seven-month-old.
That sense of community is one of the impressions that North Carolina made on me.
Another part of that North Carolina generosity is the hospitality shown by the owner of the historic and oh-so-elegant Elizabethtown Inn, a new B&B. Our group was split into three places — the vineyard’s cabins, the B&B and the Knights Inn in town. Most of us met for dinner downtown, which was walkable for those of us from the Knights Inn. Chris packed his Honda Fit and made a couple of trips. And of course it could be biked, with lights. But the inn’s owner, Chris Adams, graciously offered the use of his Cadillac to those staying there. And we are talking a new car, not some old beater.
As for the inn, it dates back to before the Civil War. During the war, southern officers recovered from their wounds on the second floor. The first floor was for the horses. And today, bicycles were allowed in:
This, by the way, is what one of the rooms looks like. My room at the Knights Inn didn’t compare.
Another impression of North Carolina is less positive — the poverty as seen through some of the houses. You’d see nice, modest homes next to run-down or even abandoned places. This is one of three in a row. I’d be wanting them torn down if they were next to me … but paid for by whom?
You definitely had a sense that parts of North Carolina have been left behind. The state’s poverty rate is 17.2%, well above the national rate, and in Bladen County, home to Elizabethtown, it’s 25.5%. So probably no surprise that I saw far more signs on Thursday for Donald Trump than for Hillary Clinton.
The ride is over after just 3 1/2 days and 200 miles, thanks to Hurricane Matthew.
This year’s East Coast Greenway ride is over early, thanks to Hurricane Matthew.
We ended at the day’s lunch spot, a Revolutionary War battleground, about 20 miles shy of Wilmington, NC, our original plan. I’m now home after about 200 miles on the bike in what I am calling 3 1/2 days. All to be continued next October.
Thursday was a gray day, and it felt like we were just a smidgen away from mist. The wind was in our favor until almost the end. But rivers are swollen from a recent storm, so there’s no place for all this hurricane rain to go. Wilmington is still coping from that, which is what kept out from a full fourth day. At the battlefield, they’re expecting to be waist-deep in water, which seems to be what happened after Hurricane Floyd in 1999. I’m feeling for everyone along the coast.
Today was a fast ride to Elizabethtown.
Today was all about getting to the charming Cape Fear Vineyard and Winery in Elizabethtown for lunch. No trails today, just mostly quiet roads, though generally without a nice shoulder. Chris and I flew, averaging more than 15 miles an hour. Nice tailwind too. I don’t know if I’ve ever been this consistently fast.
But the group is already starting to scatter. Cheryl and her husband, Mike, who was driving the U-Haul with all our luggage, decided to head home to Florida and their home, a catamaran moored on a floating dock a few miles inland but still in the path of possible hurricane destruction. Kenny from Charleston was picked up by his wife — Charleston could get hit badly. Steve decided to take the most direct route to Myrtle Beach and get on a flight home to Connecticut tonight; he has a wedding to officiate on Saturday. After lunch, Kim hitched a ride back to Raleigh and will start his drive home to Vermont. And Chris, now reunited with his car, will head out tomorrow; he’ll wait out the storm from his brother’s home in Atlanta.
Here are those who have been with the East Coast Greenway’s Week-A-Year ride from the start:
Now with those who have made up the missing Maine gap:
One day I will have closed my remaining gaps.
The winery, on the southern outskirts of Elizabethtown, is pretty quirky. Celebrity art covers the walls, even in the bathrooms. I smiled at the Dr. Suess section.
This miniature pony learned as a baby how to duck under the fence; he still roams free.
Among the other animals are a (free-ranging) chicken and some miniature donkeys.
Among the other animals are a (free-ranging) chicken and some miniature donkeys.
This was our longest day. It’s also the day we found out that the ride will end early because of Hurricane Matthew.
Today was our longest day on the East Coast Greenway. But today was more than the bike. The forecast for Hurricane Matthew is turning grimmer, and we’ve been told that the ride will end after 3 1/2 days. So we’ll be back in Raleigh on Thursday night instead of Saturday night.
That’s fine for all of us who’ve come from the north. But Chris, who I met on the Maine ride, had left a car at our end point in Myrtle Beach. So he needed to get that car out — today. So he rented a car after we spent seven hours on the bike with no proper lunch break, and we drove two hours to Myrtle Beach, moved it to Elizabethtown, where we will be tomorrow night, and then got back to Fayetteville.
Today’s route was heavily on roads, but we still had a taste of trails. We started with a repeat of Monday’s trail in Smithfield, then enjoyed the Cape Fear River Trail before the unpleasant ride through Fayetteville. We did miscalculate at one point, getting off the trail at the rocky parking lot instead of continuing on to the nature center and beyond. We thought we would have to climb a hill to get back on track — or backtrack. Neither was that appealing. The maps on our phones gave conflicting information about the neighborhood streets — did they dead end, or could we find a path to the other side?
Fortunately, we found a way to squeeze through. Note the barbed wire protecting the no-cursing neighborhood we escaped! (Oops, I almost cursed going through it.)
Here are some of the day’s other sights:
The lower price is what farmers will be paid. The higher price is for dried kernels of corn (no longer on the cob) that can be fed to pigs and other animals. Even deer, if you’re crazy enough to do that.
Lesson learned about venturing into the fields: beware of fire ants. My ankles are still swollen. How did the slaves tolerate it? And yes, the cotton does feel as soft as a cotton ball.
Exploring by bicycle 
