twobikes + an Airstream: Tanglefoot Trail Mississippi

At the Mississippi Welcome Center we heard rumors of a new Rail to Trail “from New Albany to Houston – 44 miles”, but the name and opening date were shrouded in mystery. Tuesday we set of to find it.
Fifty miles from our campsite, we admired the lively city center of New Albany, found a likely looking abandoned rail bed and a nearby library. Surely, the mystery would now be unveiled.
“It’s not open”, said the information desk librarian sternly.
We explained ourselves…
“They’re keeping folks off it”, she offered again, with the same emphasis.
We smoozed, complimented the lovely city scape, mentioned our having birthed a librarian, helped a patron balance her baby carrier…
At best, we got a list of the mid trail towns and a recommendation for a lunch spot –- Tallahatchie Gourmet.
OK, we grudgingly admit the information librarian really does have the 411 on food! The Gourmet is wonderful. I only wish we could come back Friday for the Shrimp and Grits Special.

We wandered along the obvious trail around a few orange barrels and into the construction site of a big overpass –the obvious holdup. We looped South to Ingersoll, MS where the Baptist minister (with a bike racked up on his car) welcomed us to park in the church lot trailside and briefed us. The trail, we learned, will be called the Tanglefoot trail and “the dogs around here are not used to bikers yet…”
Warmed and warned, we biked South along butter smooth pavement that will “need a little cleanup after the storms we’ve had.”