My Car Overfloweth

Yesterday morning, my dad flew into Gainesville to begin our road trip to Yellowstone. Colin and I picked him up from the airport and brought him to Satchel's for lunch and then gave him a quick tour of UF and downtown Gainesville. He was excited to finally see where I've been living and going to school, and we had fun showing him around. When we got home, we packed up my car and got ready to head out. 

Good thing my car has lots of trunk space!

It was really hard saying goodbye to Colin, but I know we are both going to have awesome summers doing really amazing internships. Colin will be interning out in Denver this summer at Earthjustice, a non-profit environmental law firm that works to protect natural resources, wildlife, and beautiful places. 

My Dad and me before leaving Gainesville

My Dad and I left Gainesville at around 4 PM with the hopes of stopping somewhere North of Atlanta. The traffic was really light on I-75 in all of Florida and most of Georgia but when we got to the greater Atlanta area, there were a lot more cars out, and a lot more bad drivers, too! When we stopped at a rest area near Tifton, GA we noticed my car was making a metallic groaning sound on bumpy areas and when we hit the brakes but we couldn't figure out whether it was coming from the front of the rear of the car. We attributed the noise to the extra weight in the trunk and kept going on towards Atlanta. We drove through the Atlanta area and stopped for the night in Kennesaw, GA. 

Road Trip Progress

View Road Trip in a larger map

When we got off the highway, we noticed the groaning sound had gotten much louder. I have to admit, I had a little bit of a meltdown at this point, as I just spent about $1,000 on new front struts, strut mounts, strut towers, a-frames, and tune-up to get my car ready for this trip. My mechanic assured me that my car would be good to go for years after these repairs. What else could my car possibly need?