Day 45: DeRidder, Louisiana to Kirbyville, Texas: Shame on You: Adventure Cycling Association!

February 18, 2014

Dennis Schluter pointed out in the Guestbook (message 356) that in Texas the homesteads are far back form the road and dog chases would become a non issue. That's a good point and will be a great relief. So dennis suggested there would not be a need to go buy a whip. Good point. But we were rather looking forward to this bit of "retail therapy".

Duly at their opening hour of 7:30 we were at Circle C Farm and Ranch Supply in the heart of DeRidder. The lady there pulled out a selection of four foot or longer (presumably) bull whips. These would have been interesting to try out, but of course we needed a light weight "cycling whip". We selected a streamlined whippy fibreglass and leather model that made a satisfying swish swish when wielded with enough wrist action. Dodie spent a happy few minutes figuring out where to put this on the bike for the fastest draw, and we were off.

This is the floor I slept on in the "new room" at Pleasant Hill. Way better than a tent, but maybe not up to the $30 price tag.

DeRidder, like so many other towns, dispenses with the shoulder at the outskirts of town, while forgetting to put in a sidewalk. So it makes a cars only wasteland.

My weapon of choice was mor elike a gaff!

This saddle is more costly than a Brooks B-17, heavier too.

Leg hold traps. Didn't these get banned?

Actually we had one other stop to make in DeRidder, and that was to check out the "Hanging Jail", where executions were done, including a famous double one in 1928. It's a scary looking building and said to be haunted. Have a look at http://visionsbydean.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/deridder-la-1914-jail-gothic-hanging-jail/ Despite this building being featured on a Lousiana scenic highways poster, there is no sign or plaque in front of the actual place, which seems quite derelict.

The jail as represented in tourism advertising

Now we set out in ernest, and Dodie got to flail her whip at onrushing dogs quite a few times. Quite quickly we ran into our first eastbound cyclist of the day. We are sort of halfway across the route, and people who started out from the west coast are now reaching us. So this was Michaela, who had cycled from Santa Cruz, though with a bit of a train ride in between. Naturally we had much fun with the exchange of UQs! Finally we went our separate ways but the fun was not over. Michaela had told us an "older couple" was coming up behind.

Indeed, the familiar profile of a cycle tourer appeared in due course on the horizon. This turned out to be George and Charlotte. They were from Texas and had only been on the road a few days. They are riding a tandem, with a Bob trailer fitted out to hold panniers. So they had the impressive profile we had enjoyed when we too used Bobs. The whole show was no less than 20 feet long! Yes, yes, exchange of UQs, and regretful goodbye. You can find their blog on Crazyguy.

Next up was Dustin and Kevin. Doctors, they were on their way to Jasper, TX where they would perform lithotrypsy (kidney stone zapping with sound waves). But right now they were interested in the Southern Tier. More UQs. Much fun!

These were just warmups, because now came Rosie, Adam, and Dan. They started from San Diego and would go to South Carolina. We were UQing away when Perry and Jim rolled up. Perry is from Anacortes (Seattle) and Jim from Ohio. They too were doing the Southern Tier. So now we had a real convention, on both sides of the highway. With seven loaded bikes, we almost had enough mass to control or at least slow the traffic. We exchanged dog stories, places where we stayed, and etc. etc. Again the reluctant goodbye. But at least with Rosie, Adam, and Dan there was a further chance to get to know them.

What happened was that we were approaching Kirbyville, where we planned to stay at the small and run down motel. A white car pulled up behind us, and out popped Debbie. Debbie introduced herself as a Warm Showers host and invited us to her place, about 10 km south of Kirbyville (and on route!). We said... YES! and proceeded through town and past the fairly sad motel to whqt turned out to be cyclists' heaven.

Cyclists' heaven meant a large house with a separate upstairs room and bathroom for stashing visitors. It meant a totally easy going approach, three friendly dogs, two cats, a filling meal, homemade cookies, fresh coffee, laundry, and yes, warm shower. Almost best was the fact that Debbie keeps a record of her cycling visitors, getting them to fill out a questionnaire covering the UQs, but also questions about best stop, worst stop, best experience, etc. There are lots of recent entries, with contributions from people from Germany, Netherlands, Paraguay, etc. And yes, from yesterday, from Rosie, Adam, and Dan. Through Debbie's questionnaire and their good natured answers we learned more about this amusing trio than we had on the road.

Also most wonderful was a page from Nat and Mic. We had run into them on the west coast during Grampies Go Coastal. They said they were going to turn left at San Diego and cross to the Atlantic. From there they would fly to Morocco and cross Spain and France to return to Netherlands. We know they did it, because we followed their blog. And now, here was their entry in Debbie's log!

We feel much energized by all this contact with cycling folk. Moreover (yes, yes, we have said this before only to have to recant) it feels much like summer out there. If it feels like summer, it feels like there is warmth and time enough to do anything. Like, cross Texas? No problem! At least that's how we feel now. However, we have read the logs of eastbound people at Pleasant Hill, just after crossing into Louisiana. Boy, are they ever glad to get out of Texas! I guess we will feel the same when we pop out into New Mexico - some day, maybe.

Oh, oh, Ardell. A fine wire deflated your tire. No matter, we have replaced the tube woith a new one. also installed a Rhinoidillo liner to prevent a recurrence.

Extremely good burger in Merryville. Very large and clean kitchen too.

Perry's blog - have not had a chance to look at it yet

Debbie, supreme Warm Showers host, explains how to reach her place south of Kirbyville

Kirbyville is 2 km of widely spaced small businesses

Grrrr. This is the only restriction on driving while using a cell phone in Texas

Great entry in Debbie's three or four year record of many visitors

Now, about ACA.

In our Guestbook, Robert Whitford made us aware (see post 339) that Adventure Cycling had changed the route near Austin. The change was described in the latest edition of the Adventure Cycling magazine. The reason for the change was given as growth of towns in a way that made the old route unsafe. "Unsafe" is the exact word they used.

Now, we bought our Southern Tier maps in 2013, at Adventure Cycling HQ in Missoula. But, they are dated 2011. The new maps with the "safe" Austin route is dated 2013. So it means when we bought our maps, the new one was soon to be released. The ACA people said nothing of this.

So now we found outselves on the Texas border, ready to ride and unsafe route when a safer one had been published. What to do? Phone ACA for help, of course.

Here are some of the things we hoped (assumed) they might say and do:

1. Say, since you are on our route, we know exactly where you are. We also know all the post offices you are coming to. We can send the new map in x days to post office y for you. Since you already paid for our map in 2013 we will send you the 2013 map at no charge, but maybe you will pay the rush postage?

2. Say, since you are already almost in Texas we will scan the changed maps and send them to you as pdfs by email, or otherwise extract them from our computer system for you.

3. Say, we can at least email you the turn by turn text version of the new route, which we can take from our computer.

This is what they actually said, while doing nothing:

1. If you want the new map you will have to pay for it (no suggestion as to how they might get it to me in time)
2. We can not/will not email any electronic version of the maps
3. Do you KNOW how long it would take to type the turn by turns into an email to you? (so get lost)
4. Try looking at the gpx files, if you have a GPS (note, ACA website states GPXs are not sufficient for doing a route).
5. And finally, lots of people have cycled the old (unsafe) route, just get on with it!

This conversation took place with us out on the open highway, with traffic zooming by. The ACA person was snug in their Missoula office. We wonder if they have any idea what it's like to be out here and left to rot by an organization you thought you were a member of!

See where we are, click HERE

Today's ride: 92 km (57 miles)
Total: 2,628 km (1,632 miles)

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