Weather became an immediate concern for Motorcycle Cannonball Course Master, John Classen, as he started his day of travel for Stage 6. Leaving Tuscumbia, AL, John and Rachel drove through nasty rain with a temperature of 52-degrees, which rapidly dropped 19-degrees and the precipitation changed to snow and sleet. As they motored through stretches of roads with no traffic and no signs of habitation whatsoever, a 2” layer of snow stuck to the roadsides and presented the couple with some reportedly “scary” situations. Eventually, they found sunny skies and temps in the high 30s.

STAGE 6- From Tuscumbia, AL to Lula, Mississippi

Wednesday, September 15

Most of the travel for this stage will be on back roads over flat, beautiful country lanes with no sign of habitat. No convenience stores, homes, or most importantly, gas stations. All this makes for “lovely traveling,” as John put is, but creates another kink in the course plans that must be addressed.

Before our lunch stop for the day, we will travel on 60 miles of the Natchez Trace Parkway, a 444-mile long roadway in the form of a limited access, two-lane road. The gentle sloping and curving alignment of the route is due to the fact that it follows an ancient “salt-lick-to-grazing-pasture” migratory route of the American Bison and other game who moved between the grazing pastures of central and western Mississippi and the natural salt and other mineral deposits of the Cumberland Plateau.

Meriwether Lewis, (from the Lewis and Clark Expedition), died mysteriously along the Natchez Trace in 1809 and a monument was erected in his honor in 1848, which can be seen from the Parkway.

Our route will take us past Oxford, Mississippi, the home of the legendary Ole Miss, (the University of Mississippi), which is a public, coeducational research university and whose alumni includes such noteworthy characters as writers William Faulkner and John Grisham, actress Kate Jackson, and Dr. Leonard McCoy, the doctor on Star Trek (yes, he’s fictional, but still noteworthy).

Just like our previous day, we’ll cross a bridge; this day’s being a 3-mile long bridge over the Tallahatchie River (a Choctaw name meaning “rock of waters”). You’ll remember this name from the Bobbie Gentry song, “Ode to Billie Joe,” though that particular bridge collapsed in 1972.

Lunch will be graciously provided by Tupelo, Mississippi resident, Ralph Pifer, who sought to support our Cannonball riders by sponsoring their midday meal at a city park. Mr. Pifer’s business, Fire Guard of Mississippi Services, can be found at www.fireguardms.com

After 202 miles, our riders will spend the evening along the banks of the muddy Mississippi River in Lula and will have a total of 1,210 behind them, which will put us one third of the way to the finish line.