40 miles

We left Napoleon and were on the road around 10:00 am, taking our time. I’m writing this on the 6th, so I don’t remember much of the ride. We agreed to spend the night at a warmshowers hostel called The Honey Hub. It is in Gackle, North Dakota, and it’s sort of just a finished basement/addition on a house. The guy who runs it was super nice, and the amenities were great; cold drinks in the fridge, bike tools, two beds. The family was celebrating his wife’s mom’s 63rd birthday, and there were lots of family members there when we arrived. They shared a plate of food with us; corn on the cob, asparagus, pork tenderloin, tri-tip, watermelon, and chocolate cake with homemade strawberry ice cream. We have been eating a lot of tortillas lately with peanut butter and such. This was easily the best meal I’ve had in weeks. It was so good.

After dinner, we got into the ACA Maps a bit, thinking ahead to what we will do when we reach Minneapolis. Initially I was pretty sure I was going to want to ride through Iowa, but the route through Wisconsin and the U.P. is tempting—the book I’m reading by Timothy Goodwin right now is about the Northwoods area, and I sort of like the idea of doing the Michigan coast again. The Great Lakes are stunning, and the thought of spending 400+ miles all alone in the Iowa corn belt is dizzying. But then again, riding through the U.P. would add about 800 miles…