Originally Posted by AThousandHurricanes

It’s a hot night in so-cal. The kids are in bed, the wife is painting various limbs something sparkly, and I had a buddy who needed a hand fixing something…So I took a ride. I guess I realize it more when I ride at night down a nearly deserted road, free of cars filled with people trying to hustle through life. Those people are all doing what I was an hour ago…tucking kids in, trying to convince the wife that the Lifetime movie of the week is not more entertaining than….it doesn’t matter. Lifetime it is. The only difference between them and me is that I went for a ride.

I smell gas exploding and ejecting an inch from my leg, hot asphalt, dead roadkill, and the BBQ joint smoking some type of carcass…it smells awesome, at least at 60 MPH. I really should remember to roll my window down next time I drive by the BBQ joint. The point is, I smelled the stink of what I love for a few minutes tonight in the middle of my crazy life,, and I remembered why I love it.

I felt saddened for those who don’t know what a bug tastes like, how girls yelling at you from the car at the stoplight without realizing how ugly and old and fat you are under that beard and helmet makes you king for a moment, or what wind on your bare knuckles is all about. I really think most people would take one hit and jonze for it forever, but for whatever reason they don’t try. If they only knew this unexplainable release, they might grin a little more. They might realize that out there, there aren’t any kids yelling, women bitching, unpaid bills, custody battles, layoffs, illnesses, heartaches, drama, whatever. It is magic and bullshit and silence and chaos. You just hold on and try not to die. And if I die, well, today is as good as any. At least I smelled the BBQ.