50-Gackle- Hazelton

67.1 miles/ +1832.3 ft/ Total miles 2416.0

Last night I stayed at the Honey Hub in Gackle. It is another of the cyclist-only camping/lodging places along the Northern Tier. Gackle is a very small town, with no camping and no motel, so it is really wonderful that one of the local families has made a “cyclists’ respite” in the basement of their house. They opened it in 2012, after noticing cyclists coming through town in the previous year, asking where could they get food, a shower, place to camp, and wifi. It was a nice place to stay, and I shared the accommodations with two young women who are riding west-to-east. We had pizza at the bar and traded stories about our trips so far. I really enjoy meeting the other riders every chance I get!

The host of the Honey Hub is Jason, who is part of the family that runs Miller Honey Farms. In the Honey Hub, they had copies of a recent book about John Miller (Jason’s father) and beekeeping called The Beekeeper’s Lament. It looks like an interesting read. I think maybe an excerpt was in the New Yorker. 

The towns I’ve been riding through in North Dakota have been part of the Northern Tier route since about 2010, when Adventure Cycling revised the route across North Dakota due to the truck traffic generated by the oil shale development centered around Williston. Previously, the route mainly followed US 2 west of Fargo until it was close to Glacier National Park. Now it crosses North Dakota south of I-94 on 2-lane state highways. West of Bismarck, it is on I-94 and some road that parallel it. 

Just east of Napoleon I passed the Dinosaurs on the Prairie- A Collection of Threshers:

There was very little traffic on the road, so I had the birds to keep me company: cormorants and egrets at the numerous lakes and wetlands; killdeer in the grassland areas, and redwing blackbirds almost everywhere. I saw one goldfinch and I am sure there were more. Every once in a while, a little rodent – gray, with strips, smaller than a chipmunk – would scurry across the road, very low to the ground. I don’t know its name. 

The town of Hazelton is just west of the 100th meridian, and about 45 miles from Bismarck. The population is just over 200 people. There is a grocery store (closes at 3 PM on Sunday), a bar (no food except pizza), and the Cenex gas station store (closes at 5 PM). So not much choice for food. Luckily, I have plenty of food with me, and the Cenex opens at 7 AM with some semblance of breakfast food, so I can get something there before I get on the road. It looks like there is no place to stop until I get to Bismarck.