We had planned to follow a National Parks parkway called the Natchez Trace out of New Orleans (prior post here) that runs nearly all the way north to another city known for its musical roots, Nashville. Unfortunately, a severe storm was headed our way and to escape heavy rain, potential large hail, and likely tornados we had to switch course quickly. Doug did not quote my favorite character named Gunny from the Amazon Original sci-fi called “The Expanse”, but he should have as it would have been fitting for our New Orleans departure. Just prior to warp speed with her female ambassador in tow Gunny hollers back “Hitch your tits and pucker up, it’s time to peel some paint” – and that’s almost what we did but at something slightly below warp speed cuz…you know, we drive a 10,000lb RV.
We peeled paint most of the afternoon making our way from New Orleans LA up through Birmingham AL before stopping for the evening in Noccalula Falls State Park in Gadsden AL. The parking lot for this park is almost in town, but as you drive past the visitor center the RV spaces are green and surrounded by trees. This state park even has a few short hiking and biking trails. We took one over a hanging bridge before tucking in for the evening and the next morning hiked to the main parking lot to see the falls. Legend has it that a Native American princess, Noccalula, threw herself into the falls to avoid marrying a man she didn’t love.
Noccalula 
Noccalala Falls 
We continued north, blowing by Fort Payne and up to Chattanooga TN for a vet appointment. Bailey had developed a small but debilitating abscess on her thigh that completely resolved after some quick drainage by the vet and 7 days of antibiotics. Doug took a quick bike tour of downtown, which as described by Doug, makes me want to return. We headed for our next stop, Cloudland Canyon State Park to ride out the impending storm. A tornado did touch down in New Orleans that evening but we were far enough north that we only had wind and rain – no hail and no tornados. Whew!
Although a little rainy the next day we hiked around Cloudland Canyon to some beautiful waterfalls accessed via a boardwalk trail cut into the side of the canyon. It was 600 steps back up the hill, but who’s counting.
Chattanooga Vet 
Chattanooga Bike Ride
Cloudland Canyon 
The next day we drove back up route 189, a scenic ridge-top highway, toward Lookout Mountain, which overlooks Chattanooga, to see Ruby Falls Cave. The cave features weren’t quite as impressive as some others we’ve seen (Carlsbad Caverns link here or Kartchner Caverns link here) but unique to this cave is the large waterfall plunging down the full height of one of its internal caverns. They escort their guests down to it unlit so you can hear the falls but can’t see them until they start a colored light show and it really is beautiful.
Ruby Falls Cave
With our afternoon ahead of us, we headed over to see Rock City, an attraction that’s a bit hard to describe so hopefully the pictures below will give you a sense of it. Imagine a couple who loves building rock paths through gardens and add in a passion for gnomes and fairytales and you might start to get a sense of this classic American attraction. This place is a maze of bridges and paths built in and around natural stone structures but some areas are graced with gnomes and in others, they’ve built huge dioramas of fairytale stories that are black-lit. It’s wonderfully odd, disturbing, and fascinating all at the same time. Then throw in a hilltop view of 7 different states (equipped with flags) and a cliffside waterfall called Lover’s Leap and you’ve got Rock City. If this weren’t enough, the history is interesting and it’s sort of the Wall Drugs (post here) of the southeastern US. The slogan “See Rock City” was painted on over 900 barns in 19 states between 1935 and 1969. This innovative marketing scheme was the brainchild of Rock City founder Garnet Carter and the painter, Clark Byers, who became a legend in his own right. Byers braved protective bulls, slippery roofs and lightning bolts to complete the painting of the barn billboards while compensating the barn owners with free passes and Rock City promotional items. Today, fewer than 80 of the painted slogans remain from one of the most successful outdoor advertising campaigns of all time. So far, our stormy detour was turning into quite the adventure!
Rock City 
Lovers Leap 
We spent some time near Fort Payne AL (headquarters for the southern-rock band, Alabama, fan club and museum and not much else) at both DeSoto State Park and Little River Canyon National Preserve. DeSoto has some great hikes to waterfalls in the area. Nearby, Little River Canyon is a national preserve with a 22 mile scenic drive along the edge of the canyon. It was on the last part of the Little River Canyon drive that we made a wrong turn and ended up creeping down the steepest road (Doug was estimating at least a 33% gradient) we’ve tackled- which all the park maps and signs warn is not for RVs. We were fortunate that we were able to continue on the route as we probably would not have been able to climb back up that hill!
We spent that evening at Cherokee Rock Village, a rock-climbing destination campground (it was the first campground store we’ve seen that offered a full array of climbing gear!) with beautiful views of the valley below.
We were hoping to get back to our intended route up the Natchez Trace but with warnings of a second storm, similar to the first, bringing high winds, rain, potential hail and tornados through the south, we hitched and puckered again and drove back to the relative safety of Cloudland Canyon State Park. When the storm rolled through that evening, we heard a tree fall just behind the RV. We had some wind and rain but again escaped hail, tornados (which hit elsewhere as they’d predicted) and had no damage.
DeSoto Laurel Falls 
DeSoto Falls
Little River Canyon 
Steep Grade!
Cherokee Rock Village 
Rock Climbers
After the storm we finally made our way to the Natchez Trace Parkway heading for Tishomingo State Park in Mississippi, which is located at the approximate mid-point of the 444 mile parkway. This park in the foothills of the Appalachians is known for its unique rock formations and pretty wildflowers which we were a bit too early to enjoy. The park is named for the Chickasaw nation chief, Chief Tishomingo. We enjoyed a short waterfall hike in the area and camped next to a lake that shimmered like glass.
Tishomingo 
From this base camp, we did a day trip to Corinth MS to see its Civil War Interpretive Center and then to Shiloh National Military Park. Serendipitously, we were there the day before the Civil War re-enactment of the Battle of Shiloh was to take place so men in full civil war regalia were wandering the town and the Shiloh battlefield!
Corinth MS is a small town sitting at the crossroads of rail lines that the Union intended to control to disrupt Confederate supplies, so it played a very important role in the Civil War. The Union was making good progress and had pushed Confederate soldiers from Tennessee regions back into Corinth. Here the Confederates regrouped and planned a surprise attack on the Union armies. What ensued was the Battle of Shiloh in 1862. It resulted in the heaviest causalities of the war up to that point with over 13,000 Union casualties and over 10,600 Confederate casualties which shocked both the north and the south. The Union won the battle there and soon controlled the rails at Corinth but at great cost. The Confederates tried again take Corinth later that same year and the battle took place within the city was not typical during the Civil War. The Union won again, but the impact on the citizens of Corinth was horrendous – not just because a battle took place within the town, but because many of the wounded from the Battle of Shiloh were brought to the small, 1,500 person, town of Corinth where townspeople attempted to care for the thousands injured on both sides. Reinforcement troops overran the town leaving a shortage of drinking water which brought on waves of diarrhea and typhoid. The museum said “the same number of men died from disease in the seven weeks following Shiloh as perished in the battle itself.” What imagery! The Shiloh National Military Park includes a film, a large military cemetery, and a 12.7 mile drive around the battlegrounds with numerous signboards that detail the various assaults that occurred and monuments that commemorate the soldiers from each of the states that fought here. It was a sobering day that really brought Civil War history to life.
Corinth 
Shiloh Civil War Battlefield
By April 2nd, nearly 2 weeks after we started running from the storms, we had finally re-joined our originally planned route up the Natchez Trace Parkway but by April 4th the weather models were already predicting that the south would be facing its third round of tornadoes before the end of the week.
Finally! Natchez Trace
So far we’ve found in the south and eastern states that on the one hand, we need to plan and make advance reservations more than required in the western states to ensure we have a campground for the evening (as boondocking is rare due to so little Bureau of Land Management lands); but on the other hand, we’ve had to remain far more flexible and willing to abandon all plans to move away from inclement weather. It’s an odd push and pull.
The good news is that we saw some interesting cities like Chattanooga, quirky roadside attractions like Rock City, and pretty parks like Cloudland Canyon that we might not have otherwise discovered!
