Spicy Smell
We’re on our way to Florida. Our first day’s leg ended in a hotel at the southern end of South Carolina off of I-95. We woke up early this morning when our terrier heard sounds outside.
I took the pup outside for a walk while my wife was inside getting ready. The pup and I ran across the motel’s lawn and chased small birds in the pre-light early morning fog. Around us are oaks, a few palms, and some tall long-leaf pine trees each with just a few massive branches. The air has a sort of spicy humid smell that reminds me of the south
I couldn’t have told you yesterday about that smell, but it is quite familiar and friendly to me. It smells like home and memories.
We’re flying low today. We were planning to fly down, but we’re driving instead. Yesterday’s weather was all nice and sunny with a few high clouds. But as we got into South Carolina last night the clouds came lower and filled the sky. This morning’s fog would have grounded us. It would even ground IFR pilots. A stalled front over this area will turn around into a warm front soon and head back north. But we’ll be well south of it before that happens.
Waiting out the weather is an option when flying. But our schedule and obligations impose limits on our waiting time. So we traded off a shorter flight for a longer drive. There are other tradeoffs too. The longer drive means that we’ll miss a New Year’s eve event we really wanted to be part of.
Life is short and we all have to make choices. If the worst choice we have to make is to miss a New Year’s eve party, well, we’re not doing very badly at all.