Tourin'Travellers: Little Rock, Arkansas

Our journey towards Memphis, began with a detour to Mt Vernon. A lovely, unexpected interlude, despite why we were there. Not long after leaving Dallas, travelling on the freeway, Robert had to swerve to avoid a ladder. Luckily it just grazed the left hand back wheel hub. We continued on but a short way down the track the tyre light came on in the dash board. Fearing we may have a slow leak, we pulled off the freeway at the next exit, Mt. Vernon. A small town, that boasted an historical square. We pulled up in front of a huge second hand store. Robert inquired of the proprietor (who turned out to be the former mayor) where the nearest garage was. He immediately said he had a tyre pressure guage in his truck. Tyre pressure measure indicated everything was fine. We stopped for lunch and a walk through the town square. Came upon a lovely women's clothing shop where a lovely pair of jeans and a necklace with matching earrings had to accompany me home (lucky for Robert as they became my birthday present!). On her sales bench, she had this gorgeous Halloween decoration, made from mason jar lids, cinnamon sticks and autumn leaves.

All up it was a lovely diversion and no serious damage to the car apart from a small scratch. However the tyre light on the dashboard was still glowing. Contact with the hire company took us to the next big town, Texarkana. A repair man there took about I minute to right the tyre pressure and we continued on our way.

We stayed overnight in Little Rock, Arkansas (Arkansaw for you Aussies). It was very pretty town set on the south bank of the Arkansas River. It has a lovely sculpture park and walk/bike track. We enjoyed an hour or so wandering here.

There was lovely architecture in the city as well.

President Bill Clinton Library. This is Bills home city and state. Our program did not allow for a tour of this impressive modern building in a beautiful setting, may be next time.

We had dinner in a great restaurant that served fabulous Southern food (South on Main). Hush Puppies, deep fried corn balls. Turnip greens. Fried green tomatoes. Corn bread. Cat fish. And a delicious Mint Julep. The chef came and chatted with us. When he heard we were heading to Memphis & Nashville, he gave us a list of five or six restaurants in both cities. (These ended up living up to his recommendation).

One disturbing sign we saw in town was this one.