16 April 2014
Merryville to Oberlin, LA
57 miles (Total Miles = 1,977)

Finally finally finally. We are stopped for a treat in a place that doesn’t have gas pumps out front and a big stick tied to the bathroom key. It’s a proper treat, one baked on the spot and served with fresh hot coffee, not a Hostess Twinkie nor bottle of Gatorade in sight. We’ve stopped for this treat because (a) we’ve biked 20 miles which can only mean one thing – time for second breakfast, (b) our fingers and toes could use a respite from the cold, which is hard to believe given that just a few days ago we were melting in the humidity and now we’re freezing in the polar vortex that blew in with all the rain, and (c ) it’s cute, and it’s been a lot of long miles on the open road without a lot of cute, or at least cute that we could take the time to stop and enjoy given all of the long miles.

The gal behind the counter is super friendly, making me think she must be from Merryville. That, or perhaps all Louisianans are this way. Whatever the case may be, I am finding the accents down here to be superb. You just don’t hear people talk this way up in Seattle. Or pretty much anywhere else I’ve ever been. Granted, they can be hard to hear over things like freight trains speeding past the evening’s Vietnam-style accommodations, but when they do break through, you must stop and listen.