Day 7: Dumas to Pine Bluff. 40 miles. Pretty short day. Would
have been easy but for the headwinds and heat. The scenery was
pretty dull.
So, just one picture of the road. But then....
Well, lookee here. I guess the road giveth as well as taketh
away. This little guy (4GB) looked like he was hurt, so
I picked him up and carried him into Pine Bluff. A little tender
charging and he was singing just fine--a little more
Dr. Dre than I'd like--but if I get tired of podcasts, now I
have somebody else's music I can listen to.
Only one little ox-bow lake today. This should be the last of
them. I reached Pine Bluff at about 11:30. Linda reported there
was
nothing to do here, so we drove to Little Rock so that I
wouldn't have to see everything when I drive there tomorrow.
So we visited the Central High School--famous for the civil
rights battles of the late 50's. And it's still an active high
school.
And this Mobil station across the street is significant for
reasons I have not yet discerned.
Then over to the Capitol to wander around. Looks like they've
pretty much got the whole government in the one building.
Kind of light on statuary in there.
Then over to the Bill Clinton Presidential Library. This is the
6th or 7th one of these I've visited. I still think Reagan's is
the most
impressive. Not because of the papers or research materials, but
because he has a real Air Force One in there. Clinton has an old
limo.
And you can see that I am eating well on this trip.
One thing all the modern Presidential Libraries have is mock-up
of the Oval Office. Since they let ordinary people walk around
in here
everything in the room is a reproduction. If you want a photo of
yourself sitting behind the fake desk in the fake room, it costs
something
like $14 in real money for a print.
One thing you won't find in the Reagan library is a bicycle.
Hmm. That saddle looks pretty comfortable with all those
springs.
After the library, we walked out on a bridge over the Arkansas
River and looked downstream, then we drove back to Pine Bluff
for the night.
I'll be back here tomorrow--the hard way.