Other riders had told me that there is a hostel for bicycle riders in Gackle. This would make it worthwhile pushing for 68 miles (109 km) to make it there.
The day started very cold and overcast. I could see some blue sky off in the east and I tried to catch it all day. It stayed just ahead of me. There was a stiff wind from my right side. It made things colder.
I skipped breakfast. It was just too early to eat and I was still feeling full from the burger from the night before. Napoleon, ND, was 26 miles away, I’d have breakfast there.
Napoleon turned out to be a longer ride than I thought; the wind and cold slowed me. It was lunch time when I arrived. I went into the White Maid diner and had a BLT. I asked my server about a local park and she indicated one was just down the street. I went there, and in all my long clothing, laid on the sleeping mat and dozed for about forty minutes. I was glad I had all the rain gear on, it didn’t rain, but it kept me warm.
Refreshed, I headed off for Gackle, ND. When I arrived in Gackle, I looked at my map information and it showed a phone number for the Honey Hub of Gackle, a respite for bicyclists. I called and it just had a busy signal. Starving, I found a bar that was open. I’ve noticed that in North Dakota most places don’t make a great effort to indicate if they’re open.
I peeked in the door and it appeared to be a stockroom. As my eyes adjusted, it had tables and a bar. I went in and found a bunch of men off in a corner getting ready for a Fantasy Football get-together. I have no interest in football but was terribly interested in their food. There was no menu, they just had a buffet of things to make tacos. For $9.00 I could eat all the tacos I wanted. I was in.
Eventually, I did get through on the phone and an automated message told me how to get to the Honey Hub. Some kind folks set aside a room in their basement for traveling bicyclists. There are two beds, a couch and floor space. When I arrived I saw two bicycles that I had seen before, Coner’s and Aidan’s. I figured they would be closer to Maine by now, but there they were. It was wonderful to see them again and we caught up on old times, being friends for about 48 hours. That is how it is on these adventures.
As night fell, I went out into the back yard and set up my ham radio for a bit. Aidan had expressed an interest in seeing it and the yard made it easy for me to throw up an antenna. In no time, I was on the air and making contacts with stations in Mississippi, Illinois, Michigan, and Venezuela, among others.
The mosquitoes were everywhere so I didn’t stay out too long. The other two fellows had already put out the lights, so I put my headlamp on the red light, so as not to wake them, and went in for a quick shower and was off to bed.
who names these towns ?
maybe the could have named it “dinosaurs on the prairie”
or pteradactyl-ville
snap, gackle, and pop
sounds like a good day, anyway.