Adventures of a Snowboard Mom: Biking the Natchez Trace, the Start

Since there's hardly any snow to be found these days in the Northern Hemisphere, I'm taking a break from all things snow and hijacking my blog to talk about warm weather sports. The main thing going on this spring is we are going on a bike trip with some other family members. This is no *throw the bikes on the back of the car, go somewhere, and ride 5 miles* trip, although we've done that. No. This is a *throw the bikes on the back of the car, the tent on top, go somewhere, and bike 450 miles* trip. Sigh. Not sure how they talked me into this, but we're all really looking forward to it.

May 31

We packed up the car and hit the road south. The start point is Natchez, MS. We're going to bike the Natchez Trace along the parkway. We're meeting Dad, Nan, and my nephew, GE, at Natchez State Park tomorrow afternoon. Biking starts Monday morning. We drove through a crazy thunderstorm late this afternoon, very heavy rain. Just about everything stayed dry on top of the car, only a couple things were damp.

A bit of history about this trip and how it came to be. First off, Dad is the driver, planner, and cook. Four or so years ago, all my family got together and rode part of the C&O Canal. Three years ago Nan, GE, and Whitney rode the C&O Canal from Cumberland, MD to Georgetown, DC, with Dad driving. The next year, they did the GAP, the Great Allegheny Passage, which is from Pittsburgh, PA to Cumberland, MD. They had been talking about doing the Trace next. The kids got older and busier and finally we all said this had to be the year. Sarah decided she really wanted to go as well, which meant that it became a family affair for us since Dad's car can't hold that many plus camping gear and bikes. It was darn full in the past with the two of them plus GE and Whitney.

So after we were done with snowboarding (Whitney and I) and taxes (Bob) we got busy putting in time riding. Mostly it was a lot of local riding, plus a few trips to Prince William Forest Park. Sarah and I met Nan in York, PA for a longer, 40 mile trial ride to see how training was going (Whitney drove us, her knee was bothering her). That ride went well and was a pretty ride down to Baltimore, MD. We'll have to figure out how to do it again with Bob next time.

June 1

Another day of driving, another storm to drive through. This one wasn't nearly as bad. Not a very exciting drive, went from Georgia, through Alabama, and on to Mississippi. We got here in good time, had dinner, and went for a test ride. We rode out to the campground sign for a picture, then a short ride out to the lake here. It was really pretty out by the lake. Bikes all seem to be in good shape, put air in a few tires, and it looks like we're good to go in the morning.