Thoughts from the road

     On Sunday I began a convoluted two-week trip involving Maryland, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Seattle, multiple dog sitters, and Thanksgiving with my parents. The first leg involved dropping Ada off in Ohio and then heading to Pittsburgh for a two-day conference. For most of the trip, Ada remembered that she doesn’t need to bark in the car, but whenever I get of the highway and make a lot of turns or stops, she forgets. (For my physics friends, my dog is essentially a well-tuned accelerometer.)
     I think the dog would enjoy car trips more if I could figure out how to keep her crate cooler. A thick blanket most be draped over her crate at all times; if she can see any movement through a window, even through a thinner blanket, she goes crazy. As a result, the crate gets pretty warm. I need a way to keep her cool but in the dark. In the past, I tried a blindfold, attached to her harness, but she was highly motivated to get it off and wriggled out of the blindfold, her collar, and her harness. Suggestions are appreciated.
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     While I was in Pittsburgh, I met a friend for dinner. I had two foods I had never eaten before - Philly cheesesteaks and buckwheat tea. I had never had the former because I hadn't come across a a restaurant that made them with seitan, and I hadn't even heard of the latter. It's kind of rare in my life that I get to try utterly new foods, and they were both delicious. I'm already researching how to roast my buckwheat for tea, since that seems much cheaper.