Today was suppose to be just a travel day as we took the long drive from Dallas to Memphis. Sunday when we had dinner with our friends Kathy and Sam they asked if we were going to stop at the Clinton Presidential Library. I was embarrassed to admit that I hadn’t even considered it. How could I plan to see the George W. Bush Library and not even consider Clinton?
Little Rock is about 320 miles from Dallas. I looked at the Clinton Library website and saw that they had tours with the last being at 1:30 PM. Getting there by that time would take some real effort on Patrice’s part. You have to remember that we are still on California time and that would mean we would have to be on the road by about 8:00 AM. We did manage to get in the car, ready to go, at 8:25 AM and we were making great time on the road. We had to bypass some sites. For example we saw sign from the highway that read “Dr. John’s Lingerie” but we decided we would have to wait until next time for that one. We did stop in Hope, Arkansas (Bill Clinton’s birthplace) to get gas but decided we didn’t have time to see the monument to commemorate Clinton’s site of origin. We rolled into the Library parking lot at a trace after 1:00 PM in plenty of time to make the tour. Of course the docent called in sick and the tour was cancelled. Instead we toured by ourselves.
The Clinton Library was much like the Bush Library in that it was freezing inside. This time I came prepared with my jacket. They had the Presidential limousine which I liked seeing and a short presentation about the Secret Service. Like Bush there were lots of puff pieces making this President the greatest of all time. The most interesting thing I saw were personal letters from a variety of well known people and Clinton’s replies. It showed a side of these individuals that you often don’t get to see when they are showing their public faces. Letter writers included Elton John, Sheryl Crow, Paul Newman, former NYC mayor John V. Lindsay, the Dalai Lama, Katherine Graham, John Kennedy Jr., Fred Rogers (aka Mr. Rogers) and a variety of others.
The museum had a special exhibit discussing music in politics. This included a 13 minute film that showed a number of very famous musicians performing at benefits to raise money for a variety of worthy causes. There was a display of Elvis Presley in the military and showed pictures of a number of other celebrities from their military days. Can you identify these three musicians in uniform? One I think is easy but can you name all three? I will show the photos with their names tomorrow.
Before we left Little Rock I had to go see Central High School. For those of you not up to date on your US History this was the site where 9 Black teenagers attempted to integrate an all White high school in Little Rock, Arkansas. Governor Orval Faubus attempted to block their entry in September of 1957. President Eisenhower sent federal troops and later federalized the Arkansas National Guard to ensure that the students would be registered and could safely attend the school. In 1971 my friend, Greg, and I traveled about the USA in a van. One thing we both wanted to do was travel through the deep south. We both had relatively long hair at the time and neither of our parents thought this was a great idea. I wasn’t always as smart as I am today and Greg wasn’t too bright either so we went and had a FANTASTIC time. To this day it remains one of my favorite trips of all time.
Today’s trip from Little Rock to Memphis gave us a little laugh and excitement. On our way to the Clinton Library we saw a warning sign, “Road Dangerous When Underwater”. Shortly after taking the picture of Central HS we found out what they meant when we were caught in a heavy rain storm. It was interesting in that after lunch we experienced the sudden onset of some very strong winds while walking to our car. Soon after starting to drive we saw some lightening. Then the rains came. They were extremely heavy and prevented us from driving faster than 30 mph on the highway. After about 30 minutes they cleared and we were on our way.
Tomorrow I will tell you about Memphis but don’t forget to try to name the musicians above.
Robert Reiss Travel Blog and Other Ramblings 