Aaron made some very yummy fluffy pancakes (the perfect kind) for breakfast this morning, while Chris cooked up some sausage. Another wonderful breakfast, we are so spoiled! After the kids were off to school, we checked the weather and the forecast was finally right! It was chilly, but dry! We finished up our packing and were ready to hit the road. It was a little sad to leave because we had so much fun with everyone there. We are so glad our little angel came to save us the other day and that we got to meet everyone we did in Hamburg. It was a pretty uneventful ride this morning, there were no clunking chains or frozen gears. We were moving right along and we actually felt like we were moving pretty fast after the other day's ride. The trees were covered in a layer of ice and it was just so beautiful to look at as we were riding along. From Hamburg we only had less than 20 miles to go to get to the state line. We were so excited when we got to the sign. We made it to Louisiana!! Now we have ridden to every state west of the Mississippi, except that silly North Dakota that we missed. Once we crossed the line into LA, the shoulder that we had disappeared and the road turned into a 2 lane divided highway. As if there wasn't already quite a bit of ice on the trees before, the further south that we got, the more ice there seemed to be. The ice cycles on the road signs seemed to get longer and the trees seemed to be even more weighted down. We were a little cold, mainly our toes, but not from being wet, so it wasn't even comparable to a few days ago. When we made it to the first major town in LA, Bastrop, we stopped for a quick break at the visitor center to see if they had a map of LA ( I like to have one to put in the plastic map case on my handlebar bag so I can follow along, even though Joe carries one inside his handlebar bag already). Sure enough they had a free map. As we were about to leave, the lady working there asked where we were traveling from, etc. After telling her, she said "could I make you a cup of coffee or hot chocolate!?" We figured we could use the extra break inside where it was warm, and of course we can never turn down a cup of hot cocoa! So, she took us back into the HUGE conference center room and got the hot water going. As if it couldn't get any better, she pulled out a big bag of mini marshmallows! Little surprises like this are what make riding every day so much fun, you just never know what to expect. With our bellies full of hot cocoa, we headed out of town. Although we thought about going to the city of Monroe to get some new brake pads for Joey's bike, we decided it would be better to just avoid the traffic and get them further down the road. We knew it would only be a couple days before we made it to Baton Rouge and that we would make it until then with what he had left. We are officially in the flat lands now; it sure was flat- quite a difference from last week when we were in the Ozark Mountains in northern AR! We were moving down the road pretty quickly as we passed by huge fields, cows, horses, and even some buffalo. The ice on the trees made them look so frosty, which was an interesting contrast to the rich green color that blanketed a lot of the fields. Before we knew it, we had made it to the town we had hoped to get to today, Rayville. We were getting close to the I-20 as it ran through just south of town. Since we had made it to where we wanted to, we started looking for a place to set up the tent. We knew the chances of rain tonight would be higher, so we were keeping our eye out for some kind of overhang. We found the Methodist Church in town and saw that it had both an overhang and a couple cars in the parking lot. So, we decided to give that a try and hoped that someone would be there to ask. The door to the fellowship hall was open, but it was pretty dark in there. We did a quick check to see if anyone was inside, but didn't see anyone. Just as we were about to walk out the door, we heard a piano playing. There was someone there after all. We followed the music and found out that it was the choir director practicing her music. After talking with her for a few minutes, we learned that her name was Vickie and that she seemed to think that we would have no problem setting up our tent under the overhang for the night. She said that the Pastor was there and so we followed her over to the church to check with him. We talked with Brother Daryl for a few minutes and told him what we were doing and that we were looking for a place to set up our tent for the night. Now almost all of the pastors that we've talked to have said that it wouldn't be a problem at all to set up our tent where ever and to go right ahead. Not, Brother Daryl. He responded to our question by saying "Now my Lord says that there is room at the inn." He said that when we walked in asking for a place to set up our tent, all he could think of was Mary and Joseph. He insisted on buying us a hotel room instead. We didn't know what to say since that's never happened before. The pastor was getting ready for a little communion service that they were going to have before choir practice, so we got to enjoy that, too! We had about 45 minutes before that started when we originally got there, so we had time to just relax inside the warm building. Vickie gave us a tour of their gigantic fellowship hall. It was amazing. There was a full gym, kitchen, and choir room downstairs, and a really neat teen youth group center upstairs (fit with a kitchen, ping pong table, wii, and some really nice Sunday school/ group study rooms). I can just imagine all of the wonderful youth events you could have in a facility like that! After the little service, we said our goodbyes to Vickie and the other people we had met. Vickie gave us her contact information and told us where she lived (about 30 miles south of town) and to stop by tomorrow if we wanted to. Since it was easier to just ride the couple miles down the road to the hotel, we did that. Brother Daryl met us there at the Days Inn just as we were pulling in. It was perfect timing. Neither of us could believe that we were actually going to be in a hotel tonight! What a treat! Joey carried our bikes up the stairs to our room, since there was as the desk clerk put it "No elevator, cuz we are in the country here!!" It was pretty funny the way she said it. Not only did Brother Daryl treat us to a hotel, but he also took us out to dinner at Big John's steak and seafood restaurant that was just down the street from the hotel. Originally he was just going to pay for us to have dinner, but he decided to join us, and I am so glad that he did. We had a great time talking to him and learning about some of the work he has done with hurricane disaster relief and how life is out in this area. After a wonderful dinner of seafood and of course a burger for Joey, he dropped us off at the hotel. He had also given us a book to read too! We had a great time and feel so blessed to have been given a warm place to sleep and a hot meal. A truly amazing day. Our miles totaled 65.93 today.