Need input. Planning ride on Natchez Trace Parkway and through TN, Al, MS, GA

[Midnight]

My wife and I are hoping to do a spring bike trip next year.

We hope to start out from Knoxville Tennessee, go over to the Natchez Trace Parkway and ride it south, loop back through Macon Georgia to visit family and then back to the Knoxville area.

 

 

 

I was hoping I could get some advice from as to:

• The earliest we could go next spring and still expect reasonable weather for our ride through Tennessee/ Mississippi/Alabama and Georgia.
  
• What we should stop and see along the way
  
• Interesting places to stay
  
• If there are any detours worth exploring on our route
  

We have done the Blue Ridge Parkway, Cherohala Skyway and the "Tail of the Dragon" previously although we may ride the Cherohola again on the way back as it is hard to beat.

Any input or suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Thanks Jim

[Guest scarylarry]

1st the trace is a very boring highway to me, after Tupleo it gets flat and extra boring..

 

Now to your question hard to say on the weather could be good as April and then May is always a warm month not hot warm...Those 2 months you can see more rain in them than most of the months to come..

 

If you start at the beginning you can make Tupleo in a day and there is a wide selection of motels and resturants, there is many sites off the trace Lynchburg is a great place to check out, Fort Payne Ala. is great, lot of waterways in the area and that is what I search for when riding, the hills and all been there done that not for me.

 

I do believe I would lookup Ft Payne Ala. and maybe spend a couple of days there..

 

Oh and watch for the bicycles they think they own the road..

Edited October 19, 2010 by scarylarry

[Monty]

I agree with the boring part. It'll probably be pretty once the leaves are changing real good. It is a straight road, with a low speed limit. Hard to stay awake.

 

Have fun!

[Guest scarylarry]

I agree with the boring part. It'll probably be pretty once the leaves are changing real good. It is a straight road, with a low speed limit. Hard to stay awake.

 

Have fun!

 

Dont forget that curve at the river.....:rotfl::rotfl:

[gunkylump]

There is an absolutely awesome museum in Oak Ridge, Tn. It's all about the Manhattan Project, and is one of the best museum's that I have been in....admittedly, I haven't been in a whole lot of museums.

 

Great place to check out, and a real nice town as well.

 

gunk:Laugh:

[BigBoyinMS]

Tupelo has an auto museum that will surprise you with it's quality and quantity.

 

Here is another thread where I gave some more side trips and links to them. http://www.venturerider.org/forum/showthread.php?t=53354&highlight=windsor+ruins

[Bobby G]

I for one found the lower part of the Trace to be a very pretty ride. It's peaceful, lots of places to pull off to just enjoy the tranquility, and easy to get to more active locations when you need food or services. And I love the little town of Natchez. Being in that town feels like you're in a time warp to the early 20th century.

[bryan52577]

When we went I got a "Trace map" it had what there was and the mile markers as to where it all was. Wife loved the way I had what we wanted to see highlighted and she read the mile markers off to me so we knew where we should turn into.

 

This map will kind of give you an idea. Also we had a blast in Natchez touring the old antebellum homes and took the carriage tour too.

We took the "old" trace in spots and seen water-falls and old tobacco barns, kind of cool.

 

Bryan

[rosebud]

We're planning to ride the Natchez Trace Parkway on our way back from Florida the end of April. We're going to start in Natchez and ride through to Tupelo and then get off there and head north west to Memphis and from there on home to Tulsa.

 

It was very interesting to read the comments on this thread to know what to expect on the ride. We will look into getting the trace map that was mentioned.

 

Thanks for all the input in this thread.