Day 44: Oberlin to De Ridder: Cyclists Welcome!

February 17, 2014

Yesterday we spent a little time plotting out where our daily stops might be, for the next few days. The positioning of towns, motels, and camping is an important limiting factor on how far we can go in a day, since wild camping seems too risky in this part of the country.

So we set out for De Ridder just 57 km away. With another 30 km we could have gone to Merryville, but then we would be out of position for what looked like the right stops beyond that.

Cruel Hoax! I begged for hot chocolate with marshmallows. Got the Swiss Miss brand. The mallows melt in just a soon as you add the hot water. In this photo, only one is hanging on. Better to buy a bag of big mallows and throw them in manually.

Out of Oberlin, rice and crawfish are gone. This however is the Calcasieu River

We cycled for a couple of hours and noted we had taken no photos. Not much to photograph here. took this anyway to document what we were seeing (or not)

We saw this at a church too. Can't imagine that it is much used, since anything green is hard to find in stores and restaurants, no doubt reflecting people's preferences.

This little area is just like Kamloops in central British Columbia - makes
us homesick.

The weather now is fine, no problem. And in the morning, the wind was not a problem either. We just cruised along and in principle should not have gotten tired at all. However there is a factor that is occupying more of our thoughts, and that is dogs. We are being barked at from many many houses, which feature chained or fenced dogs. But in an hour we may be chased two to three times or otherwise threatened by unrestrained dogs. You never know from which house or direction you will be accosted.

Somehow, my attitude towards this is more like a sporting event. I have my pointed stick and background as a squash player and I like to score a swipe on one of these curs across the nose. With Dodie, despite her can of pepper spray, each event is causing a rush of adrenalin and she says it is exhausting her. She has yet to actually spray a dog, and so does not really know she can effectively use the spray. However when eventually she does launch a counterattack, I am sure she will be more rather than less stressed.

By noon we were almost at De Ridder and began to discuss just how our plan would have to change if we pressed on. As it happens, a headwind sprang up, some small hills appeared, and Dodie felt the dog effect, so we settled on De Ridder in the end.

The dog effect got a bizarre twist, too, as we came to a large dead dog by the roadside. It had a rope holding one rear leg with a noose tie and the other end was a loop. We could not tell if it had been dragged purposely from a truck, or how it met its end. We do know that no one should tie a noose around a dog's rear leg, for any reason!

Beyond Oberlin, the rice and cattle farms seemed to end, and we had more or less nothing. We are entering areas on our map that are increasingly empty. 60 km with no services, farms, or sights might be getting normal from here on. Later, we know there are some stretches (in West Texas) with 150 blank kms.

The ACA map identifies some camping and some motels around De Ridder. The one that caught our eye was Pleasant Hill Park, with camping and "cabins". Pleasant Hill Park, as is almost always the case, is a long stay RV park, in this case mostly occupied by term workers with employment in De Ridder. However the owner, Monica, has a special affinity for long distance cyclists. The central building has a small but well equipped kitchen that she makes available. Within the space is also a small table one can sit at, and a small TV. Importantly there is also a wifi router.

We got off on a bit of a wrong foot with Pleasant Hill as we encountered some of the residents sitting at a trailer near the entrance with six dogs tied to a tree. Dodie pulled her weapon and said to the barking dogs "Just try it!". Into the standoff arrived Karen, the manager, who ushered Dodie inside. She confided that the residents were violating park rules and that they were having trouble about this behaviour. Dodie lowered her weapon, and we started our relationship with Pleasant Hill again.

Out here on the road, as you may be figuring out, we feel a bit vulnerable and alone. So how great it was to be shown Monica's guestbook. She had taken a photo of each visiting cyclist and mated this with notes written by the cyclists about their time here. Most of the cyclists had written at least a page, and all were grateful for the warm welcome, kitchen, and usually, the indoor place to stay. Looking at all their photos, their comments, and often their brave "business cards" or pamphlets explaining that they are raising funds for a charity was very encouraging. Often the people would cite their CGOAB journal coordinates, or Monica would have printed the relevant page from the journal, describing the cyclists' time here. Not so encouraging, though, was one of these CGOAB journals from January 2010 - "Riding South on Two Wheels", by Hugh Bowman. Hugh describes going out to bring back a pizza and being attacked and bitten on the way by a big lab. There are photos in the binder here of Hugh's wounds.There is also an entry in the Guestbook, with an apology from the manager here. That includes a recommendation to get a pepper spray.

We had planned to get a horse whip that could be good for dogs, in Texas. But we have found there is a shop in De Ridder, so we will check it out tomorrow. Eventually we may need a bandalero belt for Dodie, to hold her various weapons!

Dodie reacted to the facilities here very positively (except for the six dogs). We were offered a spot in a mobile home, or the "new room". Neither is the Holiday Inn, AT ALL. We chose the new room, though it has only a small single bed. Shower is around the corner and I can report that at least it is wet. I admit to being spoiled by camping facilities in France and Germany. There, the standard is for immaculate cleanliness and order, and generally so many showers, sinks, change rooms and laundries that you need a program to figure out where to go and how to use the rooms. From what we understand, standards are even going to fall further as we head into Texas. The positive reaction of the cyclists who have stayed here probably reflects that most have come from the west. Oh, oh.

Dodie really collapsed on that single bed, around 3. At 4 she was impossible to waken. Now at 5:30 she has recovered enough to venture into the kitchen to boil up some pasta. Who would have predicted dogs as a physical drain on a bike ride?

Interesting small animals at Pleasnt Hill RV

We are gratified by the compliments Ardell has drawn in the Guestbook. We phoned Bike Friday this morning and found they were busy working away on the new wheel, and are geared up to send it to Ardell. She will then find us on the road somewhere and we will swap wheels again. We also phoned Adventure Cycling, to try to get our hands on the new route through Austin that we learned through the Guestbook has been released. Adventure Cycling is closed today for President's Day. Ok, tomorrow we will try again, when we get done browsing the whip selection in De Ridder!

Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 2,536 km (1,575 miles)

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