Date(s): Oct. 30, 1999
Day: Saturday
From: Silsbee, TX
To: DeRidder, LA
Lodging: Skippers Motel
Segment Mileage: 81.6
Cumulative Mileage: 2255.5
Actual Riding Time: 5:28
Average Speed: 14.9
Weather: Mild, partly cloudy
Temp: low 80's
We made it to Louisiana. After 3 weeks of riding through Texas, today we crossed the Sabine River and entered Louisiana, and almost immediately it started raining. Well, actually it just barely sprinkled, but we thought it was a sign of things to come. We've been so lucky by not having to ride in any rain to speak of on the entire trip to this point, so I think we are due for some, and as I sit in front of my motel room here in DeRidder, the wind is blowing and the temperature has dropped at least 10 degrees in the last few minutes, so I think we will have some rain tonight. At least I hope it rains tonight while we are treating ourselves to another motel. Then we can think that it was worth the extra money, although there appear to be no campgrounds in this area anyway.
Today we had the choice of either riding 90 miles using the official route, or taking US 96 directly to Kirbyville and riding 80 miles. We chose US 96, and the shoulder was wide and the traffic wasn't too bad. It was a quick ride to Kirbyville, although we did stop for a while to help Cyndi change her tire. The Slime-filled tire that worked well at reducing her flats from thorns was leaking green goo from the stem so she replaced it with another tube. Jimmy had borrowed one of her tubes earlier because he was too busy doing laundry and writing his journal to patch his. He was just behind us and Cyndi made him return the tube, much to his dismay.
In Kirbyville we saw several other riders, and Suzanne was leaving
town at the same time as us, so we rode with her. We hadn't intended
on having a paceline, but after getting in line to let cars pass,
Suzanne just started riding off so Oliver and I tucked in behind, then
took our own turns at the front. At one point Oliver looked over and
asked "What did she have for breakfast?" We were later joined by
Jimmy. On route 363 outside of Bleakwood, there was a detour that I
thought we should take, but Oliver said we could make it through, so
we asked at the store and sure enough it was supposed to be passable
by bikes. Where the road was closed, on a short bridge, there was a
barrier about 4 feet high. The men were pondering the situation when
Suzanne suggested a team effort to lift the bikes over, and it worked
well, although Oliver spent most of the time photographing our labors
while I yelled at him to help. 
Next we came to the state line, and we
decided to take the Texas state line picture that we couldn't take on
the way into the state. We all took turns getting our pictures taken
with our bikes in front of the concrete Texas outline map, then across
the Sabine River in front of the Louisiana sign.
By this time Janet had joined us and we all stopped in Merryville, LA for a drink and sandwich break. As usual we talked about our trip with some of the locals who were very friendly. We were kidding that I needed to put together a FAQ for our group, Frequently Asked Questions: Where did you come from? Where are you going? How long have you been riding? Have you gone through many tires?, etc. and we could hand it out to people.
The route from Merryville heads SE for 11 miles then NE for 16 miles into DeRidder, LA. We discovered later that Cyndi had pulled a Spike by taking a shortcut and beat us all into town, much to our surprise as the last we saw her was when she fixed her flat at the beginning of the route.
The SE route was very windy, but our paceline helped. When we headed NE, we had a great tailwind and flew into town. DeRidder is one of those small towns (pop. 10,000) where the old downtown has lost most of its business to the strip development on the edge of town, especially the Walmart store near our motel. I rode through the downtown area and there were a few businesses open. I stopped at a small bakery where two lovely ladies sold me 2 really sinful glazed donuts and several cookies, then talked to me about our trip while I downed the 2 donuts and a cookie with a pint of milk.
We have another biker as a neighbor in the motel, David Stamboulis, who is completing an around the world bike trip. He rode in as we were getting cleaned up and has been regaling us with tales of his travels. He lived in Japan for 3 years and Nepal for a year and pedaled the rest of the time. He completes his circuit when he reaches the Pacific, so we've been trading information about our respective routes. Other than English Mike, he's the only other cross country cyclist we've seen.
Weather update: It's raining hard at 6:20pm and I'm very thankful not to be sitting in my tent right now. We may not be so lucky later, as the forecast calls for rain for the next 3 days. I sure hope my tent is still waterproof.
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