GMRR Day 3 - St Francisville, LA to Natchez, MS

The link to todays route and statistics can be found here.

Today's route started  as you imagine when thinking of doing a ride like this.  The first 28 miles were on back country roads, with little to no traffic.  They had trees, cattle, many nice homes, a few not so nice single wides, fields, and just a very green and peaceful atmosphere.  There was nothing so significant that I stopped to take a picture, but the whole feel was very nice.  To try to give you some feel for what it was like, here is a picture of 3 of our riders coming up the road through the trees.

Just over 20 miles in to the ride, we crossed the state line from Louisiana to Mississippi.  Because it was a back road, there were no "Welcome To" signs in either direction.  Our ride leader painted Mississippi in the road where the surface changed, and we had clearly crossed the line.
At 28 miles, we were back on US 61 for most of the rest of the way to Natchez.  It was a very green ride, but no outstanding features until we stopped for lunch at Mammy's cafe.  Here is a picture of her place.

I had a nice roast beef sandwich with blueberry lemonade, topped off with a slice of lemon icebox pie.  It was a fine meal.
Once in Natchez, there was a lot to see.  It has a number of outstanding homes.  I toured one called Rosalie, which was built in 1823.  The home is furnished with many items that belonged to the family that bought it in the 1850s ( and a few things from the original owners as well), so it has a real authentic flavor.  It was sold to the DAR in the 1930s, but they let the surviving lady live there until she died in the 1950s.  Here is the front view of Rosalie.

Here are a couple of other homes I saw.  There are really quite a few.

While I was getting ready to tour Rosalie House, one of the staff said I needed to look down at the river, as the American Queen paddlewheeler was there.  I will end today's story with a picture of this fine ship.  Tomorrow is a longer day, as we have 90 miles heading in to Vicksburg.