Day #13 - 3/25/2011 - Ville Platte, LA to Deridder, LA - 76 miles

The 76 miles through rural Louisiana from Ville Platte to Deridder took us this way.

As was our usual routine, we were up at 4:45am and, after some oatmeal, were on the road by around 6am.  There was not a whole lot to Ville Platte and the town quickly faded into forest.

Not much of a shoulder, but the traffic was pretty light in the pre-dawn light.

Before long, any semblance of a city had disappeared and we were pleasantly surrounded by farmland.  

Sunrise over the farmland between Ville Platte and Mamou, Louisiana.  I love a good sunrise.  I've said that already, haven't I?  Repeatedly, it would seem.  I tend to do that.

The traffic started picking up as we neared Mamou ,LA.  Most drivers were respectful of us and, when possible, steered widely.

On a bike, you really come to appreciate a nice shoulder.

Mamou, population 3566, has a per capita income of $9046 with 45% of the population living below the poverty line.

Sites like this were common as we biked through the rural South

"Mamou", probably a French family name, was platted in 1907.  By 1915 there were four cotton gins producing thousands of cotton bales and driving the local economy.  When the demand for cotton declined, the local farmers switched to rice.  Located at the heart of Louisiana's Cajun country, Mamou is famous for its music and musicians, and bills itself as "The Cajun Music Capital of the World."

Be it ever so humble, a home hides.

 As we neared the heart of Mamou, we saw more promising buildings.  This is the home of T-Boy's Slaughter House and his Cajun Seasonings.

June is Beef Month, just in case you forgot.  I like the graphic of Butcher T-Boy.  Actually, when I saw the sign on T-Boy's Slaughterhouse, I was thinking "what the heck is a "Mamou"?  

 Actually, when I saw the sign on T-Boy's Slaughterhouse, I was thinking "what the heck is a "Mamou"?  A few minutes later, we pulled into the heart of this town which contained a special charm. 

Mamou bills itself as the Cajun Music Capital of the World.  Hey...do you see that sign just up ahead on the right?

Mamou figures into a number of Cajun song titles, like "Tit Galop Pour Mamou" (which actually sounds pretty good!  Youtube is awesome...check out the link!) as well as band names, like "Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys" who sound awesome in this link from NPR!  Go NPR!

I love a good donut, preferably a chocolate glazed old fashion, one with a cakey dough and nice thick layer of chocolate.  There was something about the Donut Queen  that look promising.

Cajun boudin is available most readily in southern Louisiana, particularly in the Lafayette, Lake Charles and smaller less known areas like Ville Platte (the north point of the "Cajun Triangle" where it tends to be a daily staple), though it may be found nearly anywhere in "Cajun Country", including eastern Texas. There are restaurants devoted to the speciality, though boudin is also sold from rice cookers in convenience stores along Interstate 10. Since boudin freezes well, it is shipped to specialty stores outside the region. 

Boudin was everywhere, even in a donut shop, along with the Kolache.  Now, I'm sorry we didn't try it...that and the kolache.

While the kolache was originally an Eastern European pastry with a sweet yeasty/doughy filling, in the South it has been transformed into a sausage stuffed into a pastry shell.  Several Texas cities even have annual kolache festivals. 

'round these parts, a Kolache feature a sausage stuffed inside a pastry shell.  In most other places, a kolache is a type of pastry that holds a dollop of fruit rimmed by a puffy pillow of supple dough.  I think what they really mean here is a klobasnek or klobasniki, which often uses similar bread but is filled with a piece of sausage.  I'm just sayin'.

I had my eye on the chocolate-glazed old fashion, bottom shelf, fourth row from the left.  

Lani chose the pink donut with sprinkles, bottom shelf, third row from the right.  For me, it was a perfect mid-morning snack...some complex and simple carbohydrate, a little chocolate and cocoa butter fat washed down with coffee and its caffeine may be the perfect energy snack.   And, the ongoing and intermittent eructation of coffee and chocolate for the next 1-2 hours provides a constant reminder, a gustatory dish that keeps on giving.  Yum.

Leaving Mamou, vast expanses of rural country side returned.  Some homes had what appeared to be their own family plots:

Small family cemetery on the farm land adjacent to their property

It turns out that others have taken an interest in the small cemeteries that are scattered over Louisiana.  The Louisiana Cemetery Preservation Community is dedicated to cataloging the innumerable small plots found on rural roads and the community history behind them.  Cool.

Family memorials on family property; practical, if you have the land while allowing you to keep loved ones nearby.

It was 23 miles from Mamou, population 3566 on an area of 1.4 square miles, to the next town, Oberlin with 1853 people on 3.1 square miles.  In between there was not a whole heckuva lot.  As usual, vehicles were respectful of us on these narrows roads, though occasionally, we had no choice but to pull over.

No where for us bikers to go here, but into the grass

In addition to patches of wildflowers, we frequently came across this purple flower with a thistle-like appearance:

Bull Thistle - Cirsium vulgare

To me the flower had a grotesque beauty, a Little Shop of Horrors quality.  As we passed them, often in large numbers, I expected them to sing in unison "Feed me, Seymour". (Give this clip about 50 seconds.)

Lani, on the other hand, was enchanted by the Cirsium vulgare

Lani ran off to frolic in the weeds and photograph this grotesque weed.

We continued to see road-sided cemeteries in remote areas, often without signs:

There are a number of organizations with websites that are dedicated to cataloging headstones for genealogical purposes. 

And, sometimes, directly on or adjacent to church property.

Okay...I think I'm done with this theme.

After biking 25 miles on rural stretches with nothing but vacant land and farm, a gas station was like an oasis.  Having something substantial to eat, like PB&J or trail mix every 2 hours, or so, was essential.

Lani adds raisins to the peanut butter for that special je ne sais quoi.

With Lani, 3 hours of biking, a small meal and the sitting position had predictable results.

If I was in a good mood, I'd let her sleep for a few minutes.

The Adventure Cycling Association has an extensive sets of bike-friendly routes in many parts of America, including the popular Southern Tier.  Being on the Southern Tier, at least for now, ensured that we would likely cross paths with other cross-country cyclists, as we did with Joshua and Israel when we passed through Navarre Beach.  Passing through Oberlin, we were excited to meet another pair of bikers, Alison and Matt whom had also started in San Diego (one of the end-points for the Southern Tier route).  Alison, from Oregon, and Matt, from Australia, lived in Australia where Matt was taking some time off from his post-graduate Medicine training.  We had the usual cross-country cycling chit-chat: where you from, where you going, where you been staying, how far you going each day, what do you do, etc.  They were a nice couple to hang out with, but we all had to move on.  You can read their blog here.

Alison and Matt, cross-country cyclists and writers of http://mattandalisonsoutherntier.blogspot.com/

Moving on, we were pleasantly surprised to come across another place to catch a breath in the area known as Sugartown, an unincorporated area that was first surveyed after the Louisiana Purchase and saw its first families around 1818.  

What was funny here were two postings of local interest on the stores window.

The NRA probably has no shortage of followers in this area:

Seriously, though, why do you need a long range accurate gun?  To hunt deer?  Is that really fair?

Just a few feet away from the advertisement to have your custom made sniper rifle, was this more homey announcement:

I wonder what the requirements are for a rodeo queen?  Do you get to shoot the bull with your long-range rifle?

78 miles of biking is not so bad when you have a nice shoulder and scant traffic.

Highway 26, approaching Deridder, LA

Deridder, named for Ella de Ridder, the sister-in-law of a Dutch railroad financier, dates to the early part of the 1900s.  It had a real supermarket which provided a nice alternative to the lentils and grain we'd otherwise eat.  Besides, after biking 78 miles, you really don't feel like eating bird feed.  Instead, I picked up some fresh veggies, a few mushrooms, some thin ribeye steaks and a loaf of bread, then set to work.

I forget where, but I had picked up a thin, flexible plastic cutting board for moments like this.

Trimming the fat.

I think I got the cutting sheet at a Walmart along with a knife sharpener.

It just takes a few seconds to brown the meat over the butane without making too much smoke or scorching the pan.

You could do this at home...but why bother?  After browning the meat, I would stuff it into a motel coffee mug.  Lani would then finish it in the microwave.

No steak sandwich is truly complete without mushrooms

Normally, I'd make a red wine reduction sauce, but I was willing to compromise and just use the sauteed mushrooms alone.

After cooking the ribeye to perfection in the microwave, Lani would return it to me for further attention.

Cutting the steak into bite-size pieces.

When I was a kid growing up, we had steak pretty often.  My dad used to cut it up and make a sandwich on white bread while we sat at the dinner table.  I think he'd be pleased with this.

Serving Size =1

All-in-all, it was a great biking day.  We covered a decent distance through a unique part of the country with its own lay-of-the-land, cuisine (even though we were too lame to try it) and culture.