(December 31st New Year's Eve)
Day 6 - Oberlin to DeRidder LA

Timing is everything

 

The weather report this morning was clear: 100% chance of rain all day. So I put on my raingear and was ready! The outer layer is my Harley rain pants and rain jacket. I opted for those vs. cycling-specific rain gear because they are baggy and thus easy to get on and off over multiple other layers.

 The carwash where I whiled away the afternoon hours waiting for my FedEx package to be delivered to the hotel I'd already checked out of.

Amanda and Kolby. Two helpful young people at my convenience store stop just on the outskirts of DeRidder. When I told them I was planning to stay at Skipper's Inn, they did me a big favor when both exclaimed..almost simultaneously..."You mean the place they found the dead girl in?" I quickly altered my lodging plans :)

 

 

Today began in leisurely fashion as I knew that the only breakfast option in town didn't open until 10am. And, I also wasn't worried because the FedEx package that was to be delivered to the hotel today might actually arrive as late as 4:30pm. I read my Kindle, packed up my gear and got ready for a day of riding in the rain.

 

My breakfast at the Main Street Diner...my third straight meal there...was good. I took my time reasoning that since it was New Year's Eve, there couldn't be that many other deliveries on the truck and my package would arrive soon.

 

But when it didn't arrive by noon I faced my first logistical decision: stay another night? Or, check out and wait somewhere in town until the hotel manager called me to let me know the package had been delivered. Thinking I could always check back in if the package didn't arrive after all, I first found a place I could park my rig out of the rain and wait. It was a pleasant interlude at a carwash that was also a laundromat. By 2pm, hunger set in and I went back to...you guessed it...the Main Street Diner for my fourth straight meal in that fine establishment. My food each time was very good and I lingered since it was quite a bit more comfortable there than at the laundromat.

 

By 3pm I figured I'd have to check back in when, eureka! my phone started ringing. Since the hotel was only a block away and I was already on my bike, I simply rode straight back to the hotel without fishing my phone out of the handlebar bag where it was staying dry.

 

Excited about my package, I spent the ride back trying to decide if I should ride to DeRidder as I'd planned for the day or just call the day good and check back in. FedEx had delivered...even to tiny little Oberlin, and on New Years Eve no less!

 

Arriving at the hotel moments later, I saw the hotel owner waiting for me outside the tiny little hotel office. I quickly learned that while FedEx had been there, the package was not. In an ironic twist, the owner had been cleaning the room I'd just vacated when the FedEx driver came to the office, so the driver simply left an "attempted delivery" doortag and departed. With my package. I quickly learned that FedEx was planning to make a second delivery attempt next Tuesday. By 4:30pm. Far too late as there was no way I was going to eat 9...or more!...straight meals at the Main Street Diner in Oberlin.

So, figuring that at worst the FedEx package would simply return back to Mississippi if I couldn't redirect it to someplace further along my route I began my trip to DeRidder. At 3pm. Knowing full well there would definitely be a couple of hours of riding in the dark and possibly riding in the dark AND in the rain.

 

But I learned long ago during my Army days that "dark" and "rain" didn't actually matter. Riding is riding now just like, back then, walking, running or working was still just walking, running or working regardless of the conditions. So the ride was actually not bad. It was a bit steamy in my rain gear, but I was less sweaty than I get during hot rides at home in Mississippi during the summer. And because I had TWO lights on the bike to light my way, I had plenty of visibility during the hours I was riding in the dark.

 

So the timing turned out to be just right for arriving in DeRidder in time to have dinner at Fausto's Fiesta Cafe AND get a load of laundry done even though the timing of the FedEx delivery guy wasn't good at all :)