East Coast 2021:
Day 21 - Nashville, TN

	Thursday, September 30, 2021: We had another long day ahead of us, so we were up early and out of the hotel by 6:30 AM.
	We drove through Natchez National Historical Park, which was just across the street and down one block.
	A river steamboat was moored alongside.
	It was the American Queen, the largest steamboat ever built. She has 222 staterooms and runs the Mississippi River from Red Wing, Minnesota, to New Orleans.
	After filling the tank and a stop at Burger King for breakfast, ...
	... we drove through the empty morning streets of Natchez, ...
	... to the southern terminus of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 444-mile scenic national parkway that is maintained by the National Park Service. We would be driving this entire parkway to its northern end in Nashville, Tennessee.
	We got started just after 7 AM, and liked the fact that we were the only ones on the road.
	We stopped at the first historic site on the parkway: the Elizabeth Female Academy Site.
	This was the site of the first women's college in America, chartered in 1819, and named after Elizabeth Roach.
	IThe Natchez Trace Parkway is a beautiful road, two lane divided, with wide grass berms on either side, occassionally bordered by trees, ...
	... and sometimes with wide areas of grass or farmland on either side.
	As soon as Debbie wondered aloud where the deer were, there were deer. This was a group of three, possibly one adult with two juvenilles, one of which darted into the trees as soon as we came into sight.
	The Rocky Springs section of the parkway is around mile 54, and leads to a ghost town in Clairborne County, Mississippi. That's all well and good, but check out the upper-left corner of the sign.
	The Natchez Trace has its own National Scenic Trail badge. Sweet!
	We exited the parkway for a moment and drove under the parkway. The parkway overpass had Natchez Trace Parkway embedded in the side of the bridge.
	We had exited the parkway to use the rest area at the Clinton Visitor Center, but it wasn't yet open. We decided to press on, having looked at the map and seeing that there was another visitor center on the other side of Jackson.
	Speaking of which, this is the Parkway Information Cabin, which had clean, open restrooms.
	We stopped next at the Reservoir Overlook, ...
	... a 50 square mile reservoir formed by an earthen dam on the Pearl River.
	It was strange to see a mowing crew in a national park, and at the same time, ordinary to see a mowing crew on the side of a highway. They had their work cut out for them, as the grass was very wet from all of the recent rain.
	Three hours after starting on the parkway around Mile 160, we entered the Mississippi Hills National Heritage Area, which commemorates the region's impact on American culture and its role in the Civil War and the civil rights movement.
	The rain had started again, coming down as a gentle drizzle that was hardly noticible.
	Around Mile 230, we entered the Tombigbee National Forest, just south of Tupelo, Mississippi.
	There was a brief moment of heavy rain as we approached Tupelo, which had lessened to a drizzle when we got to ...
	... the Birthplace of Elvis Presley. We parked the van and walked around the grounds, ...
	... noticing the difference between the different historical markers, including Elvis Presley Birthplace, ...
	... the official Mississippi historical marker, ...
	... the Mississippi Country Music Trail, ...
	... and the Mississippi Blues Commission.
	This statue depicted Elvis at age 13, complete with the guitar he had received for his 11th birthday.
	The fountain on the grounds had 13 upper spouts representing the years Elvis lived in Tupelo, and 29 lower spouts representing the years he lived in Memphis.
	We stopped in the museum to look around, and were surprised to see a statue of Nipper here. It makes sense though. Elvis' recording contract was sold to RCA Victor in 1955.
	The museum and grounds were nicely done, and we were again very thankful that we were one of only a handful of people there.
	After a quick fuel stop, a detour for a closed section of the parkway, and a stop at Hardee's, ...
	... we were back on the Natchez Trace Parkway.
	We crossed back into Alabama around Mile 308, ...
	... drove across the Tennessee River at Mile 328, ...
	... and stopped at the Water Route Overlook to view this part of the Trail of Tears National Historic Trail.
	The Trail of Tears National Historic Trail has its own emblem within the National Park system.
	It was a lovely picnic area right on the river, with interpretive displays explaining how the Cherokee were forcefully relocated to reservations in Oklahoma in the 1830s.
	There were signs along the parkway of recent storm damage, but other than this one tree on the road, the rest of the damage was all along the side of the road.
	We crossed into Tennessee at Mile 341, ...
	... and stopped to learn that the border between North Carolina and South Carolina were fixed at 35 degrees north latitude in 1735, and that the southern boundary of Tennessee lines up with this border.
	Having seen so much of the Lewis and Clark Trail during our trips to the West earlier in the year, we couldn't pass up the opportunity to stop at a Meriwether Lewis Historic Site.
	This monument marks the grave of Meriwether Lewis, who died here in 1809. Lewis was the senior commander of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, which explored the newly acquired territory of the Louisiana Purchase. The expedition spent three years trying to find a practical route from St. Louis to the Pacific Ocean.
	Visible here is part of the original Natchez Trace pioneer road, which was used by traders between Nashville and parts of the Lower Mississippi after treaties were negotiated with the Chickasaw and Choctaw Indians in 1801.
	This is Grinder House, formerly known as Grinder's Stand, where on the night of October 10, 1809, Meriwether Lewis stopped here on his way to Washington, D.C. In the pre-dawn hours of the next morning, the innkeeper's wife heard shots, and found Lewis injured with multiple gunshot wounds to the head and belly. He died shortly after sunrise.
	By 3:30 PM, the rain had cleared, ...
	... and we were driving through the rolling hills of southwestern Tennessee.
	At Mile 438, we drove across Birdsong Hollow and Double Arch Bridge. It's impossible to see from the road, but this is an incredibly beautiful bridge that received the Presidential Award for Design Excellence in 1995. It rises 155 feet over the valley and is 1648 feet long.
	You can see Tennessee Highway 96 running under the bridge in the center of the valley.
	There was a nice parking area on the northern end of the bridge if you wanted to park and walk out to it.
	Just after 4 PM, nine hours after starting on the parkway, ...
	... we passed Mile 440 and the end of the road. It was a fantastic drive, and we would recommend it to anyone driving through this area.
	We rewarded ourselves for completing the drive with Blizzards from Dairy Queen. Tom got his usual Reese's Peanut Butter Cup, and Debbie got the Pecan Pie Blizzard, which was a new fall flavor.
	We passed Sawyer Brown Road, which prompted the question: which came first, Sawyer Brown the road, or Sawyer Brown the band? (Answer: Sawyer Brown the road, which inspired the band's name.)
	We pulled into the Hampton Inn West Nashville and were surprised to find that the digital keys issued during Debbie's online check-in actually worked. We had tried several times on this trip to skip the front desk and check-in online, but it had never worked until now. It was really nice to go straight from the van to the room without having to interact with anyone. We had a king-sized bed with a sitting area, ...
	... and a nice, clean bathroom. Check out the beautiful presentation of the hand towels!
	Neither one of us wanted to drive anymore that day, so we had freeze-dried fettucini alfredo with chicken from Backpacker's Pantry. It was the perfect end to another great day. Day 22 >