Heading out of Little Rock last weekend for my hometown in southern Indiana the air conditioner went out on our van. While at first our hearts all sank at the prospect of driving 400 miles with the air out through the August sun, it didn’t take long for us to realize that this accident would be the best part of the trip!

Having the windows down in our minivan took me back to my early adult years and my beloved Jeep Wrangler—a wonderful machine that also lacked a/c. What I’d forgotten in the last ten years was the sensory overload that often comes from a road trip in the form of sounds and smells...

• the acrid smell of creosote-treated utility poles
• the chirp of crickets along the roadside
• the delightful scent of ripening sweet corn
• the cacophony of locusts in the trees
• the delicate boquet of freshly-mown hay meadows
• the drone of the crop duster heading to his fields
• the pleasant aroma of the air before a rain

What first seemed like misfortune turned into a time of wonderful enjoyment for all of us. For a day we escaped our climate-controlled interstate cocoon and got to breathe free again, enjoying not only the sights but the smells and the sounds of the road. It was a disguised blessing for which we were all thankful.