Arrive at New Orleans International Airport and transfer to your hotel. Overnight.

This morning you will pick up your bike and start your ride through the Deep South, the birthplace of American music. New Orleans jazzes things up and it’s generally agreed that jazz was born here. Unfortunately, this is not a riding town. If you want to tour the French Quarter and Garden District before heading to Mississippi, you better park (and lock) your bike. From New Orleans you take Hwy 10 west towards Baton Rouge, the capital of Louisiana. Here, you enter Hwy 61 and enjoy a scenic and slow ride all the way up to Natchez. Natchez is one of these cities where time seems to have stopped. Out of Natchez you ride the Natchez Trace Parkway, a path used by traders in the late 1700’s – you are up for a nice ride through the woods. At junction 27 you turn left to Vicksburg. Overnight.

Vicksburg is a sleepy town on the banks of the Mississippi River and is known as “the Key to the Confederacy.” During the Civil War the town’s domination of the river halted Union shipping and it was a crucial target for General Grant. You might want to visit Vicksburg National Military Park to get an idea of what happened in 1863. From Vicksburg you continue on Hwy 61 north, which will take you all the way to Memphis. You are riding the flatlands of the Mississippi Delta – it’s strangely calming out here…before you get to Memphis you might want to visit the Delta Blues Museum, which is located about 60 miles south of Memphis (watch for the sign to Clarksdale where 61 splits from 49). This free museum is also a research facility and library of the blues and did already impress Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, who dropped by the museum and had their picture taken for the local paper. You head to Memphis, which is one of the most intriguing cities in the US. In addition to the larger-than life influence of Elvis, Memphis offers fabulous BBQ joints and places like A. Schwab, where you can still buy celluloid collars and voodoo supplies. Overnight.

If you are a music lover, you can easily spend weeks in Memphis hitting great record stores and talking to older Memphians. Perhaps you would like to visit Sun Studio or Graceland before you continue to Nashville. Make sure to check out “Super Cycle”, a bike shop that sells sexy customized Harleys, parts and accessories, and collectibles (on Bellevue Blvd). From Memphis you take Hwy 40 all the way to Nashville. Alternatively, you can take Hwy 64 out of Memphis and head to Shilo National Military Park, which is located approximately 110 miles east of Memphis. The park commemorates one of the most crucial battles of the Civil War, where over 20,000 men were killed. A self-guided ten-mile driving tour takes you in the national cemetery, whose moss-covered walls contain thousands of unidentified graves. From Shilo National Military Park you take Hwy 45 north to enter Hwy 40 for Nashville. Nashville is set amid gentle hills and fertile farmlands and is home to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Grand Ole Ophry. Overnight.

From Nashville you ride south, take Hwy 41 to Shelbyville, where you enter Hwy 231 to get to Lynchburg, home to Jack Daniels Distillery. Founded in 1866, this is the oldest registered distillery in the country. There is an entertaining 70-minute tour available that leads you through every step of the sour-mash whiskey-making process – you might want to check it out! Lynchburg itself is a pretty hamlet, laid out around a neat town square with a red brick courthouse and a number of old-fashioned stores. Follow Hwy 231 to Huntsville, first home of the nation’s space program (US Space and Rocket Center is located 5 miles west of downtown). From Huntsville take Hwy 72 for a few miles and then enter Hwy 65, your road to Birmingham. Birmingham is a rejuvenated place - it went through a rapid transformation of farmland into the city. Overnight.

From Birmingham head south to Montgomery, Alabama’s capital. You are now in the rural “black belt”, a name that comes from the richly fertile but often swampy lowland soil, but which also reflects its predominantly African American population. Montgomery is among the more engaging destinations in the deep South and much of what there is to see here has to do with the Civil War or the civil rights movement. You stay on Hwy 65, which will take you all the way down to Mobile, Alabama’s busy port city. It’s a very pretty place – especially in spring, when virtually every street is transformed by the delicate colors of azaleas, camellias, and dogwoods. Overnight.

Today you head back to New Orleans, the city that is populated with the ghosts of French settlers, Spanish explorers, British soldiers, African slaves, and Caribbean immigrants. You also find modern-day hustlers, gamblers, artists, musicians, dancers and riverboat captains, who wring maximum pleasure out of each day here. From Mobile take Hwy 10 (90) and enjoy a scenic ride along the Gulf coast. Upon arrival in New Orleans it will be time to return your bike and transfer to your hotel. Overnight.

Today your exciting trip will end with your departure flight back home.