Road Trip, Road Trip?

Well here I am in a dingy hotel with my sons asleep at 8:15 and my husband not far behind. It has been such a long day. We are on our way to Connecticut for a family gathering this coming weekend and boy what a day. We loaded the car late last night and got up bright and early this morning to get a start on the day. I was up at 4am and we were out the door and on the road at 5am. I haven't blogged about our normal routines but let me just say there is a first for everything. When we say 5am it usually turns into 9 or 10. We did good today.

I brought the car in for an oil change and new tires - total 458.00 I left Firestone 1300.00 dollars the poorer - we got new tires, front end aligned, wheel bearing assembly, brakes flushed, new battery....and some things I forgot...So we weren't happy to start our road trip in the hole.
But...we love road trips and traveling and I love New England which is where my husband grew up and went to college. So today we are trucking right along when I notice the temperature gauge is above normal. We started in Florida, through Georgia, South Carolina and in North Carolina my nerves were...nervous! Is it the thermostat or coolant? It didn't go into the red it just stayed at the 3/4 mark to all day. It was my turn to take the wheel and it was 85-90 degrees out and we have the windows open and the heat blasting to keep the temp down. I told Mike it was like I got to go the spa all day in the car. My pours have been rejuvenated I drank plenty of water.
We had to get help so we stopped in little town along the way at tire/service station. Yep, me with frizzy curly hair (a wind blown, heat induced bad hair day), my shih tzu Baxter, Mike and the boys shuffled in to ask for assistance. We were told it would be 2 hours and if we wanted lunch there was a restaurant 4 blocks away (boy were we hot). So we went and fed the boys. Thank heavens they had an outside area to eat that allowed pets. We went back an hour later and sat in the waiting area. Baxter was panting and I was sweating more than a girl should. "Not to Worry, Baxter had plenty of water!"

So the mechanic comes over and says nothing is wrong with the car???? He let it idle with the air on and the temp. stayed normal. That can't be, I said. When we were on the interstate doing 70 the temp crept up and we had use the heater. He sent us on our way telling us "maybe it was a thermastat going bad" but not to worry. It would be ok to drive. But I explained the over spill was boiling when checked it earlier getting gas. He said it was a air bubble and not to worry? Obviously this can't be right. So now we are going to try and make it thru DC and go around New York traffic to get to Danbury Ct. to have it checked out. If any of you are from the area and can tell us a good mechanic to go to? I would really appreciate it.

The blessings of this day were many:
1. It didn't rain
2. The boys were beautiful, it was a long day in the car.
3. The car didn't blow up.
4. The mechanic didn't charge us for checking out our car!!! I couldn't believe it!
5. It didn't rain!

This trip has a few objectives. To see family and new additions to the family and to see if we still love it as much as our last trip to make a permanent move. I have 2 houses I want to look at. All of us want out of Florida and signs are pointing us north. However, as Mike pointed out, so far the signs on our first day don't look promising. I'm the eternal optimist. I offered "Nothing worth while is ever easy". We hope to get a couple nights in camping. The boys can't wait. It'll be their first time camping. But the rain? It's supposed to be here all week. We'll see!

I need to sleep and prepare for another crazy day on the road. I'll check in tomorrow.

Thank you to my followers! I'm very excited to find like minded folks following my blog. Please share your thoughts and as always,
Peace