Smell That?

When you ride, you learn, after some time, if you are aware and in tune with your surroundings, to pay attention to smells. Bad smells might be road kill - so watch out for birds that are feasting, a vulture almost knocked me off my bike once. A farm field that has just been freshly manured might cause you to hold your breath, but not too long, lest you faint and fall off your bike. Riding by a body of water and you can smell the decay of a swamp, or you can tell when you are near a body of fresh water, or even the ocean.

I don't like the smell of diesel, and if I get behind a diesel vehicle, I've either got to pass them, choose a different route, or maybe take a break to let them get ahead (and far away). Some of my favorite smells when riding are fresh earth, fragrant flowers, wood smoke, hay, someone cooking out, and newly mowed grass. I really love the smell in the air after a cleansing rain.

When we were riding through Mississippi we were passed by not one, but two, 18 wheelers hauling some type of animal. They were travelling together, and although we couldn't see what was on the trailers, and maybe they were empty, they weren't smell free! Oh no. Whatever had been on them, left a very strong trail of urine. That is not a fun thing to smell, in your helmet, when riding a motorcycle. It seems to last for 1,000 miles, but in retrospect, it was probably 1/4 or 1/2 a mile. We managed to lose them once at a WMI (weigh in motion) scale, but lo and behold they were soon upon again and passing us, and filling our nostrils with their stench. YUCK. I was hoping for something diesel to be around right about then, to cover up the other smell! They were up ahead of us, but never too far, and never out of smelling range. Luckily (?) the rain caused us to detour for a meal and the trucks must have continued on, because we didn't have to deal with them when we got back on the road.

You can learn, when riding, to smell "rain" in the air. You can tell by the sudden drop in temperature too, that rain is imminent. Sometimes if it becomes really windy and cool suddenly, it indicates you're probably going to be in a bit more than rain, maybe some thunder and lightening. This might be a good time to stop for a bit. I like learning to pay attention to those signs, it makes me more aware and it beats driving in a car where there are so many distractions, that nature and it's smells are even on the radar!