A Gaggle in Gackle

My evening at Little Yellowstone Park ended a bit earlier than anticipated as I found myself drifting off into slumber at a very early hour – well, early for me anyway. I don’t really know what time it was but I woke up at 1:00 AM to brush my teeth and then go back to sleep. My dentist would be so proud – although, probably less so with the number of Starburst candies I’ve been eating lately.

As a result of my early slumber, I once again woke at a very early hour. I still don’t like getting up so early but I’ve definitely grown to see the benefits of getting on the road sooner rather than later. Plus rising early is noticeably easier when one doesn’t go to bed after midnight. Getting up super early also allows you to see the sunrise which on this particular morning was pretty nice – especially from the valley-like location of the campground. As is often the case, the photos don’t do it justice.

As has become far too predictable, the mosquitos were once again very happy to see me as I exited my tent. As such, I skipped breakfast and packed up as quickly as I could to minimize their feast. “As quickly as I could” translated to being on the road by 7:30 AM where I was accompanied by a somewhat favourable wind. Perhaps the best travelling companion a cyclist could ask for (yes, the “perhaps” part could been deemed extraneous).

Despite the clear skies as I was packing up, cloud cover surrounded me as I started my ride. This wasn’t a particularly bad thing as it made for cooler cycling. Yes, I know … I like the heat. But I can admit that it MAY be easier (and perhaps even more enjoyable) to pedal in more moderate temperatures.

I was about 40 km away from the morning mosquitos when I decided to stop for a quick breakfast – and by “quick breakfast” I mean, “an apple”. However, moments after retrieving said apple from my kitchen pannier I started to feel a few drops. I decided breakfast would be “to go”.

With the wind continuing to lightly assist my progress, I managed to stay ahead of the rain while I ate my apple. As I pedalled along the very quiet highway I came to the conclusion that traffic is pretty light on these North Dakota roads – and even more so at such an early hour (again, by my standards). I also came to the conclusion that North Dakota is really good at straight roads. Seriously good. I actually found it to be beautiful to just stare out and see the road disappear beyond the horizon – seemingly no matter how long I pedalled. The roads were SO straight that when I actually saw a curve I had to stop and take a picture on the chance that it was the only curve in the state. Spoiler Alert: It wasn’t.

My goal for the day was another somewhat unique Warm Showers host, this time in Gackle, ND. About 90 km away. It’s unique in that it is open 365 days a year and no notice is required. Just show up, let yourself in, and enjoy your stay. It’s called The Honey Hub and it’s called that because the owners are beekeepers.

Thanks to the wind’s assistance, I made really good time and arrived at The Honey Hub around noon. And that’s when I met Bill. Bill was driving a SAG vehicle (support and gear) for Ron – an 81-year-old pedalling eastbound across the country. Ron arrived an hour or so after I did. His arrival was followed by Jon (also travelling eastbound) and later Alex (heading westbound). Alex was actually the cyclist I had passed (without slowing to chat with) a couple of days earlier. We finally got to chat.

The Honey Hub has two beds (first come, first serve) and floor space for the rest. There’s also lots of yard space for setting up tents. While there was room inside, I opted to setup my tent anyway. My gut was telling me that I’d likely be staying up later than The Hub’s other occupants. Spoiler Alert: My gut was right.

Oh, and speaking of my gut … by the time the evening was over, my gut was much fuller than anticipated. My food supplies were starting to run down a bit so I decided to ration and just have a couple of bagels with peanut butter and jam for supper. And that’s what I did. And I was perfectly content with that. However, a few hours later our host, Jason, came out and informed us that they had some surplus beef stew and asked if anyone was interested. Considering Jason has been a cycle tourist, I can’t help but think that was a somewhat rhetorical question. Either way, we all very appreciatively accepted his offer. And the stew was delicious.

Much of the rest of the night was spent sitting around the picnic table sharing stories of trips gone by. So many trips. So little time. Although, there was time for a short drone flight – there was some interest in seeing said drone and I didn’t need much convincing to take it up for a little flight/practice. Also, it was unanimously deemed that ice cream after a day’s ride is a wonderful thing. Sadly, there was no ice cream to be had. Well, in actual fact, there IS an ice cream shop in town but, due to a death in the family, the shop was closed.

All in all, it was another great day on tour. Although, I’m reasonably confident that tomorrow I’ll be wishing I had continued biking today. When I went outside to hang some laundry earlier today the winds were still clearly blowing in a very favourable direction. On the other hand, the forecast for tomorrow was still showing those winds will be changing to a significantly less favourable direction in the morning. We’ll see how that plays out. Unlike the other day.

The only downside to the day was that I was hoping to buy honey. With my hosts being beekeepers part of me hoped that there would be a store selling some homemade honey. However, their beekeeping operation is a very large production and they actually sell their honey to other companies who do the packaging. So, for now I’m stuck with the red high fructose corn syrup they’re trying to pass for Strawberry Jam … uh, correction, “Spread”. I’m not sure if that actually makes it any better or not.

Today’s totals:
Distance: 93.26 km
Ride time: 4:03:36
Average speed: 22.97 km/h
Maximum speed: 45.00 km/h