Day 41, 42 and 43 Natchez Trace and the Mississippi River

3 days camping on THE Mississippi River!

We scored a great spot in the River view RV Park in Visalia, Louisiana. It was just as we imagined it would be. We could just sit and watch the barges being pushed by all day and night. Obviously going upstream took considerably more horsepower than barges riding the current downstream.

It’s amazing how many loaded barges are linked together for the ride.

Check out where the river bank has been recently fortified. Yikes, I checked on the river fluctuations. Currently the river is at 38 feet, mild flooding is at 48 feet, severe flooding is at 58 feet. It was at 48 feet 30 days ago. We didn’t want to look up when and how often the breach effects our camp spot.

Sea walls have been built and rebuilt many times.

The Town of Historic Natchez

The Natchez Trace Parkway

The Natchez Trace Parkway was first a Native American pathway, with archaeological evidence dating back 10,000 years. In the early 1800s, it served a vital role as a road home for Kaintucks, men who floated down the Mississippi with goods to sell, sold their boats as lumber and then walked hundreds of miles back north. The advent of the steamboat would change all this, but in the meantime, “stands” were developed up and down the Natchez Trace to put a one-night roof over travelers’ weary heads.

How is it that we have never heard of this historic trail? We were ready to unload our bikes and ride the trail until we realized it’s not just a bike trail. You can ride bikes, but it’s “share the road” with automobiles. We only drove 20 miles up the trail to the Mount Locust Stand. We’re going to come back some day and ride the entire trail to Tennessee . (Maybe a jeep expedition would work here). It’s over 400 miles of history on a nice slow drive. What little we saw was amazing!

Lotti got a “participation trophy tag”. 😁

Arrow marks the spot of our RV spot. We crossed the river again to get a pic from the other side!

Time to get on the road again.

The Oakland Plantation

Another passport Stampbook destination, little Oakland Plantation didn’t disappoint.

The Burger King sign kind of ruins this shot of little downtown Many.

Or is this downtown Many? These little towns all look alike.

It’s Davey Crocket country! (David was actually named after Davey Crocket, thanks to his 5 year old brother who insisted. They had to change his birth certificate. ) 🙂 True story.

The Waco Mammoths

The Waco Fixer Uppers

Hey, it’s rslagle!! We’ve got company! 😁

Lotti! Gentle! Be nice to your new friend!

2 thoughts on “Day 41, 42 and 43 Natchez Trace and the Mississippi River”

rslagle says:

February 18, 2022 at 7:13 am

Nice dog.

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LarryBlau says:

February 17, 2022 at 9:14 pm

A Jeep trip would be very nice just let me know when

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