There's a Musty Smell in My Car

I was really hoping it would have dissipated by now, but there's this dank, mildewy odor that's been floating in my car since last weekend. It's not overpowering, but it's unpleasant, to say the least.

My family was in town over the Fourth of July weekend, and I think it was actually on Saturday, July 4th, when it appeared. At first, I couldn't tell where it was coming from at all, but at some point it became obvious that this gallon of water on the floor behind the driver's seat was leaking and had soaked the floor mat back there ... as well as my mom's purse.

Now, I'd had that gallon of water sitting back there since January. I bought it for my trip to Vegas, because it's good to have water with you on a long drive. Anyway, it was perfectly fine back there all this time, no leaking, no troubles, but all of a sudden when I had my mom sitting back there, something went afoul.

I don't know what happened to it, but it very curiously began caving in on itself. It was still sealed shut, I should note, but I guess as the water was leaking out, it kind of imploded inward. I of course removed it and threw the bottle out, but the damage was done.

On a positive note, when we were driving around that day and all puzzling about the smell, I reached down into the holder thing on my driver's side door, and by some stroke of serendipity discovered an unopened air freshener just tucked in there, as if out of thin air. I have no idea where it came from, but by golly, was I glad to find it.

Unfortunately, the air freshener is not doing the greatest job of covering up the smell. But I will say it's slowly getting less pungent. With any luck, it'll be gone before THIS weekend is out. Or maybe I'll get another air freshener. We'll see. Keep me in your thoughts.