Our Road Trips: September 2014

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

9/30/2014

We spent the day touring Little Rock's 2 famous governmental facilities. First up was the William J Clinton Museum & Library overlooking the Arkansas River. We spent about 5 hours walking through all of the displays...lots to read. We both enjoyed the trip down memory lane a lot...it all brought back a lot of memories, both good & bad. His presidency was a very active time in this country, and aside from a few hiccups, was filled with a lot of good for all Americans.

We have been through 3 of these Libraries on this trip. Herbert Hoover's place in Iowa taught me the most, simply because he was in office before my time and I had never really studied up on him. Dwight Eisenhower's contribution to our society was mostly done during WWII, as his displays indicated. I was a little disappointed that more time & space wasn't dedicated to his 8 years in the White House...the vast majority of the place was about his time before he was our President. But while there was lots of items about Bill Clinton's early years, including his 10 years as Arkansas' Governor, most of the displays were relating to his 8 years as our President and the years since, it reminded us how many things have been forgotten in the 16 years since he left office and how our lives change so quickly when there is a change in the White House & the Legislature...fun day.

We also took the free shuttle across the way to the Museum store, lots of Clinton memorabilia for sale. There was a lot of stuff available if you were willing to pay the price. My CC stayed in my wallet, thank you. But all in all, we had a fun day walking the halls & viewing the memories that were there representing the first administration where the principle players were born after WWII.

From there, we drove the 10-12 blocks to where the Arkansas Capitol sits on a hill overlooking downtown Little Rock. The place was virtually vacant except for a few guards (imagine how boring it must be guarding an empty building) and about 6-8 women we saw in various offices doing the vast amount of paperwork required to run a State government. I will probably never understand why there is always a paper back-up for everything in this day of hard drives and multiple methods of electronic storage devices...guess it is good for the folks who build filing cabinets for a living.

A gal met us at the Visitor Services desk and said we were welcome to do a self tour of the building, as there wasn't any guided tours available, so we took our guide books and went exploring. Nobody was there to get in our pictures except a couple of women on their way home for the day and in one instance, a woman getting her daily exercise by walking laps in the halls of the Senate offices on the 3rd floor. We were locked out of the Senate & House chambers (probably for good reason), but otherwise most everything was open. The building is in the final stages of a major re-freshening project and it looks great for 100+ years old. Some doors need to be sanded down & refinished, but otherwise the building looks pretty nice. The monitors are all flat panels & the building has been brought up to the 21st century. I especially enjoyed reading about all the crap that went on during the construction 100+ years ago...imagined myself at all the ridiculous meetings back then...but I suppose they weren't like being stuck in Groundhog Day like I have been from time to time. But it was interesting reading, plastered on the walls for everyone to ignore, at least by the majority of the folks who walk by the display on a daily basis. That is why I enjoy these sort of displays so much.

After about an hour & a 1/2, we went to our car without speaking to one person other than the guard who searched our pockets and the lady who told us there was no guided tour...we had the place to ourselves and we enjoyed that just fine...I bet Bill Clinton never had it so good.

Steve & Barb Larson

Leaves starting to change

Art out front

Cabinet Room

The Bridge made for walking & biking

We had lunch on the Verandah

What a table setting looks like at a State Dinner

Replica of the Clinton Oval Office

Downtown Little Rock from the Clinton Library

Arkansas Capitol

Looking up into the dome

A very young Bill Clinton...Gov for 10 years

The Grand Room completely vacant

Saturday, September 27, 2014

9/27/2014

We did what we promised ourselves yesterday and took a day off, went and got groceries as the event of the day. But by the time we ate dinner, it was close to 10 pm...bed time. Nice relaxing day.

This morning, we spent a couple of hours planning our stretch run to home. We made the camping reservations and made the plans to be home by Oct 10. I think we both want to be home for a while. We are going to move to Little Rock tomorrow for a few days and then start the trek to Florida via Memphis, a couple of stops in Mississippi and then 2 stops in the Florida Panhandle. We are still almost 1000 miles from home and we are going to follow our rules...no more than 5 hours a day and when we stop, it is for at least 2 days, Driving every day is hard on us both. It will be fine.

We then took a ride south across the Arkansas River and west to Magazine Mountain State Park, with the highest point in Arkansas as its centerpiece. At the top of the mountain are several look outs with some very pretty views. We also passed through several small towns along the way. Growing up in a tiny village as I did gives me a different perspective of life in these places, and I enjoy cruising through them. Chicken & turkey farming is a major part of these folks lives...a different product but a similar way of life. Be thankful this Thanksgiving for these folks, They work hard for what we eat.

We also stopped at a couple of wineries and sampled their products...a person gets thirsty doing all this picture taking :). But it was a nice relaxing day too. The pace is slowing, and that is fine.

Steve & Barb Larson

Arkansas River from our campsite

The lock & dam just downriver from our site from the south side

Our camper from the other side of the river

Pretty view from Mt. Magazine

Our chauffeur is a pretty site too

There were Monarch Butterflies all over

Wineries

Friday, September 26, 2014

9/21-25/2014

I have been lax on posting for a few days...not much to say, I guess. We have done a lot too, late back to the camper a lot. Makes it hard to find time to do this. But we both decided that we would take a day off and just rest. We have been on the road since April 4, 176 days as of today. We have driven the motor home 12,798 miles since we left home and the car an additional 13,270 miles. That is a lot of moving around, 26,068 miles of scenery, some awesome, some not so awesome. We needed a break today...but we need to go to the grocery store too. We are at a beautiful camp ground on the Arkansas River just outside of Russellville, AK. It is another of the amazing ACE (Army Corps of Engineers) spots, just downstream from the Dardanelle Lock & Dam on the Arkansas River http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Dardanelle tells the story, wish we had a boat. But we plan to do some sight seeing in the next few days and also visit the Bill Clinton Library in Little Rock too.

On 9/21, we drove from our camp site in Longmont, CO to Nederland via the Boulder Canyon road at the urging of my brother, and others. Our decision to do this on a Sunday proved to not be the best decision we have made on this trip...lots of folks out & about, and using the beautiful day to visit the canyon, When we arrived in Nederland, there was a Miners Day Festival going on, too many folks in too small of a place. So we maneuvered our way through the round-abouts and headed north on SR 72 to SR 7 and found ourselves in another canyon that was only slightly less scenic than the Boulder Canyon and far less crowded. So we enjoyed the ride back to Longmont, stopped and got groceries and headed back to our camper for a few brews, a BBQ d steak and watched the end of the football games & the NASCAR race on TV. It was a fun day, with lots of pretty scenery and also a little relaxation too.

On Monday morning, we were up early and off before 8 am. We have an appointment to get our cooling system on the RV looked at and see if we can figure out the overheating issues. After almost an hour in 'rush hour' traffic, we arrive at our destination and get checked in and settle down in the waiting room with 3 other couples there to get there campers looked at for various reasons. They were all 'full-timers' for various lengths of time...glad to be sun-birds with a place in the sunny south to call home. But our time sitting there was a bit of a learning experience, conversing with folks who have spent their time in their campers doing something other than following current events.:) After about 4 hours, the shop gave us a report. The main culprit is dirt, dust, & grime in the fins of the radiator. We have been driving on some not so nice roads and the dust has accumulated in the radiator. They suggest a good cleaning, something better than with water. They also say that since it is mostly downhill from Denver to Florida, we go on our way, keep an eye on the gauge, and stop as necessary to let it cool. That way, we can sleep in our own beds, instead of a motel, for the 3-4 days it will take to fix it. That makes perfect sense to us, so we pay our bill and head east towards Kansas.

So we drove east on I-70 from Denver. It doesn't take long for the scenery to go pretty much, blah! The eastern 1/3 of Colorado and Kansas & Oklahoma are pretty much flat, no trees, lots of fences and crops, with oil wells & now wind mills dotting the scenery. It is pretty boring and reading signs & counting the miles pretty much the only way to keep awake. Barb takes a few pictures, but sunset is really the only time that is fun too. We stopped at a rest area just west of Colby for the night...the rest area has a special place that is dark & quiet, just for RVs...must be a lot of that out here, every rest area we see had the same provisions, so we take advantage of it and get some sleep. Come morning, we drive the rest of the way to Abilene and stop at the Eisenhower Museum & Library. We spend the last 3 hours of their day looking around until they kicked us out. They also tell us we can not stay on site, so we go down the road and find a campground...at least we have electric & water for the night. The first thing in the morning, we went back and finished our tour, along with a bus load of kids who thought they were at recess...very disruptive. Their chaperons didn't seem to care either, so we were glad to move on, get in our camper and head south. It was an interesting stop though...lots to see.

We headed south on SR 15 and eventually US 77 down into Oklahoma. This route is a trip through lots of small towns in the heartland of America. And driving on something other than an Interstate has been habit forming for us. But eventually, we move over to I-35 and travel through the area Timothy McVeigh was captured in 1995...I still have a lot of admiration for the job Trooper Charles Hanger did that morning. Timothy McVeigh was captured less than an hour & a 1/2 after detonating the bomb in OKC...incredible. We arrive in OKC during rush hour...3rd time this has happened in the last 6 days...got to stop doing that. We go to the campground we had chosen and get parked. We are just a few miles from downtown & I-40 is within view from our camper. We change clothes and drive across town to my Cousin Gary's house. Gary & Joan are gracious hosts as we arrive. We decide to go get some dinner and we drive back across town to Stockyards City and a wonderful dinner. They gave us a tour of the city 'after dark' on the way home and we enjoyed their company a lot. They are leaving on Friday for New York City, so we had some info for them...good times.

Thursday morning, we drove down town and went to the Murrah Federal Building Memorial & Museum. We were there in June of 1995 when the clean-up was still going on, so seeing it again was very different. The Museum is in part of a building that was severely damaged by the explosion that we walked by in 1995, so to go inside that building was pretty amazing. They actually repaired that building while preserving evidence of the damage. The museum is really done well and worth the time. We went back to the camper and got ready to leave and headed east on I-40 for Arkansas. We arrived in Russellville, AK about 6 pm & drove to Old Post Park Campground as mentioned above.

We have had quite a week, as you can see. Barb is taking a much deserved nap, I'm next. And the good news is that our overheating issue has been a non-issue, all is well. We hope that holds.

Stay tuned, we still have a good bit of traveling to get home, and we have no plans from here, so anything can happen. And thanks for following our adventures on this amazing summer.

Steve & Barb Larson