May 23 - 30, 2019: Nachez Trace Parkway and
Mantachie, Mississippi
Continuing on the Nachez Trace Parkway, we decided to stop along the way for a few small hikes. Bicyclist are pretty common on the Trace. It is also amazing how many magnolia trees we have seen starting in Texas and all the way here. They are HUGE and full of blossoms!
Cole Creek is a Cypress Swamp
Part of the original Trace trail
Just off the Nachez Trace Parkway is Tupelo, Mississippi and our friend Dr. Bob lives in Mantachie which is right around the corner. Craig rides motorcycles in Idaho with Dr. Bob, so we stopped by to visit and ended up staying 7 days!
What an awesome time. We met and hung out with Dr. Bob, brother Bill, Uncle Cub, Aunt Carolyn, cousins Ginger, Julie, Micheal, and many other family and friends. Everyone welcomed us like we were family and were amazing! Hence, why we stayed longer than we anticipated : )
View from Bob's house
Our setup at Dr. Bob's. Bob was kind enough to let us stay in the house which was great since it was pretty hot and humid
Craig noticed that the back bumper had gotten twisted and started to tear away from the mount. We had a tray on the back with a generator and propane tank. So Bob hooked us up with his friend Kevin who welded the seam. Needless to say, we left a few things with Bob to reduce our weight and will swing by on our way back to Boise in the Spring.
Bob had a stump that he needed to burn, so....we started on it our first night. Nothing like a little diesel fuel and leaf blower to get the fire burning : ) And...no injuries!
I nicknamed this...Mississippi Burning Man !
Uncle Cub added more diesel on the second night to keep the fire burning
Dr. Bob and Holly at the height of the fire!
Uncle Cub, Holly, Jake (Dog), and Dr. Bob. We are waving at Aunt Carolyn in the next house
Craig taking his turn at 'blowing' the flames
Even the cows think it is hot!
It was meant to be...a road named after us : )
Craig and Dr. Bob took the motorcycles out for a spin one of the days
In addition to Dr. Bob having horses, he has...Waylon! It was love at first site for Holly and maybe Waylon also : )
Did you know that Mississippi is 1 of 3 states (Kansas and Tennessee) that is entirely dry by default? Counties specifically must authorize the sale of alcohol in order for it to be legal and subject to state liquor control laws. antachie where we stayed, is a dry county. However, Tupelo right around the corner is not. Of our course that did not stop me from having my first ever Moonshine! Dr. Bob had an Apple Moonshine that was just like apple cider and awesome. And at a friends party, I tried another moonshine that was 100 proof. Wow...it was strong and good!
We had an awesome time in Mantachie.
THANK YOU DR. BOB AND WAYLON FOR AN AWESOME VISIT AND YOUR HOSPITALITY ! ! !
One of the days we drove over to Tupelo, MS and visited the Elvis Presley Musuem and birth place home. Craig has been to Graceland in the past, so this was a nice little addition.
Of course, we had to start the day off by eating at Johnnie's which is the restaurant that Elvis ate at. We had our first Doughburger (meat, flour, salt, andegg) - interesting.
