Day 36 Bismarck to Napoleon 76.2 miles
Day 37 Napoleon to Gackle 40.4 miles
Day 38 Gackle to Enderlin 81.5 miles
Day 39 Enderlin to Fargo 64.2 miles
I am way behind, so this is a summary, and maybe I’ll be able to get caught up.
When we left Bismarck, we headed east toward Fargo and left Lewis and Clark’s route. We’re now on Adventure Cycling ’ s northern tier route. The terrain is flatter, with some nice rolling hills, and Dave commented that it reminded him of riding in southern Johnson County. We had a good tailwind out of Bismarck, so it was an easy day to Napoleon. The Lawrence Welk highway (he was born near there) took us through Hazelton, where we ate at the Road Hawg Café, the only restaurant in town. It was much, much better than the average small town place. The potato salad was just like Dave’s mom’s, and I had a rhubarb kuchen for dessert that was wonderful. We camped at the city park in Napoleon, showered at the pool, and watched a beautiful sunset. Although it’s getting hot during the day, the evenings still cool off for good sleeping.
Our ride to Gackle the next day was even flatter, and we started seeing natural ponds and small lakes, indicating that we were approaching Minnesota. Our stay in Gackle (named after the man who founded that town, I had to ask) was at a place for cyclists called the Honey Hub. A young couple set up their walkout basement with two beds, a small bathroom, and a washer and dryer. No charge, but they did accept donations. We were lucky to be the only ones there, so we got to sleep on a bed. The young man is a bee keeper (which explains the name of the place). They bring their bees to North Dakota in the summer, and in the fall take them to central California and live there
The road to Enderlin from Gackle was straight and mostly flat except for a curve going down to the Sheyenne River and then up out of the river valley. We passed only one town that had a restaurant, and we rode 81 miles because it was the next town with accommodations. We saw a lot of wheat and soybean fields, and our first fields of sunflowers.
Our ride to Fargo was hot, and we were looking forward to a day off in Fargo. I had a flat tire in the afternoon, on the front this time. The tire was shot, so Dave had to put my spare tire on. And, again, another kind soul saw us and stopped to see if we needed help. He lived nearby and filled our water bottles with ice water. The instructions for getting into Fargo were good, so we had no trouble getting into town. Our first stop was at the bike shop downtown, where we arranged to have them check out our bikes on our day off. (I ended up buying two new tires.) Found a great little inexpensive hotel right by downtown, and we were set. Dinner was at Sweeto Burrito, and it was very tasty. A nice change from the small town fare. We had a fun day off, went to a nice little bar in the evening and listened to some music. There was an IPA on the menu called the Woodchipper, which seemed appropriate for Fargo.
Old dead combines by a wheat field
Our stuff outside the Honey Hub
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