Sunday on the Trace
October 4, 2021

By Diane Bies
We started our day by attending the church service at Duck River Methodist Church. It is always uplifting to see how our hosts celebrate. After service we started the ride on wet roads but no rain. There were drizzles off and on during the day but no major rain or storms. That makes a good day. Several cyclists took the short walk to Jackson Falls, a beautiful little falls not far from the church and right off the Natchez Trace.
I am pulling a stint as a support driver this year. It is a different experience for me as I have always been a rider before. I am able to enjoy the scenery in a different way and dote on the riders as needed. I have again enjoyed the wildflowers along the Trace and enjoyed pointing out their existence to the riders who hadn’t noticed. It is fun to watch the riders make their way down the road and to feed them at the stops.
Everyone seemed to have a great day with no issues on the bikes or with the support other than a snafu finding the second rest stop. I spent some time alerting the riders to its exact location. No one got lost, it would be hard to do on the Natchez Trace, or missed the rest stop.
As some of the last of the riders rolled into Collinwood and the Collinwood Freewill Baptist Church for the night the sun even came out for a bit. We had a delicious dinner prepared by the pastor in his smoker. There was so much variety it was impossible to choose a favorite. We were joined at dinner by some parishioners and by three cyclists who were staying at the fire station where we shower. It was fun to share information on the Fuller Center, the mission, and the future rides with them and hopefully entice them to join an event in the future.
There is so much love on this ride. It is very inspiring! I think I like my new role, at least for this week. But then again, I do have a bike and bike clothing with me, just in case.