Hope
Left Dallas to drive to Hope and then Little Rock. Had lunch at a cafe on the way and was amused to have business cards for bails bondsmen on the cafe counter.
Also found amusing that the road named after President Bush (41) is a toll road. Very apt for a Republican!
We then got to Hope. It is a very small town, and very proud of the fact it is the birthplace of not just Bill Clinton but also Mick Huckabee. They served as Governors for 23 of 28 years from 1979 to 2007. It is very small with fewer than 20,000 people there.
They have a quaint little museum at the train station. Mainly on Clinton but also on Huckabee a bit, and Hope. You learn a lot about Clinton’s early years, his Uncle Bucky (his dog was named after him) who was a substitute father. His grandparents, and how it was his grandfather who was a storekeeper who treated all customers with equal respect that had such an influence on Clinton being so anti-segregation.
This is the house Clinton was born in. His father (a soldier) died in a car accident three montsh before he was born, So his mother moved in here with her parents.
This is his old bedroom. Butch Cassiddy was his childhood hero.
After Hope it was a short drive to Little Rock. We checked in at the RV park and went to dinner. Trip Advisor said the best restaurant was Ashley’s at the Capital. The prices were okay so we headed there.
The food and service was superb. Highly recommended. Our waiter had been there many years and had served President Clinton (or Bill as he said he was always told to call him) well over 100 times. This is and was his favorite restaurant. The hotel was also his HQ for his presidential campaign. It is a lovely hotel.
We had some drinks after dinner up on the mezzanine balcony. Wonderfully warm, and very classy. Drank far too much wine. We then left the hotel to walk back to the RV, and we were both saying how lovely it would be to stay there. We got around 200 metres down the road before we persuaded each other we should stay there. We headed back and inquired if they had any spare rooms. They did, but only their suites. The price was out of our range. But then they said they could provide them for the price of a normal room.
So ended up staying in this room, rather than the RV. No complaints at all. We decided to abandon the 8 am start and headed to the Clinton President Library around 11 am.
Little Rock is a great city. Only there one day and night, but it had a great vibe.