Did I say I was going to spend another night in Memphis? It must have been the crack dropped in my drink.

Yeah…I made the smarter move, and headed down the Natchez Trace Parkway, a magical strip of roadway from Nashville to Natchez Miss. Never mind the first evening, when I portended death and slept in one of a million church parking lots along Hwy 43. (Turns out I veered off the parkway, which is too bad considering it has real-deal camping spots.)

On the bright side, I woke with the sun (at 5:50am) and spent an entire day dilly-dallying in the Mississippi sunshine. Being raised in the North with more Nebraska history than southern history, I received a crash course from the memorials, churches and houses along the way.

Some highlights on the trail: