June 3, 2015 – Moffit to Gackle 79+ miles

ground speed - 14 .9 mph



Reveille was at 7 AM this morning. We arose and had cereal, donuts, muffins, etc. for breakfast. Our intent was to get a (relatively) early start as a long day was ahead - 78 miles from Moffit to Gackle. (Don't you love these place names!) We would have to take the bikes
back out to Moffit since we had spent our third night at Ft Abraham Lincoln State Park (a nice place). Then Chuck figured out that (duh!) Ann and I could take the camper with the bikes and
leave it at Moffit and Chuck and Laura could pick it up later. This would allow us to get out sooner, and relieve them of a hurried camp cleanup. So we stuffed their big items into the camper to make their car packing easier and we headed out. But wait! We needed to refill the water tank, and stop at the dump station. So it was about 8:20 when we finally drove
out. We got to Moffit and left the truck and camper parked for Chuck and Laura to find and we started riding about 9:40 – not as early as we wanted .

But, the winds were northerly, so the 12 miles south to Hazelton went quickly – we averaged over 17 mph! We met a solo, self-contained rider coming the other way. He is from Minneapolis, and on his way to San Francisco. We exchanged information on what was ahead for each of us, as well as blog site info, and parted with good wishes for safe
riding.

When we turned east at Hazelton, we were expecting to slow down quite a bit, but the riding was easier with a direct crosswind from the north (later even becoming slightly north-northwest) that was lighter than we anticipated. Our average speed dropped, but only just below 16 mph. (We didn’t expect to maintain that all day!) There were ups and downs, but we were feeling strong and not having to slow down as much on the hills. The landscape became much more of what we thought North Dakota would be. Slightly rolling hills with large fields, and long straight roads. Some of the fields had piles of large rocks variously scattered in them, and it reminded us of fields in the dry land farms northeast of Ephrata on the very rural road to Jamieson Lake .

Chuck and Laura caught, and passed us about 23 miles into our ride. We stopped for a morning Coke break after about 25 miles, and sought shelter from the north wind (it was only
about 58 degrees) in the lee of road cut. Ann sat down and only then noticed the small cactus a few inches in front where she had planted her behind! Who knew they had cactus in North Dakota?
After a short rest we were back on the bikes and headed for Napolean (the town, not the Emperor) to meet Chuck and Laura for lunch. Napolean was the on the far side of a lake that was split by a causeway on which our road (and the railroad) were laid. At 42 miles we met Laura at the turn off for Napolean, and followed her to the City Park where lunch was
served.

After a nice, longish, rest we remounted the bikes and headed east again on County Rd 34. The wind was still north, and we were still making good time. But we could tell our legs would be tired by the time we found Gackle . At one point we could see in the distance a line of something coming down a hill, but we weren’t sure what is was. Coming closer, we could see it was old machinery purposely arranged to look like animals coming down a trail. The sign nearby read "Dinosaurs on the Prairie", a threshing machine collection.

Later, we could see a small old home sitting all by itself off the road. We had to take a picture, knowing we would post it as “the little house on the prairie”.

Our afternoon Coke break (at mile 68) was also going to be in the lee of a road cut, but very shortly after sitting down, Dave found a tick crawling up his leg, so we quickly moved off the grass and onto the gravel adjacent to the road. (We are not fond of ticks!) We had noted earlier that we were going through our water too quickly. So, that Coke was very nice on our parched throats. We now felt that with careful rationing, we could make our water last to Gackle .

We knew the last six miles would be hard as we would turn north and ride directly into the wind (blowing about 10-15 mph). We turned left onto Hiway 56 and immediately slowed down. Ann tucked in behind Dave for the draft effect and we rode between 9-14 mph into the wind, depending on the up or down grade.

5:15 PM found us meeting Chuck and Laura at the Honey Hub of Gackle – a sort of hostel for bicyclists passing through Gackle. Jason and his family have a sort of apartment off their house, with a separate entrance, which they leave available for cyclists to use by donation. We had hot showers, and Chuck and Laura can have real beds tonight! (We will still stay in the Camper.) This place was listed in the info we got from Adventure Cycling for the Northern Tier route we are following right now. It is fun to read what previous cyclists have written in the book left for such musings, and for giving thanks to Jason and his family for the blessing of this place.

Tomorrow we shoot for Enderlin, where Becca, Rodney, Haydynne and Sammi will join us. Can we do another 70+ mile day (with a forecast for NE winds)? Time will tell.