One thing you discover while traveling by bicycle is that it’s not just the different perspective you get of the sights along the way, but also of the smells. In the space of one mile this morning I was treated to wood smoke, manure, wildflowers, diesel fuel, and sawdust. Not only do you have more time to see the things around you in more detail, but you often get a more visceral olfactory experience of them as well. You often know there’s roadkill up ahead before you can see it. You can always tell if the upcoming farm has livestock before you get to it. Sometimes you smell the air freshener or cigarette stink from passing cars. Once in a while you can even pick up the scent of a particular house as you go by (and it’s never a good scent). The heavy odor of manure never bothered me much while in the protective bubble of a car, but when you’re struggling up a steep hill next to a ripe farm and gasping for air, it’s a whole other level of reality.
With killer storms bearing down on the region, I opted to play it safe, quit early, and take shelter in a crummy motel. There’s more to be said about smells here, but I’ll spare you trauma. At least there was a Denny’s right next door. After dinner, I hand washed my riding clothes in the sink, hung them up to dry, and hunkered down for the night, expecting to be woken up several times as the thunder ripped through.
What I Learned: Not all paper towel dispensers are motion activated. Even though we all know this, it didn’t stop me from standing in a men’s room waving like an idiot at a paper towel thingie repeatedly with no result. Only when I was about to get very annoyed did I notice the manual crank at the side of the dispenser. How quaint.
Distance Today: 33 miles
Total Distance: 901 miles
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