SF to Reno: the olfactory experience

I decided that I'd rather visit my sister in Reno with my vacation
than exhaust myself bicycling around Marin (my butt has been really
really unhappy with my saddles of late in any case). Fortunately, my
boss is also an awesome friend and graciously allowed me use of her
Triumph Bonneville America for the duration of my vacation, in
addition to insisting I take the week off in the first place. Moto
trumps driving for me. It provides a much richer experience,
especially for the nose!

Starting in SF around noon, I was treated to what smelled like a large
collection of fish sitting out in the sun. Is there an underground
fishmarket set up in the bowels of the bay bridge? The smell started
just before the bridge starts and carried half way to treasure island.
What gives?

I'll not attempt to describe the ebmud water treatment plant in Oakland.

Things remained relatively boring through Davis, where the aggies
really earn their name. I don't usually notice the bovine aroma, so it
must have been a special day. Sac provided river-tree smells,
surprisingly refreshingly.

Auburn and surrounds had that distinctive foothilly dirt-in-late
summer smell, giving way to the crisp, thin chilly air of donner, with
sprinkles of evergreen scents.

A distractingly tarry construction site interrupted an otherwise
lovely descent, into the Reno desert and the muddles smells of greed,
hope, and despair.