Tonight we're just outside Deridder LA,  camping at the Back Bow RV park. We rode 71 miles today from our hotel room in Ville Platte.

We had intended to leave at the crack of dawn this morning,  but when the 5:30 alarm sounded it was pretty clear that we'd be traveling with wet laundry on  our bikes.  Washing clothes in the tub worked well enough, but we tend to underestimate how effective the spin cycle of modern washing machines are.  We can't come close with our hand wringing or wrapping clothes in a once used bath towel and stepping on them.

Fortunately,  the sympathetic woman working the front desk this morning let us throw things in the dryer of the hotel laundry, so by 7:30 we had eaten the complimentary breakfast, had dry clothes and were on our way.

Leaving Ville Platte,  the roads were good and the air was cool and there wasn't much traffic so we made good time and the 12 miles into Mamou passed quickly.  It looked like the good roads
would continue into Oberlin, but about 4 miles out of town they abruptly changed to some of the worst we've ridden on.  Lots of deep horizontal cracks left our hands numb, our butts sore, and wasn't doing good things for the bikes either.  Then 5 miles latter we crossed into a new parish and the good roads returned for the rest of the day.

In Oberlin, we stopped at Lanendreau's grocery and deli and were treated to some wonderful cured meats, including boudin a Cajun stuffed sausage with rice, spices, and parts of a chicken I normally avoid.   It was delicious.

Leaving Oberlin, we still had more than 30 miles to ride and it wasn't clear how many services would be available in that span.  Many of the services are associated with canoeing on the local rivers and we were told that they were open seasonally. About 14 miles into the stretch we were happy to hear a voice calling for us to get out of the heat and come sit in the shade for a spell.

Danny, the owner of the White Oak canoeing venue had seen us riding up the road and wanted to be sure we felt real Cajun hospitality.  He brought out a few cans of Coke and had us sit down and enchanted us for half an hour of quickly shifting conversation. Danny's business has been canoes for the past several weeks, but hunting season is about to begin and he's set up spots for several RVs in hopes that the visiting hunters will spent weekends. He left us with admonitions of several ' humps ' in the remaining road to Deridder.   We were a bit worried what that would mean, but the humps were no more than gently rolling terrain and didn't hinder our progress.

We next stopped a further 10 miles down the road at the Y convenience store where we seriously started to consider our options for the night. Barb called a few of the local hotels. The Skipper Inn had rooms available for $59.  The Stagecoach Hotel had no vacancies.  Before we booked a room,  we decided to check with the locals.  Good choice.   The clerk at the store said she wouldn't recommend it, and a young customer indicated that they housed a rough crowd. Not wanting to repeat our Bogalusa experience, we asked for suggestions. We were directed to the Back Bow RV park and told that the showers were great. A few phone calls later, we were on our way to the park.

A few miles from the park, we were able to pick up food for supper.   The showers were as promised, and laundry facilities were available for no extra cost.  We're relaxing under the stars and about to sleep.

Tomorrow we'll be in Texas.