Day 2.43: Little Rock, AR to Memphis, TN

We got up and worked out and then enjoyed some breakfast in typical Best Western style.

We packed our car and drove about ten minutes to our second presidential library, this one created to honor Bill Clinton. It was interesting to read about events that we remembered happening or hearing about, and also enlightening to see parallels between a divided government then with Congress often at odds with Clinton and now. There was also mention of former First Lady Hillary’s Senate win and move into politics, though nothing about either of her presidential runs.

We spent about two hours at the library and then got on the road for the two-hour drive to Memphis, crossing into Tennessee.

We went straight to the National Civil Rights Museum, which is housed mainly in the Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot. This museum features countless exhibits about the history of slavery and the South, and we spent two hours there and still feel like we could have done much more.

We drove about five minutes and parked our car near Beale Street, which was mostly empty and quiet but still fun to walk. We left to drive to our hotel and stopped briefly to walk along the river, which was very nice.

We checked in to the Holiday Inn Express and Suites Memphis Airport Elvis Presley Boulevard, which was perfectly nice. We were then picked up by Murray and Karen Riss, who took us to a lovely dinner. Murray is Arielle’s father’s first cousin and has lived in Memphis for decades. They brought us to an incredible place called Tsunami. Arielle got the goat cheese and fried eggplant Napoleon with tomato-basil sauce and Abe got the roasted sea bass on black Thai race with soy beurre blanc. Both dishes were amazing, and we had a wonderful time catching up. We finished with a delicious creme brulee. Back at the hotel, we relaxed and went to bed.

Approximate number of miles covered: 140

Day 2.42: Austin, TX to Little Rock, AR

We got up and loaded the rest of our stuff, departing the hotel a little after 9:30am. Arielle finished the pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer for breakfast.

We had a more leisurely and stop-filled drive than usual. We were stopped in standstill traffic because of an accident ahead shortly into the drive, and decided to make our first stop after passing a Buc-ee’s on the side of the road. Arielle described this Texas phenomenon as a Wawa, Cost Plus, and souvenir shop all in one, and Abe adds that there is a deli counter with barbecue for purchase and so many nuts, trail mixes, and novelties. We ultimately bought just one postcard and left. We continued on until we stopped at a gas station that included a Texas Best Smokehouse in it. Abe decided to get some sliced brisket (which was quite tasty) with rosemary potatoes and green beans on the side. Arielle came in to wash her lettuce and make a turkey sandwich with the kosher meat she had brought from home and had kept cold in our fridge and then our cooler since. Hilariously, she decided not to eat it after getting a craving for In-n-Out, which we found about thirty miles later, because she knew she wouldn’t be able to get it for the rest of the trip. The best part, aside from Arielle’s delicious grilled cheese animal-style and fries, was that she went in to try to recycle the bottle of Minute Maid Lemonade that Abe had finished and they just told her to refill it with lemonade!

We drove through humorously-named places like Arkadelphia and Texarkana, which brought us back into the state of Arkansas. Though we had originally planned to go all the way to Memphis, we had decided earlier in the weekend to spend the night in Little Rock instead. Though construction delayed us considerably once we entered Arkansas, we didn’t get in too late, checking in to the Best Western Plus JFK Inn and Suites before 8pm.

There was a Tropical Smoothie Cafe essentially in the parking lot, so we walked there and Abe got a Chia Banana Boost, which featured roasted banana, chia seeds, almonds, whole grain oats, cinnamon, dates, and coconut. He replaced the choice of strawberries or peanut butter with more banana. It was delicious and quite reasonably-priced. We will be checking out this chain again!

Back in the room, Abe microwaved two bowls of Easy Mac that we had been carrying with us and Arielle ate the sandwich she had made for lunch while we relaxed and watched some TV.

Approximate number of miles covered: 520

Day 2.24: Hot Springs, AR to Oklahoma City, OK

We hadn’t planned to get up in time for breakfast but since we were up to try to leave we went down right before it closed. It was even more disappointing than the day before, though Abe did like the biscuit quite a bit. We found our car untouched in the mostly empty garage down the street, loaded up, and hit the road. We expected to be getting back on the highway but instead took the Route 7 Scenic Byway for about 60 miles through the Ouchita National Forest. We saw a sign that said “Next 3.5 miles - very crooked and steep,” and were perplexed because most of the road was about that windy (and the use of word crooked seemed odd). We saw a bunch of abandoned, shelled-out homes and buildings along the side of the road through our tour of rural Arkansas. Eventually, we got back to Interstate 40 and drove until we crossed into Oklahoma (state #43 for Arielle), where we saw signs about state law to not “impede the left lane,” and stopped just at the next exit in Roland.

We ate at the 4 Star Diner, on a road actually called “Paw Paw Rd,” where we asked about the “chocolate gravy” and were given a “sample” by the waitress of what is essentially delicious and hot chocolate pudding over two biscuits, and she didn’t even charge us! Obviously, we ate the whole thing. Abe was intrigued by the veal cutlet, which the waitress said not to get because it was frozen, but moreso by the side options, pictured below, which included peaches and jello. He opted instead for the French toast, which was delicious, and Arielle enjoyed her grilled cheese. She got hashbrowns on the side which we shared and both loved. The whole meal cost $16 including tip! This is a highly recommended stop for those crossing the border between Arkansas and Oklahoma.

We drove a few more miles to the welcome center, which featured a chandelier seemingly made out of antlers.

We had spoken to our host in Oklahoma City, who had warned of 20-degree temperatures and black ice on the roads, and within 30 minutes of leaving Roland, the temperature had indeed dropped from 61 degrees to 31 degrees. More frighteningly, as we approached Oklahoma City, the windshield started to ice over and got bad enough that we pulled off at a travel stop to try to get an ice scraper, which they didn’t have.

Stopping for a few minutes made it better, and while it did start to ice over a bit more, it didn’t get as bad as we continued the remaining twenty minutes or so into the city. Special shout-out to Dave for being on the phone with us as it happened and trying to safely and calmly coach us through it. We arrived at the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum at around 4:30pm, exiting the car to frigid temperatures and pulling out coats and gloves we hadn’t used since being in Utah a month earlier. We walked through the meaningful monument that Abe had visited twice before while touring with USY on Wheels only to find that the museum, which advertised online as selling its last ticket at 5pm before closing at 6pm, was completely locked and unstaffed. A security guard showed up a few minutes later and told us that the museum had closed at 3pm because of the cold and icy weather, so we wouldn’t have been able to go in even if we had gotten there a bit earlier. We spent a few minutes touring the outside memorial before heading back to our car, and planned to come back to the museum in the future.

We drove about twenty minutes to the home of Helene, who Arielle and Abe had met at the Kavod V’Nichum Jewish Funeral and Burial Conference in Bethesda last June. She was an incredible host, letting us help prepare some sides for a delicious salmon dinner she made. The food was topped only by the presentation, which included chilled salad plates, baked apples for dessert, and a plate of assorted cookies which we assumed were store-bought because they were so beautiful and perfect but which she had made herself.

We enjoyed a lovely evening together, and Arielle was delighted by Helene’s suggestion that she take a bath, something she had been yearning to do since seeing the bathhouses the day before. It was relaxing and a wonderful way to close out a homey experience.

Approximate number of miles covered: 317

Day 2.23: Hot Springs, AR

We woke up in time to get breakfast, which turned out to be our only disappointment of the day. The juice machine wasn’t working, only whole milk was available despite other options displayed, the oatmeal and the eggs were bland, and there was no cream cheese out. We decided conclusively we didn’t need to come the next day.

We moved somewhat slowly and then took the hotel shuttle to the Fordyce Bathhouse Visitor Center, where we spoke to a Hot Springs National Park ranger. We had been planning to hike the Sunset Trail but everyone we had spoken to at the hotel had never heard of it. The ranger was well aware but told us to do other paths instead. Since the town is located within the park, we just walked about three minutes from the visitor center and were already in the woods. The temperature was in the low 50s and very comfortable. The first .2 miles were horrible, heading straight uphill, but everything else was better. We hiked the Dead Chief Trail (1.1 miles) to the Goat Rock Trail (.7 miles), taking a slight detour to head 270 feet up to the North Mountain Overlook, where we looked out at the view and chatted for a bit with a couple visiting from Michigan, two of less than a dozen people we saw during our hike. We then took the Upper Dogwood Trail (.6 miles) to the Lower Dogwood Trail (.4 miles), eating a few snacks along the way. We had planned to leave all day for hiking but Arielle’s comfortable sneakers were just a drop too big for walking downhill to be pleasant, and so we were content, linking up with the Arlington Trail (.1 miles) that led us onto the 5th floor of the Arlington Hotel, walking right by what looked like haunted guest rooms before we took the elevator down to the lobby and exited back into the town about a block from the visitor center where we had started.

We spent the next few hours strolling through downtown Hot Springs, stopping first at Beef Jerky Outlet, where we talked to a man we assumed was a local but was actually a native Californian and longtime Nevada resident who discouraged us from moving there by giving us a reality check of what it’s like to be a liberal living in the South. We continued on to The Candy Corner, giving the cashier his first customer since 9am. Abe got 10 taffies for $1.50 (banana cream pie, cantaloupe, carrot cake, cinnamon roll, eggnog, honeydew, hot chocolate, pumpkin pie, root beer float, and tangerine – he has so far tried 3 and spit them out), Arielle got twenty fruities, and Abe also got some root beer barrels. We walked into Fat Bottomed Girl’s Cupcake Shoppe, where we browsed and gawked at the cupcakes on display. We next tried the wine ice cream (peach zinfandel – nope) at The Argentinean Coffee and Wine Bar, and we ended up getting and eating vegan empanadas with spinach, mushroom, and onion. We sampled some more ice cream at Pour Some Sugar on Me and decided that was the place we’d come to for dessert after dinner. We walked past the row of legendary bathhouses that Hot Springs is known for, deciding not to go for it though Arielle was considering it. We stopped at the park store to get souvenir postcards, learning that one side of the street is the park and one side of the street is the town. We then stopped at the town visitor center and had a nice conversation about the Mets. We also saw a sign that championed Hot Springs as Bill Clinton’s hometown.

We walked the remaining five minutes back to our hotel, where Arielle took a great nap in the very comfortable bed while Abe caught up on some TV and blogging. At around 6pm, we left to take the shuttle to the Ohio Club, Arkansas’ oldest bar with a long gangster history. There was live music, and we realized later that the performer had a tambourine on her foot, which was cool. We decided to sit at the bar so we could hear the music and still talk. Arielle was amazed to see the Impossible Burger on the menu but opted instead to put a garden patty in the Reuben sliders. A slight miscommunication meant that she ordered the Reuben rather than the sliders, but the bartender was more than happy to provide the pretzel bun she had wanted and she put twice as much filling between it. Abe was also confused, ordering brisket sliders thinking they came on top of burgers. They ended up just being brisket but were delicious. The fries on the side were decent. It was an overall great experience and the very friendly bartender even engaged in conversation about Arielle’s work for a few minutes, noting it was depressing but that he was impressed with how many gigs she had gotten in a short time. We walked a few doors down to Pour Some Sugar On Me and came up with a great scheme – get ice cream and call the shuttle so we could eat it back at the hotel! Interestingly, they sell only one size but you get up to three scoops. Abe ordered two but caved and got two cinnamon and one chocolate brownie, while Arielle got birthday cake, mint chip, and rainbow sherbet (yes, she knows that’s a weird combination). We got lids that didn’t quite fit and took the shuttle back to the hotel.

We remembered that our fridge accidentally froze our Mississippi leftovers, so we realized we could use that to our advantage and waited about an hour to eat the ice cream as we handled flight logistics with Arielle’s parents. We watched an episode of “Will and Grace” in the hotel using the handy HDMI cord we had brought, though Abe noted his computer doesn’t have an HDMI, but luckily Arielle’s does. We went to sleep, thoroughly satisfied with our day.

Approximate number of miles covered: 8