The Jesus sign was the reason I stopped. The smell from the dumpster almost made me leave. I was brave, though, and held my breath for this photo and then (still holding it) I walked right through the miasma until I got to Jesus. The sign, I mean – the Jesus sign.

And over there, someone in the kitchen at the taqueria was cooking beans and they smelled so good – even now, three weeks later, I can still recall their fragrance and can still remember thinking how delicious a bowl of these beans would be with a fresh corn tortilla.

There’s a lesson here. It might be that after a stinky trash dumpster anything will smell good. Or it might be that it’s a reminder to keep going through the stinky parts because the part you have to hold your breath to get through will be worth it.

Route 66
El Reno, Oklahoma
photographed 7.26.2026