June 28, Tuesday, Gackle to Little Yellowstone State Park,ND

The bike hostel we stayed in is called the "Honey Hub."  When we turned on the side streets of the little town of Gackle (we asked and found out that there had been a Mr Gackle) we started seeing signs saying cyclist housing with an arrow and followed them alongside a house and across a back yard and we felt uncertain but people up on the deck assured us we were at the right place. On the back of the house on the other side of the deck was a door into a room with several beds, a bathroom and washer/dryer. Why the name? The owner is a 5th generation beekeeper that grew up in the town and they stay there during the summer.  They place bees all over the area during the summer months to pollinate the crops then truck them to California for the other nine months of the year to overwinter in a milder climate and pollinate there. It takes 30 semi loads to mhouse ove them.  We were the only ones staying there, but at times in past years they have had multudes of tents behind the house. In their guest book, we saw entries from most of the other bicyclists we had met.  This morning, We had a cup of chai tea with honey in it with our breakfast, and after doing the requested chores, we headed off on a pleasant, sunny day. First, though we had to stop at the co-op convenience store which is basically the only store for groceries in town. It had a lot of other things too such as  fish bait, beer, and milk but were out of sun screen.  Saw some coots, a yellow warbler, a bald eagle and some American avocets, along with many ducks and a couple deer, and our first blue jay on this trip. We saw a number of farmers planting which we were puzzled as to what crop they would be planting at the end of June.  Found out much planting is a month late this year in this area because of too much rain.  Saw a number of large sprayers being used on crops. We met two other bicyclists going east to west at different times today.  We went 57 miles, almost completely in a straight line from west to east and we did not go through any little villages. We just had one corner convenience store about 7 miles before the park we are camping in tonight. Beautiful county park, but are a little bit bummed that the potable water has been turned off.  Thankfully we have been carrying extra water due to the lack of villages.

https://ridewithgps.com/trips/94922453?privacy_code=F2prbnPpZDhN09K1

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