Merryville, LA to Oberlin, LA

We are staying in the fire-house in Oberlin tonight after a long day. We started out this morning by realizing that the hole in Stef's tire had gotten bigger. She had patched it a few days ago with a dollar bill and some duct tape hoping that it might last until we can get to a bike shop, which looks like Baton Rouge, but after a few miles this morning the tube had come through and was flat. She patched the tube and fixed up the tire again, this time with two dollar bills and we made it to DeRidder, LA. In DeRidder we ate lunch outside another museum but it was closed on Sundays. After lunch we found a car tire repair shop where Noel the owner helped us patch the tire a bit better with a car tire patch, and then the two dollars again. It was fun talking with him because he was very young but already owned the tire service business with his brother, he said that if we were ever in DeRidder again we should come over for dinner, breakfast, or lunch.

After we left DeRidder it was time for our daily afternoon rain shower but today's was lighter than the past two days so we kept riding. We made it to Oberlin, LA before dark where we had heard that we could camp at the fire station from our hosts at the Merryville Historical Museum last night. We asked for directions to the fire station and were directed to the sheriff's office where they called the fire chief and he came to meet us. We were able to cook our dinner on a stove and tonight we will sleep in the fire station. Although we made it here the tire needs more work so we're not sure how far we can get, the next bike shop seems to be in Baton Rouge.

Tomorrow (25th) is Stef's birthday everyone should give her a call!