Daddy likes to tell stories about the dog he had when he was a kid. The dog's name was Sam and according to Dad, he was the smartest dog that ever lived. One of Daddy's stories about Sam involved a road trip from Mississippi to South Carolina. Apparently Sam was smart enough to scratch on the door whenever he needed a pit stop. That worked fine the first few times when the need to relieve himself was genuine. However, after a while, Sam figured out that he could scratch the door, even on the Interstate, if he simply wanted to stretch his legs or chase squirrels or whatever. So, why am I talking about Daddy's old dog? Because I took to heart this lesson when we went to Slovakia and Poland so I could get permission from the US Embassy to visit the United States, Mom and Dad were concerned about how I'd handle such a long road trip. Of course I was in my car seat. I was in the process of potty training already and was only wearing diapers at night. They had the brilliant i...