October 13 - “Meandering”

As bad as the hotel was that we walked out on, the one we ended up in after the extra hour on the road was good. The room was clean and organized. It was quiet. Even the breakfast had all our favorites, well, except bananas. But I can forgive them for that. Stay in Forrest City, Arkansas, if you get a chance.

 

Our next goal was the Clinton Presidential Library in Little Rock. That one promised a Presidential library stamp. From there we intended to go to the last park in Arkansas that we need a stamp from. But we found out it was closed on Wednesdays. Of course it was.

 

The Clinton Library was … a bit strange. For one thing there seemed to be too much going on at once, so the exhibits were competing with each other. There also seemed to be an inordinate amount of space given to Mrs. Clinton. Not that there was a big room dedicated to her. That would have made sense. It just seemed like she kept popping up all over the areas that were supposed to be political/historical moments. We did, as usual, enjoy the displays of elaborate gifts the president received during his term in office.

 

After sharing a quick lunch of crackers, an apple, and a Swiss cake roll, we decided to journey out anyway to the National Park that was closed.  That way we could say we have actually been there, and perhaps get a stamp sometime in the future. So, we were off - an hour and a half to the southeast.

 

After lots of back roads and twists and turns (meandering which we are getting quite used to), we final pulled into the Arkansas Post National Memorial. To our surprise, there was another car there already, and no less than eight people crawled out of it. They went off to explore in one direction. We walked in another (after confirming that the center was indeed closed and there were no little papers with the stamps on them left for closed-day travelers such as us).  But on a whim, Chris walked over to a guy wearing some kind of uniform.  He just happened to be on the maintenance crew for the park. She very, very, very sweetly asked the young man if there was any way he had access to the National Park stamp within the bowels of the building. Lo and behold … miracle of miracles … he agreed to go inside and rummage around and bring them out. Chris was giddy with excitement. This sticker marked the last one in the state of Arkansas that she needed for her book. Woohoo.

 

From there we decided to seek out a little different route. It meandered through southern Arkansas, dangerously close to Louisiana. But it was ever westward, ever southward. We landed for the night at a place in Louisiana, literally right across the street from Louisiana Baptist University and Theological Seminary.  May as well get a bit closer to home, right?

 

Luke 12:40 says, “You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

 

Father, it feels strange to be so close to Texas. Please keep us safe as we wind things down. Amen.