July 16, 2023 to July 17, 2023
Day 30 and 31: Two more 100+ Mileage Days!
Bismarck to Kindred
We have decided to do the RAND Ride: Race Across North Dakota…I am the race director and have just developed this ride on our trip. Okay, not really, but we have been racing across North Dakota, but not on purpose, it has just turned out that way. However, there really isn’t a whole lot of historical sites or too many different aspects to the scenery on this route after leaving Madora to keep us at a slower pace, so here we are a in Kindred, ND; almost into Minnesota. Tomorrow we venture into Fargo, yes, the movies comes to mind.
We purposefully decided to ride over a hundred miles yesterday to get as far east as possible to get out of the smoke and get to the Honey Hub, as I mentioned yesterday, and by the way, I did put captions on the photos last night in case you are interested. Anyway, I thought it was a tough day. The winds we thought would help us did somewhat, but we also mostly had a north wind which was a side wind. It did become a headwind for about six to nine miles at one point when we were traveling due north. The hills were relentless as well; it was never flat, and even though there was not a ton of climbing, it still felt tough. However, we made it to Gackle by six pm, and would have been there a bit earlier if it hasn’t been for a very nice stop at the “Dinosaurs on the Prairie: Threshing Machine Collection.” We viewed the machine relics that a local family had collected over many years, but the really amazing part of the exhibit was that one of the sons, Steve, just happened to be there to give us some of the history. He was quite a character.
He was pretty spry for his age, and we enjoyed our chat. We took his picture and he took ours, and he wanted to take ours twice because the first time we were covering his name on the sign. I asked him if he came up there often, and he said that he and his wife made the trek almost very night to watch the sunset. He said his wife like to have a beer up there, and they would make sandwiches and enjoy the sunset. I thought that sounded really nice. Besides this interaction, the day was really quite. North Dakota on a Sunday is eerily desolate. However, once we got to Gackle, the party began.
Gackle is a town of 310 people, so there isn’t much there, but there was The Freez; yes, that is how it is spelled. It was hopping on Sunday as the establishment is closed on Monday and Tuesday, so every one is trying to get their fix of broaster chicken, burgers and soft serve. We fit right in. People were super friendly and wanted to chat, so our time there took a while, but that was fine with me. We learned that the owner closes down at the end of July for a few weeks so she can do the RAGBRAI, Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa.
Once we left, we had a minute ride to the Honey Hub, another reason to make it to Gackle. Well, once at the Hub, we learned that there were two other tourists there already, and the plumbing was not working. This meant no showers, toilet or laundry. The hosts offered their bathroom, but they had a gaggle of children plus the other two tourists using the facilities, so we decided to go over to the city RV park. Jason, the owner of the Hub, which is just a place for cyclists, told us to stay at the RV park for free, and if anyone asked, to tell them he said so…He must have some pull in this town. His real business is The Miller Honey Farm: it is a family owned business that spends some time in ND but the rest of the year in California, near where we live. It is one of the largest beekeeping operations in North America. Also, his father created Stinger products, and anyone who is an ultra runner probably knows Stinger which has become mainstream. So, why does Jason open his home to cyclists, because he knows that cyclists don’t have many options in Gackle, but also because he is a cyclist himself.
But, let me back up. We chatted with Jason for a while and the tourists staying at the Hub; the tourists informed us that there were free Stinger products, but there were few left because a hoard of college girl tourists had generously helped themselves. At the RV park, another tourist who’d tried to stay at the Hub also said that he had met the girls, and they spent the first half of the Northern Tier with one of their dads sagging their stuff until North Dakota, so I decided to make up a story about them, which may be fact…I think they hoarded so many stinger products that natured called and they clogged the toilet at the Honey Hub…Let that rumor fly.
So, the day turned out to be very social. We enjoyed our conversation with Mike, the other tourist at the park, and had a pleasant night’s sleep. We were hoping to see him at the next camp spot in Enderlin, but we decided to ride further today to try and avoid riding in the rainy weather and headwinds that are expected on Tuesday. This way, we only have twenty-two miles to Fargo.
During today’s ride, we encountered Mike, but that will be the last time we see him, and we saw the Honey Hub touring couple who ended up doing the extra mileage as well to stay at Kinder. We are at a city park which is very pleasant. We arrived just in time to jump in the pool and take a shower before they closed. However, we didn’t know they were only closing for an hour. They were reopening at 6:00 pm. It would have been nice to spend more time in the pool, but we did get to the store for some dinner groceries and our first Minnesota beer. We’re saying hello to Minnesota tomorrow, our fifth state!
This is, yet again, another long blog, but the last thing I want to say is that North Dakotans are super nice. After we came back from the store, we found the Honey Hub couple at the park too, and then a birthday party for an eleven-year-old girl who came over to us with her friends and mother to hear our story and offer us an entire pizza! So, we have free accommodations, free shower, free swim, and free pizza, plus another 107 miles under our belts; not a bad day.
See you in Minnesota,
Team Bean
Tour Stats
- Cribbage Game Wins: Mike 5, Dawn 6 (We need to play more cribbage, but the days, even though it is light till around 10:00 pm, don’t seem long enough.)
- Tortillas Eaten: Mike 72, Dawn 30
- Jars of Peanut Butter: 4
- Flats: Dawn 2, Mike 1
- Bike Haters: 4 (We had our first one in Montana yesterday.)
- Bags of Salad Consumed: 12
- Dog Encounters: 2
- Beers, too many to count
- Bags of M&M’s: 4 of various sizes
- Fritos: 7 of various sizes
Today's ride: 213 miles (343 km)
Total: 1,982 miles (3,190 km)
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