greetings from texas, where everything is bigger! we reached texas city limits after driving through FIVE dry counties in arkansas. FIVE! i didn't even know that dry counties still existed.
the drive from corner to corner of arkansas was done easily in a day. known as the natural state, due to its hot springs (which we skipped, i'll have to remember it for next time!) and beautiful lush outdoors. i convinced dean to take a crazy risk and stop for a few hours in the state capital, little rock, even though we knew nothing about it. what a hidden gem!
little rock was cute and approachable, almost feeling like a small town... but there was certainly not a shortage of things to do. the primary reason that little rock has been put on the map, is that it was the hometown of president bill clinton. apparently, before him, no one had any reason to drop in for a visit. testament to how much the folks of little rock love their ex-president, they built a HUGE modern-looking glass museum on the banks of of the arkansas river that is dedicated solely to clinton's tenure as president. videos, audio tours, schedules, letters written to the clintons... everything under the sun was included. while it was certainly a celebration of clinton's successes (note: there was no mention of his infidelity, of course), it was impressively informative and unpretentious. just a town that is proud of their main man.
afterwards, we wandered along the river, checked out the local farmer's market and wandered along president clinton avenue. the cafes were unique and cute - in fact they reminded me a lot of similar ones in the glebe or westboro. after a sandwich and delicious chocolate silk PIE (to die for) fromt he local bakery, we were off.
the rest of arkansas consisted of stops at a burnt down truck stop, a drive through hope (where clinton was actually born) and most notably, the town texarkana on the border between - you guessed it - arkansas and texas.
we have come quite far, but yet in many ways, the journey has not felt incredibly long. the drives between the major towns are easily done in under six or seven hours, and there have been lots of interesting little detours along the way. i am enjoying both the driving time and the passenger time. we have listened to dozens of cd's, learned some spanish, read the paper and i have even done a few lines of knitting. we haven't even arrived yet, but already, i can't wait to drive across the country again!
the next three days will be in texas. and i can already tell the motto is true: you don't mess with texas.
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