"The Ride of Aromas ... Our Eighth Day of Riding"

Saturday ride was a ride of aromas for me.  I think the sense of smell is one of the five senses that I never think that much about.  The sense of sight is so obvious and right there in front of me, but aromas and smells kind of sneak up on me.  Today we were assailed by many smells and aromas.  It was kind of funny and sometimes the adage “beauty is in the eye of the beholder” became ”beauty is in the nose of the beholder”.  Jim and Bill have spent most of their life in Albuquerque, and grew up in the Southwest.  The smell of chile roasting will always be a memory  smell for then.  But I grew up on the coast in California, so I am familiar with the smells of the coast and they are pleasant memory smells for me.  So as we cycled along, what to Jim and Bill was the odor of low tide on the tidal flats, to me was a pleasant aroma of a childhood memory.  It took me back to fishing with my brother when I was growing up, or camping on the coast, or exploring tide pools.  To Jim and Bill, I guess it was strange and foreign and not appealing at all. 

But the tidal flat smells were only a few of the smells and aromas.  We rode through the Tillamook area, famous for its cheeses.  So of course, there were cattle smells, and sour milk smells from the dairies.  And there were pungent smells of cheese from the creameries.  As we rode through the forests, there were the familiar smells of pine, and the redwoods and the musty odor of the forest duff on the floor.  Occasionally we would pass a campground and see and smell the smoke of an early morning camper getting up and starting the fire.

Other smells, that I won’t elaborate on, of course included the exhaust of a passing vehicle, or the smell from a creature that did not get across the highway fast enough, or cooking smells from the local restaurants.

Speaking of restaurants, we had lunch at what we are told was the world famous Otis Cafe.  The Otis Cafe has five tables and a counter to sit on and not enough space outside to handle the wait.  We were lucky to show up and the time between lunch and supper, so there were only two parties in front of us.  The town of Otis has a population of 25, and maybe they are all Otis's, I don't know.  It's recent claim to fame was that the whole town was up for sale on eBay, however the sale did not go through and the 'for sale' signs are no longer posted as you enter the town.  The lunch/din was great and the famous molasses bread was all the it was advertised to be.

And of course, in addition to the ride of aromas, there were all kinds of views from the famous Oregon coast.  Today we rode just over 75 miles and we are being hosted by my friends, the Zawalski’s.  Looking out their window, up above the sea and beach, you can see the surfers through the trees, you can see the pelicans on the bluff.  There is surf crashing on the point and crashing on a reef of rocks just off shore and occasionally you can see the plume when a grey whales spouts just off shore.  They have a priceless view out their window.