One of the major tourist attractions in Little Rock is the Clinton Library. It’s at the end of the Clinton bridge which begins on our side of the river, right outside the campground. How handy. And that was our first stop in town. We strolled across this beautiful bridge. It used to be a lift bridge but is not any more. There are flower pots along it, the names of the donors have been etched in the sidewalk and there are colored lights along the outside of the steel struts that come on at night and present quite a show. You can sit along side the river in the campground and watch them dance along the bridge.
The library is a neat building that is cantilevered over the park around it. It is laid out like the Long Library at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland.
The lower level is filled with alcoves formed by the Clinton Presidential papers in the blue boxes. Inside each alcove is a topic that Clinton addressed as the President: economics, education, technology, foreign affairs, etc. Obviously, each alcove highlights his successes in each of these. Was there an alcove dedicated to the many investigations led by Ken Starr and the impeachment crisis? Yes, there was and it was covered fully as well as the other topics.
By the way there are 4536 blue boxes with Presidential papers here. If you are doing research, the librarians will help you find the right material.
The second story is devoted to the lighter side of being the President, the state dinners, the musical entertainment, the Christmas celebrations, the Easter egg hunt and other more fun aspects of the office. There is also an Oval Office with original books, statures, furniture and desk.
There is also a cabinet room set up.
The special exhibit during our visit was Chihuly glassware. Beautiful pieces. How many different pieces are in this one set? Look at the colors, the designs, the way they all fit together. Absolutely beautiful.
On the lower level, they also had a Chihuly ‘garden’ with a black reflecting glass below.
About this time, it’s 2:30 and we have forgotten about lunch. Time to head down to the restaurant below - but, look, they are putting everything away. Nope, no lunch here today. We left and headed on through the down-town area looking for a sandwich. That done we headed on over to the Old State House which is now a museum.
During one period the building served as a medical laboratory when the University of Arkansas Medical Department moved in. They built sheep pens behind the building for anthrax studies. Smelly and unpopular with other residents in the area. Dogs who were used in medical experiments were housed in another pen and the Humane Society protested. But, not for long because the county sheriff found one of the county bloodhounds in the pens, indicted two doctors and the practice stopped.
Then there were the human cadavers in the dissection lab and a pickling vat in the basement. Carts with human parts were often in the hallways en route to the incinerator. Ye - w - w - w. Not who I’d want as neighbors - but, wait a minute. On the other hand, some good did come out of this lab. In 1916, a group headquartered in this lab was able to eradicate a mosquito which caused malaria. In one year the malaria rate dropped 72% in Arkansas. Not only that but their moved became a model for the rest of the world. Brutal and obnoxious but helpful to society and many lives were saved.
But that was just one tenant and it left in 1935. Other tenants had offices here but finally it was turned into a museum. There weren’t many objects like in most museums, but there was a lot to read about Arkansas history. One room was dedicated to the movies made in Arkansas and movie stars born in Arkansas.
After we toured this, we walked back across another bridge over the river and headed on back to the RV.
On another topic - RV repairs and maintenance. Gary is extremely good at analysis and is an excellent handyman. He prefers to do his own maintenance and make his own repairs if possible. Firstly, he knows that he will take the time to do it right and he will learn about our RV in the process. Secondly - well, he’s not as cheap as I am but he comes in a close second. And, in most cases, it goes well. However, every now and then he calls in an ‘expert’ for some advice and help. Recently he had a problem, suspected that a valve had gone bad and called the Winnebago help line to find out where this valve was. He was careful to tell the rep that we had a 2009 Winnebago Journey and gave him our serial number. The rep began to look for the answer to Gary’s question and Gary told him to e-mail or call back. Sure enough an e-mail came with the diagram for a 2006 Winnebago Journey and the rep told him that the valve he wanted to locate was down in the basement area. Nope, by this time, Gary has explored further and found the valve near the bathroom sink.
Here’s another current example. Our day shade in our front windshield MCD’s has a broken motor. Every time we roll down the highway, the shade comes further and further down with each bounce. And, you know how many bounces there are in American highways. One time, we had to stop half way to our next campsite because the day shade had come down so far that Gary thought it might interfere with his driving. Ya gotta see the road when you’re driving. He’s learned how to adjust it and he did so but then he put a bungee cord around it so it couldn’t come down any further. For a while, one of our tasks when we arrived at a new campground was to take the bungee cord off. We put it back on when we left to head on down the highway.
So, Gary called MCD, spoke with Bill who said he’s send a new motor. We waited and checked the mail. No motor. 2 weeks later, Gary calls back and asks what Bill has done. He checks and says that the motor was sent. We waited and checked the mail. No motor. Finally, Bill sends a second motor. We take the front MCD shades down. If you have these, you know how big and heavy they are. Not an easy job. But, he gets the job done. He takes out the old motor and puts in the new one. Oops, too small: it almost slides down the tube. We then struggle to get the shades back up, Gary re-wires them and calls MCD. Oh, yeah, that’s the new motor. We redesigned it. Now, why didn’t Bill ask Gary about that in the first phone call?
IF you think these are the only two times this has happened, you’re living in a dream world. These are just the most current examples. I get frustrated when I hear Gary work, knowing that he’s struggling sometimes. But not my sweet huggabunch. He’s humming all the time. He has such a sunny personality that he doesn’t get frustrated often. Luckily, I get frustrated enough for both of us.
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