TEXAS

HELLLLLLOOOO :) We've had several days with no Wifi...so this is the attempt to catch up!

Chicot State Park -> DeRidder, LA: 85 miles

We left Chicot State Park and knew we had a long day ahead of us. The day was pretty uneventful. We stopped at Oberlin for some lunch and catching up on the blog..we ended up staying for almost 2 hours! Then headed to DeRidder...about 40 miles to go still. It was our last day in Louisiana! We found the DeRidder Fire Department and they were more than happy to have us. Eric, the fire chief, said we could sleep in his office & use his private bathroom! His family came by to see him and his 3 kids were awesome! There was free coffee in the morning - we couldn't ask for much more.

DeRidder,LA -> Kirbyville,TX: 48 miles

In the morning we also had our oatmeal (of course). We were stoked to cross the border into Texas!!! Whooo! (I'm sure we will be stoked to get out of Texas in about a month haha) We made it a short day, because we had a warm showers to go to with great reviews. So it ended up being a 55 mile day and we got there at about 1pm. Debbie was a great host & cooked us a delicious dinner!

Kirbyville -> Shepherd,TX: 84 miles

In the morning we left. AND guess what we had for breakfast?? yes, joe's favorite, oatmeal. No....really...joe's favorite. So we pedaled and pedaled towards Shepard, TX. Our maps showed a campground there and it was ~80 miles away so we thought that would be a good stopping point. It ended up being the coolest place we've stayed yet! We thought we were pulling up into a campground, but there were cute bungalows and people hanging out listening to music. There were SO many antiques you couldn't even count them. We came at the best time too! Peaches was cooking a huge dinner for her friends and invited us :) Grilled eggplant, zucchini, pork, bread, fresh cucumber salad, banana bread, grilled pineapple & onions, & I know I'm missing something. Dinner was awesome! Yesterday was such a great day! We were planning on camping, but stayed in a little cabin for $20! It was the cutest thing ever, we couldn't pass it up. Anytime anyone is around Shepard, TX go check out the Shepard Sanctuary. Oh yeah and they are getting ready for their CRAZY halloween party that they only have every other year. Super cool halloween stuff everywhere. 

Shepherd,TX -> Richards: 58.3miles

We made some oatmeal w/ banana chips and honey for breakfast. Then we were on our way to Richards, TX. We were told by many many people that Austin is very hilly. We figured that out fast! First thing in the morning we had hills. & hills ever since. First stop was A+ donuts...amazing, fresh-made deliciousness! You can call us crazy, but we got one glazed, an eclair, cinnamon twist, apple fritter, old fashioned blueberry, chocolate milk & OJ. Haha oh & I learned to love the hills after that. You get a good workout biking all day (obviously) but not so much an arm or stomach workout. So, after all of those donuts I decided to bike up the hills while standing and THAT is a workout for your whole body. After figuring that one out, I don't mind the hills so much. Which is kind of odd, because it is very tiring doing that.

We went to family diner for lunch & had a delicious salad! Our plan was to stay at a campground in Richards so we called them while we were at lunch. Turns out they charge $15/ person to tent camp...which is a lot considering we stayed in a cabin last night for $20. WITH AC. Anyways joe says we should go 20 more miles past Richards so that was the plan. After lunch the roads were starting to get very hilly which was fine with me until I got thirsty and we noticed we forgot to fill our water bottles. Mine were empty and Joe had 1 half full. We had about 14 miles until water and the sun was beating on me! I'm sure I was making it harder for myself mentally...but I was thirsty!! :P  Anyways we were 3 miles out of town and I got a flat! It was very frustrating...so close to water. But Joe fixed it (like always, thanks joe!) & we were heading into town. Just before town we stopped to get water at Hatfield's Garden, an awesome little place with very nice people, delicious food, local beer, & a patio with live music! Joe even played the drums with them :D it was awesome! More people were showing up and jamming out. So cool! Terry Hatfield invited us to pop up our tent on the patio here tonight. I was stoked! Even though joe wanted to go 20 more miles, we still got our 60 in for the day. AND we were super backed up on blogging. It seemed like a great stop for the day :)