ride was in order. Earlier this summer we took on an aggressive
schedule to see five state parks in one day. As it turns out we
drove by another state park that day and didn’t even know it. On
Sunday we decided to head southwest once again to catch the
absent State Park from our list.
We started this ride by jumping on the Natchez Trace highway.
Along the Trace we stopped at a couple roadside rest areas to check
out the view.
The cutest small town lies by the Tennessee River where the river
forms a horseshoe and creates an anomaly where the river actually
runs north for a short trip. Highway 128 runs through this town.
The name of this community is Clifton, TN.
This town is definitely worth the drive to see. It reminds me of the
French Quarter in New Orleans. This community is rich in
Tennessee history and the architecture throughout the town is
quite appealing. It sounds like they have an ongoing contest to build
the tallest building in town.
Now to explain how we go about visiting all of these State Parks – I must
tell you that we spend time before each trip planning our drive to
incorporate as many ‘back roads’ as possible. The idea is to stay off the
main highways and interstate systems. We rode the Natchez Trace for
a bit, enjoying the quiet peace. The views on this trip were spectacular.
However, when it came to actually finding the Ross Creek Landing State
Park, we found ourselves going in circles . . . literally.
We happened to pass by a couple of gentlemen on the side of the road,
We happened to pass by a couple of gentlemen on the side of the road,
we pulled over to ask for directions (YES – every once in a while Tim
will stop and ask for directions). Luckily, one of the guys just happened
to be the postal carrier for Clifton. He knew exactly where we needed
to go. However, he concluded, while distributing his chew, the park has
yet to be built. Seems a leader in the community passed away years ago
and bequeaths land and money to build a golf course and a park. The golf
course is one of the finest in Tennessee and a Jack Parr design. So, we
took our picture with the sign of the golf course, which will hopefully be
beside a great park someday. This will forever be known to us as the TN
State Park that isn't!
The two guys wanted to make sure we knew about the huge festival
The two guys wanted to make sure we knew about the huge festival
coming up in September. The Horseshoe Riverbend Festival will be
September 10 – 13, 2009 in Clifton and should be a great time for all.
We logged 302 miles on this trip and put in about 9 hours of riding.
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