Sights, Sounds + Smells

These three have been the underlying, and sometimes overbearing, sensory qualities to my experiences on the road thus far. Living as a vagabond, you get used to the lack of creature comforts, but I also find myself surprised by my own determination to minimize or overcome this. The sights have been amazing - The beauty of the natural World all around, sunrises + sunsets, canyons + buttes, kitchy roadside restaurants + motels, a backcountry road. Sounds have been characterized more by the lack thereof than the abundance. I've found myself sitting on a rock gazing out at a vista with no other sound than my own breathing and maybe that of a flock of birds chittering in a nearby bush. But Smells, now that's a WHOLE other thing. Trust me when I say that I DO love my baths + showers, but I'm also no stranger to having to do without when there's either no facilities or hot water. But NOW I've now been exposed to a new and unfamiliar side of myself. Sleeping in a small, enclosed space day after day and wearing the same clothes because it's too cold to change them both are having a profound impact on my tolerable level of cleanliness and mental well being. Being stinky sucks! I've become obsessed by it - afraid to unzip my coat or take off my shoes KNOWING what offense lies beneath. All my grand schemes of good hygiene have gone down the toilet, because with nights as low as 4 degrees and daytime high's not much over freezing, you're pervading bodily focus is just to stay warm. We're hitting motels once a week to warm up and CLEAN up, but in the meantime, what can I do?!