Day 19 - Ridgeland, MS to Florence, AL

Our journey today continued along the Natchez Trace Parkway. We left at 8:30am. It was 68 degrees. After the first hour, we took a quick break so Michele could put on her jacket liner since it was a bit chilly. The skies were blue with some clouds and sun, so it was a nice change from yesterday. 

This is the Big Cypress Swamp. Rob learned that several trees can tolerate being in the water and bald cypress thrive in it.

We passed several large fields of yellow wildflowers. 

Around 11am we exited the Parkway and got a sandwich at Subway for the picnic Rob had planned. We had a 30 minute drive along the Parkway to our picnic spot.

We had a quiet break and enjoyed the nice temperatures. After lunch the wind started picking up. That was when "Wham!" a loud thwack about shot Michele off the picnic bench. A pinecone dropped on the bench during a wind gust and scared the heck out of her. 

Suited back up and ready to go, Rob looked at the weather on the Wing and said good news, we were out of the tornado watch but into the high wind zone. 

There were whitecaps as we crossed the Tennessee River. We held on tight as the Wing was pushed around a bit.

Rob got tired of all the driving so Michele took over.

That didn't really happen! At mile marker 295 the Parkway had a 25 mile detour. We rode on a few highways with very rutty concrete, and were thankful to get back on the Parkway at mile marker 320. 

Along the Parkway there are educational signs about the area.

Witch Dance is where we had our picnic lunch.

Some red wildflowers or weeds.

A historic area.

We entered Alabama and rode to our hotel in Florence. By then it was 84 degrees. Today's mileage was about 250 miles. We have just over 100 miles left tomorrow to finish the Parkway as we approach Nashville by late morning. 

We got dinner right next door at Applebees, the margaritas were $5 and delicious. Severe thunderstorms are expected tonight. The wind was gusting really hard, so we used the ziplock bag method again on the important instruments on the bike. We hope all will be ok. 

Animals we saw today: a wild turkey, small turtles crossing the road, a white crane, possibly a pelican, cows, horses and a goose.