Why on earth would we drive to Mississippi? We planned to ride another famous bike trail: the Longleaf Trace. It was an exciting to have the time to just go there.

As we found out, Sunday is definitely not the day to drive into Mississippi. Basically, it closes on that day. The entire state basically shuts down with nothing to do except find the hotel and see which McDonalds or Hooter’s is open so we could get something to eat. We did find every fast food or pseudo fast food restaurant that exists is in Hattiesburg. We also found a couple of local gems along the way.

Hattiesburg is the home of the University of Southern Mississippi. It also serves as the trailhead for the Longleaf Trace. Hattiesburg is located at the fork of the Leaf and the Bouie Rivers. It was founded in 1882 by Captain William Hardy. The city was incorporated in 1884 and the city took its name from his wife, Hattie.

We stayed at a Hampton Inn located next to the freeway and Hardy Street that appeared to be a main street through Hattiesburg. This Hampton Inn was an older hotel that needed some updating but the staff was very nice. They had breakfast in the morning which was so/so. Our room faced the parking lot and the street because of Mac so we heard all of the traffic going by. It wasn’t as good as we expect from a Hampton Inn.

Once we got into the room, we went off in search of something to eat, see the town, and to find the trailhead. We drove around the city and found a quaint downtown that was completely empty. We guessed it was because of Sunday. It looked like there were some cute restaurants but they were closed. We did find out that unless you were there on time for brunch (and we were late) there was no place to eat so we ended up at Hooters. Ugh, the desperation. The drinks were watery but the waitress was enthusiastic. This is probably the only time I wished I liked beer.

The next day, we rode the Longleaf Trace. This is one of the best trailheads we saw along the way mainly because they have a little store area. You can get trail maps and there is a little store with T shirts and other stuff that celebrate the trail.  There is also a cute little park and old train station there. The trailhead parking is part of the University parking lot with spaces for trail riders.

The Longleaf Trace is a 41 miles long extending from Hattiesburg (elevation 220′) through Sumrall (290′), Bassfield (460′), Carson, to Prentiss (336′). The trail is 10 feet wide and paved with asphalt. They are negotiating to acquire the right of way to downtown Hattiesburg.

The little towns along the trail were really small towns with populations of a 500-1500. Unlike the Tammany Trace, the towns along the Longleaf trace with the exception of Hattiesburg don’t seem to embrace the trail. Sumrall was established in 1890 and was named after Daniel Sumrall who operated a grist mill along Mill Creek. It actually has a couple of restaurants and little stores. Bassfield population is less than 500 people. It appeared to be mainly farmland as we rode by. We didn’t know there was a Carson and we did ride to and from Prentiss but there isn’t much there beside the trailhead. It has a population of about 1500.

Since the Longleaf Trace is 41 miles long, we decided to ride it in two segments. The first day was from Hattiesburg 21 miles out and back for a total of 42 miles and the second day was from Prentiss 21 miles out and back for another 42 miles.

Originally, we were going to ride to Prentiss and stay there overnight and come back the next day. Honestly, when we looked at places to stay in Prentiss, it wasn’t worth checking out of the hotel in Hattiesburg because there wasn’t anything worthwhile to stay (or eat) in Prentiss.

The trailhead in Hattiesburg is pretty commercial and they certainly spent considerable time getting local businesses to support them.

We stopped at a beautiful lake that had picnic areas and steps to a viewing area. We met a couple of nice, little old gentlemen that ride the trail every day. They were so nice and told us their wives let them go as long as it was together so they could watch each other. They were in their late 80’s and early 90’s.

The lake had a beaver dam at one end and was just a nice place to take a break.

We didn’t take Mac down the stairs so he wondered where we were for a couple of minutes.

After our little break to see the scenery, we decided to give Mac a chance to run for a while since he is usually standing up in the trailer.  He had so much fun trotting along beside me.

We let him go for about a mile and a half until he decided it was his time to ride.

There were far less road crossings than on the Tammany Trace but there were quite a few funny farm crossings that were very well marked with odd little car signs.   They were usually dirt roads to a farm along the trail.

We also met another trike rider on the trail.  He told us that he and his wife were traveling from Florida to Wisconsin to ride on bike trails on their way home. Their goal is to follow spring up north. We met them again on the second day. It was so nice to talk with them about their adventures. They were staying in a little (and I mean tiny) town along the way and were on someone’s horse farm. They told us a number a funny stories about shopping in the not quite Dollar Store. They had to cook because there were no restaurants there.

Pretty much all that is along the trail are farms some of them were quite beautiful.  There were a few mobile homes that were celebrating Easter with bows on their mailboxes.

On the first day, we stopped at a little Mexican restaurant called Fajitas in Sumrall. Since we had Mac with us, we ate on the porch. It was very good and very clean. We were able to find it because it was just off the bike trail. We spoke the owner for quite a while. He sat outside with us and rocked on his chair.

We were glad to get back to Hattiesburg at the end of the trail.

When we got back to Hattiesburg, we decide we needed to find a good place for dinner so we found “the” place. It was actually a fine dining restaurant called the Purple Parrot Restaurant.

Unfortunately, when we got there, there was some political group meeting in the bar. Fortunately, we were in the dining room. It is a beautiful place. The service was good and so was the food. It was clear, the chef was a bit over his head for the food they were serving. This was a case of they tried too hard to put too many flavors in dishes. We thought it wasn’t as good as it could have been BUT considering the alternatives, it was excellent and they had a good wine list.

The next morning, we drove 45 miles to the Prentiss trailhead. It was a nice trail head but just couldn’t compete with the Hattiesburg side.

The Hattiesburg site was much better funded and in some ways, much more commercial.

We rode 21 miles out and back.  The views were mainly  farms along the way. We did find a street named Death Valley. We wondered if it was because lost bike riders never left the trail.

It wasn’t easy to find anywhere to eat because there was nothing along the trail. The only place we found was a burger place just off the trail. While I waited for our burgers, I noticed it had a “B” grade. I never, ever eat in a “B” restaurant but we were not going to make it back without something. We  selected the plainest possible burger they made and we were still (read that as I was still) worried.

That night we went to dinner at Cotton Blues.

It is a true delight. We really enjoyed it. It is a casual restaurant but they are serious about their food. It could be called “southern fusion.”  They use locally sourced ingredients and show where you food comes from on the menus. They serve Po’ boys, gumbos, fried chicken and their drinks are great. It is a place we would go back to if we ever got to Hattiesburg again.

The next morning we were leaving for Oxford, Mississippi and we decided to have something to take on the road for breakfast. We went to the Breadsmith.

We heard about it from the waiter at Cotton Blues and it was just awesome. Everything is made from scratch. I just found out there are a few of them (not in California or Florida, unfortunately. We took a couple of breakfast rolls and went on our way.