Cross Country Trip 2012: We Miss Bill Clinton

Today we stayed on I-40 from Jackson, TN down through Memphis and Little Rock to Hot Springs, Arkansas. Trucks, trucks and more trucks! As you get toward Memphis, you get the feeling that you have left the "East" and you are now in the "South". The land flattens out, the sky gets bigger, cotton fields in view, people talk funny and there's catfish on the menu! (We were surprised that the cotton had not been harvested - we learned they'll be starting that next week).

In Little Rock we visited the Bill Clinton Library. Aside from the self-promotion and obvious bias, its an excellent historical look at his presidency. Its interesting that they were dealing with the same stuff then as now - big deficits, high unemployment - but Bill was eventually able to get Congress to do something productive. Its also shows a young Newty and the birth of Republican obstructionism.

Interestingly, right behind the Clinton complex we found the headquarters of Hiefer International - but we didn't have time to go visit.

Ended the day in Hot Springs, at the old Springs Hotel and an interesting meal at Fat Jack's next door. Most people don't know, but Hot Springs National Park is here - the oldest park in the system. We will attempt tomorrow to figure how it deserves the status of a NP, since there's no natural features or breathtaking vistas!