That Smell

Jon Scott
Aug 11, 2022
3 min read

Updated: Dec 10, 2022

“Ooh, that smell

Can’t you smell that smell

Ooh, that smell

The smell of death’s around you”

- Lynyrd Skynyrd

Today was a day for the senses. Odd, because I spent the majority of it sitting on my ass driving from Rock Springs to Scottsbluff, Nebraska so I could finally (and hopefully forever) check Nebraska off my list. I need to be somewhat careful as to what I say, based on recent experience. While I have completed my Nebraska ride, a full 15.8 miles around and up Scottsbluff National Monument, I am still staying the night in the state and have 20-30 miles of driving in the AM to get out of here.

First, there were the sights, or lack thereof for much of the drive. Wyoming was more of the same as yesterday, save a pretty cool stretch between Laramie and Cheyenne with some very neat rock formations easily visible from I-80 at 85mph. NW Nebraska, was a bit surprising. Rising up from the flatness are the Nebraska version of badlands, popping up out of nowhere and then disappearing just as quickly.

Next was the “feel,” as in it was 101 outside when I got here and it felt really f’ing hot. I decided to pull out some classic delay tactics. I had laundry to do so I found a laundromat where I was treated to sense #3 - sound. An older guy who looked like he might have just come back from Sturgis was doing his laundry at the same time. I guess he’s used to having his volume up on max so he can hear over the rumble of his Harley, but it seemed inappropriate to use the same decibel level for whatever show he was streaming inside an otherwise quiet and empty laundromat. I quickly got my load in the washer and went to get gas, hoping it would take me a half hour to find a station so I wouldn’t have to go back and listen. It didn’t. After surviving the roughly hour-long laundry process, it was still 99 so I pulled out my last trick and decided on dinner and sense #4. I drove around downtown Scottsbluff until I found the spot with cars parked out front. Feeling it was safe to enter based on that, I was treated to a tasty meal of warm pretzels and cheese, a salad and a tzatziki chicken sandwich.

Finally, I could delay no longer as it would be dark soon enough. It had cooled to 96 so I was feeling righteous about my decision. I found a spot to park and got the bike out for

the ride. In 15 miles, I covered a lot of ground. First, please scratch Scottsbluff off the list of potential retirement destinations. That won’t happen - ever. Second, while I don’t think a 700-mile round trip drive for a 15-mile ride was necessarily worth it, the ride itself was very good and I would have been disappointed had I been anywhere near here and not gone up the monument. The road up closes to cars at 4:00, after which, hikers and bikers are free to go up. It’s about a mile and a half to the top with 360 degree views. The descent was fun too because I knew there were no cars coming either direction and I could use the whole road. When I reached the bottom, I rode the last 6-7 miles or so to complete my loop and that’s when it hit me - The Smell. Initially, I thought it was isolated to a pasture or something I had ridden by, but it lingered and got stronger, seeming to commingle with other similarly foul odors until the assault on the olfactory was so overwhelming I thought I had got locked in a port-a-can. I raced back to the car, through everything in as quickly as I could, and cranked the AC up as soon as I got in to get some air movement. I don’t know if that smell is unique to Scottsbluff or to western Nebraska. It doesn’t seem to be down here in Kimball where I’m staying for the night.