Sorry, sir, it looks like your flight will be delayed by at least half an hour. I have booked a backup flight from Houston for you just in case but it will put you in London at 9:30am instead of 7:00am. Thirty minutes after arriving at the Little Rock airport I received the first bad news of my trip. I asked the girl (at the Continental check-in gate) if she could give me the details of the alternate flight. She was wearing the typical airline uniform, but for some reason had decided to accessorize it with a big knit ski [View Full Entry]

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We finally got to Little Rock and had only lost half a day in Nashville. I am not a big city person, but found Little Rock was easy to get around and next morning on 9/23, we gathered ourselves to visit the William Jefferson Clinton Library and Museum. This was a required visit as one of Bets favorite prezs is little Willie Clinton. The building was ultra-modern and Bets remarked that it reminded her of a stainless steel sided double-wide. However I found the facility to be remarkable. The theme was a Bridge to the 21st Century and in this case [View Full Entry]

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8/20/08 Dad and Vern were in Pine Bluff, Arkansas last night, they figure they've travelled about 1500 miles so far. 8/21/08 Reporting in from Mena, Arkansas, the Magic Scooter team is at about 3000 ft above sea level. An armadillo walked by Dad as he was on the phone with me. He says they've hit alot of rain but only his hands are getting wet because of the great rain gear they have. This is a photo of the two of them from June so you have to imagine them with some saddlebags and a backpack for this trip. [View Full Entry]

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Had a fine flight to Little Rock, Arkansas, otherwise known as the DEVIL'S OVEN! It was over 100 degrees, and it sure wasn't a dry heat. We had about a 4 hour drive to our destination in Reeds Springs, MO. Drove by or close to colorful little areas like Pickles Gap and Toad Suck Park (home of the Toad Suck Catfish Inn). After looking for over an hour for a 'local' restaurant along the way (they were all closed - Sunday?), we stopped at a Pizza Hut. This was the scariest Pizza Hut ever - inhabited by several people of various [View Full Entry]

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There was an earthquake in Chengdu. 7.9. 8500 people killed. Schools collapsing. I wonder if these were some of the schools we were supposed to visit. I wonder if these are friends of Martha. It's horrible. [View Full Entry]

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First, the news via Anne Culver...THEN KEEP READING FOR HOW THIS DAY REALLY ENDED.... The C2C crew filed for 1 pm CT departure from Mountain Home after a fun-filled, three-day visit. Wrote Anne Culver, relayed from Bob Hawkins, "As far as I can tell, the townspeople will have a parade today, led of course by the Blues Brothers’ Chevy, but I have no information if the parade is before they leave (in celebration of their visit) or after they leave (in celebration of their departure). There must be at least one beer hall that is going through the stages of grief [View Full Entry]

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Martha Morton called & said I owed her some things. It seems I never turned in my Culture III assignment (I did that... DIDN'T I???), and I didn't turn in my signed waiver form (think I just spaced on that & walked out with it), & I have to give her some dissemination plan. Dang, I don't know how I'm going to disseminate information about China right now. Right now I'm not completely sure how I'm going to disseminate Edgar Allan Poe to freshmen. I am really grateful for this opportunity, but DADGUM does anyone realize how much work is involved [View Full Entry]

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I feel so overwhelmed at the thought of trying to have everything done before we leave on June 6th. June 5th is our last day of semester exams, so I won't even have a work day between classes and leaving, much less a day for organizing and packing. I keep thinking of things I need to do, but I'm so scattered. Like: I need to call the credit card company & tell them I'm going to China so pretty please don't cut off my credit. Get some plug adapters There was other stuff I was just thinking about... Now what was [View Full Entry]

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I've been working on getting donations for our gifts to the Chinese schools. So far I've contacted the state house, the Hot Springs Department of Tourism, The Arkansas Heritage Society, a couple of places in D.C., Disney (what could be more American), an my senator. The smaller the place is, the more willing they seem to be to donate. Today I got a sack of pens and arkansas shaped notepads from the Heritage Society (Thanks Mrs. Whitfield!). They look great. Susie got some t-shirts from LRSD today. I am hoping we can get some of those postcards with the picture of [View Full Entry]

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I got a notice on my forum query about Ryokan Rikiya. This was encouraging. [url=http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowTopic-g298564-i2712-k1892281-l11914997-Ryokan_Rikiya_or_Yuhara_Info_needed_quickly-Kyoto_Kinki.html#11914997] Ryokan Rikiya review [View Full Entry]

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