Longview- a long view on the Natchez Trace

6/10

Alex and I set out eastward from Memphis, a discouraging direction considering our final destination was west. We had heard, however, that the Natchez Trace Parkway would provide a nice break from the interstate as we headed south west. The old trail, which is now paved, runs between Nashville and Natchez. We jumped on the trail in Tupelo, Mississippi (I love spelling that word) and got off in Jackson. The route, which is only available to non-commercial traffic and has no stops, was enjoyable.

Alex is training to run a mini-marathon later in the summer with his dad, and we took a break for a short run on a trail just off of the parkway. In the brutality of the mid-day heat and on the path of one of the only major hills we encountered on the entire parkway, it was tough. We rode the next 30 or so miles in our running clothes to dry off.



After a long, hot, flat, strait, ride through Louisiana we finally arrived in Longview, TX with the trip odometer reading 3410 miles exhausted after a 12 hour day of riding. When we finally pulled into the driveway of our hosts house we were warmly greeted by the most joyful little girl. Allie bravely ran to us as we unleaded our bags and began to shower us with questions that carried on with a series of "why?"s. I realized that if it was still acceptable to respond to most dialogue with the question "why?", I probably would. All of my other questions are elongated versions of the simple inquisitive question.

The Martinez family was a joy to be around. We shared a Texan sized meal together and heard about the phenomenon of Texas High School Athletics. 15,000 fans pack their stadiums to watch a high school football game!

We left Longview in the morning laughing. As we were packing up Allie sat on my bike fascinated by the horn. She must have pressed the button 20 times giggling every time. The neighbors were probably about ready to come over and enforce Texan law on us.