One cool cat

Four days into our cross country road trip, and there's a battle raging in the car. It's not exactly Man vs. Wild, but it's getting pretty heated. Actually, it's not heated at all - and that's the problem. Our cat Sadie, has turned out to be quite the intrepid traveler - she's largely quiet and spending most of her time sleeping. The problem is that she's covered with black fur and requires a car temperature far below what we would prefer.

When it gets too warm - as in, the humans aren't covered in goose bumps - there are three ways she'll react: 1) She'll move to the console between the driver & passenger, and turn around, so that any air coming out of the vents goes over her whole body. 2) If this doesn't work, she will start meowing. Loudly. 3) If relief still hasn't come, she'll start panting. This panting thing is truly the weirdest thing we've ever seen - she opens her mouth and sticks her tongue out as if she's a dog, but it also weirdly looks like she's smiling. Have you ever seen a smiling cat? It's actually pretty creepy. Then we feel guilty. So, most of the time, we wind up trying to keep the peace and the AC flowing - meaning we wind up wearing sweatshirts on 93 degree days. I think it's safe to say we've lost this battle.