Natchez Trace Parkway

At Tom and Joanne's church in Texas, one of the members told us about the Natchez Trace Parkway. He only told us that is was a pretty drive. Since part of it was on our path and we had a bit of extra time, we decided to check it out.

We met up with the Trace in Clinton, MS. We had no idea what to expect so we got on it and drove only a few miles until we saw signs for a visitor center. It happened to be the Clinton visitor center, but it had plenty of information about the Trace. In the visitor center, we met two volunteer who were reading up on the best hikes in North Cascades National Park. They were planning a trip up to the northwest, so we had a fun chat about the PNW. They recommended a restaurant along the Trace which we'll talk about later.

The Natchez Trace Parkway is a 440-mile commercial free road that stretches from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN. The trail was initially forged by Native Americans and used for centuries before being used by European Americans. In the early 1800s, it was used by traders from Tennessee and Kentucky who would build flat boats to carry their goods down the Mississippi. After trading their wares, they would sell their boats for the value of the lumber and trek back along the trace. Eventually, steamboats made the return trip much easier on boats and the Trace was slowly forgotten until the 1930s when, under FDR, the U.S. government decided to commemorate the history of the trail with construction of the parkway.

There were lots of historical stops all along the trace. The older ones native American villages and burial mounds. We stopped at a few of them along the road and enjoyed reading all of the posted information.

There were also some stops with some more recent history including the old mansion location and family cemetery of the an old politician Cowles Mead. His property was destroyed during the civil war so very little remains.

Further up the Trace, in Tennessee is a monument to Meriweather Lewis. He was traveling up the trace to Washington, DC when he was found dead of a gunshot wound and is believed to have killed himself. We didn't make it that far up the trace but are hoping to loop back around and see this monument.

Along the Trace there is a historic town called French Camp. There are several things to see and do around town designed to show how early Americans lived. However we arrived fairly late and only went to the town cafe, The Council House Cafe. We had been told at the visitor center that it was run by a school for students with disabilities in French Camp. This was half true. It is run by a Christian boarding school in town, but the students were no disabled. Either way, the food was amazing and modestly priced. We had convinced ourselves to go and spend money because we were thinking of it as a charity, but the food was well worth it and we were glad we went.

We spent the night at the only free campsite along the Trace, Jeff Busby Park. For a free campsite it was rather amazing. It was fairly crowded and the spots were not well defined and hard to distinguish in the dark, but we found a place to park. There were nice flush toilets and in the morning we took a nice hike up the hill to a lookout.

Even though the parkway is not a "National Park", we decided that, like Big Cypress, it deserved its own sticker on the side of the RV.

A New Fuel Tank

Hey everyone, we know we're a bit behind on the blog. We spent Christmas with family in Austin, TX and took that time off from writing to enjoy as much as we could. We're still planning on writing about our experiences from the Everglades to Austin and will be pre-dating those posts when we get them up. For now, we're on our way to Atlanta! We're currently in Monroe, LA and are safe and everything is well. We also have an exiting new experience since Christmas to share.

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We left Austin in the afternoon on December 30th. Not wanting to go too far that night we stopped near Temple. We were committed to catching up on our blog, spending a couple hours per day at a library during our drive towards Atlanta.

On our second day, after making it the library for a couple of hours of blog work, we made sure to stock up on sauerkraut -- sauerkraut is a tradition for Andreas's family on New Years Day -- but were too tired for a festive night. We decided to call it a day in Brushie Prairie park, in Frost, TX.

In the morning we woke up to a bit of a problem; our gas tank was leaking. After calling Good Sam, they advised us to call the fire department as a dripping gas tank can be a fire hazard. They also told us given that it was New Years Day, very few places, if any, that would be open and able to work on our vehicle.

Fuel tank dripping slowly

The local volunteer fire department showed up at the park we were staying at and was able to patch up the hole with a bar of soap. They strongly advised against driving it as the soap is a very temporary fix. So, there we were, in rural Texas, in need of a fuel tank and no mechanics working on New Years nearby with the volunteer fire department of Navarro Falls: Darren, the fire chief and Joanne and Tom, an older couple who lived close by. Then, almost out of the blue, Joanne offered to put us up for as long as we needed to get someone to come out and fix the tank. She said she wouldn't want us staying there with a gas tank that could start re-leaking and in the cold. Before we knew it, Kathleen put the kids in Joanne's car and Andreas got in Tom's truck and we all drove to their house, just a few blocks down the road. On the ride over, she asked Kathleen if we liked sauerkraut. Apparently, sauerkraut was also a New Years tradition for her and she had gotten way too much for just the two of them.

  

The ceramic shed and our home for the week.

When we arrived, Joanne pulled out an air cot and some blankets and set them up in her ceramics shed. She gave us a space heater and told us to make ourselves comfortable. Just as we were settling in, they received another emergency call, their third of the day.

In the evening we ate sauerkraut, mashed potatoes and pork chops and were thankful to be in a warm home. We may have been strangers to them, but they were kind and welcoming. We met their dogs: Sammie, a super friendly Dachshund, and Duke and Duchess, two very shy Great Pyrenees mixes. We learned that Tom was a long-time trucker with over 3 million miles of accident free driving, who loved fixing things. Joanne works as a caregiver and is very active in her community. Luckily for us, they even had ESPN so we were able to watch the Rose Bowl!

Rose Bowl in the ceramics shed

After the game, Andreas and Tom discussed whether they could replace the tank themselves. The hardest parts would be making sure we found the right tank and getting most the gas we had in the old one there out before trying to lowering it.

The next day, Andreas decided to drive the RV the short distance to the house. After not hearing back from Good Sam, the idea of fixing it without a shop seemed more appealing, mostly because it would save on repair costs. After raising up the RV onto a jack stand, taking a bunch of pictures underneath,  measuring out the tank, and a lot of searching around online we went ahead and ordered one. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be there until Monday, the 6th. In the mean time, Andreas and Tom were able to remove the old fuel tank after draining most of the gas through a fuel line that used to be hooked up to a generator. 

In the next few days we got to experience life in rural Texas as well as hang out in our cosy shed. Tom and Joanne completely opened their house to us, telling us to help ourselves to anything in the fridge and having us over for dinner every night. On Sunday we went with them up to church, including the Christmas party after the service. The church community was very small, with about six adults and six kids.

At the party afterwards everyone was very friendly and welcoming. There was a potluck lunch with tuna casserole, ham and cheese sandwiches, hot dog pieces in BBQ sauce and Joanne's bean and bacon soup. As well as a million desserts. After eating we took part in a white elephant gift exchange (in which we got a new lantern and a five gallon bucket organizer) and a fun game involving trying to unwrap a present with oven mitts on. We won that game and won some candy and a Walmart gift card. We were also gifted a "Survival Kit" with a mini bible and some religious books. When you add to that the knitted blanket that Joanne insisted that we take, we left pretty loaded. Not to mention the free housing and days of food that they wouldn't let us pay them for.

 

Aside from one awkward evening in which we were trying our hardest not get drawn into a political conversation on topics ranging from Trump to global warming, we got along with them very well.

The new fuel tank didn’t show up until 8pm on Monday night. By that time, Tom had already left for work for the week and we’d have to get the new one installed by ourselves the next day. It turned out to be quite simple in principle, but not trivial physically. We removed the old sending unit (fuel gauge floater) and fuel pump from the old tank and wiggled them into place in the new one, using the new gaskets provided with the new tank. The most challenging bit was lifting up the fuel tank into a position where we could secure it to the frame of the vehicle. Once we get the bolts in, but before tightening them, we used the pictures we took before to make sure everything got connected up the right way. 

Once everything was hooked up and tightened, we got it to start after a few tries of just hearing the engine crank. To our surprise, we had no leaks at all! Everything was in and tightened up properly. Our repair bill ended up only being around $100 - the cost of the tank. It could have easily been many times that amount when you include labor. We’ve been checking for leaks at every gas station since, but haven’t found a drop! Needless to say, we’ll be keeping an eye on it a bit longer before feeling fully comfortable with it. 

With the fuel tank back in order, we loaded up the RV and got ready to leave. We were seen off by Joanne who was sad to see us go. 

We feel so incredibly fortunate that we broke down where we did and that we were welcomed and supported by strangers who housed us and fed us, wanting nothing besides that we pay it forward the next time we see someone in need of help.