Tuesday Slept reasonably well last night out in the open on grass on a mostly clear night. Forgot about dew so was a bit peeved at myself for that but no harm done really. I left as early as I could and was rolling pretty quick, felt good, fast pavement and it was pretty flat. Visited the Owl Creek mounds not far from my campsite and then. Got rolling again. I had gotten a ton of food and water yesterday plus had water at the campsite so I didn't need to stop anywhere on the Tanglefoot trail. I rode this really fast not because I was pushing but because it was flat and I had a vicious south tailwind. Ended up bypassing the best store too and didn't stop for the day till mile 70 or so. There were rain showers around that made me make the decision to bypass the store in New Albany. The towns on the Tanglefoot trail really seem to care about it. Pontotoc was putting the finishing touches on a covered event center at their main trailhead. New Albany had a lovely little bridge and trail incorporated into their little historic downtown. There were some storms coming up quickly though so I didn't stay long and headed out of town on a hilly and curvy quiet road with lots of roving dogs. No issues with any of them. I did some really neat hilly terrain that made me feel like I was in Appalachia. And reassuringly I noticed the soil was back to the familiar clay of the Piedmont with gravel on top and pushed in, so I felt a bit of relief if it were to rain. I was pretty pooped and ready for a coke and snacks by the time I got to Guntown. The route I planned didn't really line up with ground truthing, due to a new subdivision being built. Plus I went out another way than planned from my route telling me to cross a deep drainage ditch and a yard. Surprisingly new houses for a little town on a highway. It's sorta close to Tupelo so I guess it's related to there. The storms were closing in as I at great length crossed a scary 4 lane highway with no light (crazy they don't have one), and almost as soon as I pulled into the Dollar general it began to rain. Normally I would have been still unlucky because there usually isn't a roof overhang. But I got really lucky as this DG actually had a little roof overhang. I waited the brief rain out and then was on my way, still dry. I was thinking maybe of pushing a bit since I was making good time to a WMA in Alabama. I made another store stop in Belmont MS, jumped back on the Natchez Trace and bid adieux to Mississippi. It treated me well and I had a good time. It's all about perspective, you just have to accept that it's going to be harsh on you at times with the loose gravel, horseflies and humidity. But there's beauty to be had there and lots of great fun in exploring it all. A note about the trace. Since it's little more than a narrow 2 lane highway managed by the national park service my expectations were in the toilet from the start. So perhaps I'm negatively biased. But it was even crappier than expected. The speed limit is supposed to be 50mph. It wasn't uncommon to get passed by cars and trucks doing over 70. It's also supposed to be free of commercial traffic but I saw so many obvious work trucks, vans and all manner of trucks with ladders, trucks pulling trailers loaded with equipment. I've heard of people actually hiking along the whole thing since it's designated as a National Scenic trail. That sounds like hell. Still though despite this, it's not all that bad. Better than the average rural state highway. But the roads that parallel the trace are more interesting and have close to zero traffic so I did way more of those. Used the trace to bridge roads that didn't connect. And to cross rivers as the trace is much preferable to using a highway. No big trucks is a huge bonus. Also I haven't done it yet but almost the entire thing rolls through a mini forest on each side all of which would be decent stealth camping. I pushed on to Freedom hills WMA but was getting tired and when I rolled up to a couple churches and a cemetery right before the WMA, I decided to camp there behind the cemetery under a big oak tree. There was a house not too far away but I was quiet and it wasn't a problem. Good day.