Life is a HIGHway

Life is a Highway. Remember that song by the Rascal Flatts? The country song about embracing life’s journey, overcoming obstacles, and enjoying the ride.

Nowadays, driving down the highway is more like the AC/DC song, Highway to Hell with its ode to a wild party existence.

I’m not sure what it is lately, but every time I get on the road travelling behind other cars, I’m hit with this really awful smell. My windows are shut. We’re going 65 miles per hour. How does that smell get in the car?

I’m thinking “that person’s exhaust is really pungent - like cooked cabbage.”

Has anyone else noticed?

Personally, I’m not a fan. Never was. It’s an unmistakable scent that everyone can identify - even if you didn’t go to college. Yet there are some people who just love it or at least don’t seem to mind. I also know people who love the smell of gasoline and skunk spray. 

Now I’m not judging – just to be clear. You do you and all that. I’m just saying that I am surprised by how often I encounter this. It feels like it’s every time I get on the road. 

Brings new meaning to the word, HIGHway.

That aroma wafts in the car and the first thing I do is start the guessing game. Is it that car in front of me - the one with the dark tinted windows? How about that truck over there? The one with the dents on the side. Maybe it’s that car with the windows cracked open in the middle of winter.

What’s wild is how this has become a regular thing. I remember when I used to drive the highway to work every day and pass the Jell-O factory — the whole area smelled like strawberries. Now it’s like every commute comes with an herbal air freshener you did not choose.

Maybe this is just part of modern life in the age of relaxed legislation. We share the road, the traffic, the construction delays… and occasionally, the lingering lifestyle choices of strangers in a Ford Pinto.

All I know is that I need to roll the windows down and remove that smell from my car so that when I get to work and open the door, the person next to me doesn’t think I’ve just come from a music festival.