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Times of the Past
Downtown El Dorado ARThe drive to Hot Springs AR was convoluted by design -the road less traveled. We set out for Magnolia on US 278 and 371 via Rosston AR. Since we had seen much of Magnolia on Saturday, I pulled the Pilgrim onto the truck route around town and headed east on US 82 towards El Dorado - a town that had intrigued me since I first read about the historic downtown area. We were not disappointed. About two blocks from the historic courthouse, I found an open half block to parallel park the rig. The short walk past the well-preserved storefronts was delightful. Sculptures pay tribute to the oil heritage of the area. Sidewalk cafes blend the old with the new. Well-weathered advertisements on the sides of buildings reminisce of businesses long gone. Plaques mark the location of historic events. Vintage telephone booths and town clocks dot various street corners. Comical mannequins in turn-of-the-century garb evoke smiles. Memorials surround the 1848 courthouse honoring veterans who defended the way of life in El Dorado. Definitely worth an hour or two of your time.
One more thing sets El Dorado apart. Most of you know I am not a fan of big business,
but I will be fair. Murphy Oil Company set aside $50 million in a fund called the El Dorado Promise. Any student who graduates from the El Dorado School District receives a tuition scholarship to any accredited two- or four-year educational institution in the US. Students who attend from K to 12 receive 100 percent tuition payment. Those who enter the district later than kindergarten have the tuition percentage pro-rated. Since the Promise was established in 2007, the number of El Dorado graduates who has enrolled in college has increased by more than twenty percent. My hats off to Murphy Oil. If more big businesses behaved like Murphy Oil, I might become a %IY#*^&FL(&!!!
I programmed Irene to take us to Arkadelphia AR via Camden so she would take us through the old downtown area instead of taking us on the truck route around town. We headed north on AR 7, a modern four-lane divided highway. Southwest AR, like northwest TX, is oil country. I had read about The Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources in Smackover; but had not included it as a destination a) because I expected it to be in the village, b) because many of those
Mural Of Our Heritage
Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources - Smackover AR smaller museums have no RV parking and, quite frankly, c) because we already had seen two oil museums. The “entrance ahead” sign on AR 7 caused me to slow impulsively so I could check out the parking situation. Good move! The museum is another treasure.
The Central Texas Oil Patch Museum in Luling TX is focused on oil drilling and the East Texas Oil Museum in Kilgore TX spotlights lifestyle changes in east Texas caused by the oil boom. While the focus of the interior displays at the Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources is oil, it also highlights by-products generated by oil production - specifically, the saltwater brine that haphazardly was discarded in the early days - and, another local natural resource, lumber. The exterior has a comprehensive display of (mostly) animated antique oil drilling and pumping equipment. There is a shaded area with picnic tables so we procured some goodies from the Pilgrim and had lunch.
Our drive was back on cruise control until we reached Camden AR. There AR 7 seemed to evaporate. There were many directional signs but none for AR 7, and Irene was all set to take me northwest to I 30. We
Wood - The First Natural Resource
Arkansas Museum of Natural Resources - Smackover AR drove around aimlessly, got a flavor for the older parts of town and hoped to happen upon an AR 7 road sign. Finally, I stopped to inquire about my route. With a clear instruction set, we found our way onto northbound AR 7. My perseverance was well rewarded. AR 7 between Camden and Arkadelphia is a biker’s dream. It is extremely narrow in places and generally is without shoulders, but it serpentines through a gently rolling, heavily wooded landscape with very few places to stop for photos. Where the walls of the forest don’t extend skyward vertically, they form a canopy that envelopes the roadway. Of course, my towing mirrors were extended which left no room for error during a meeting with a logging truck on a very narrow antique trestle bridge. This stretch of AR 7 is for driving and not daydreaming, but it is totally delightful if you enjoy the nostalgia of rural America. Admittedly, I would have preferred to make the trip without the Pilgrim in tow primarily so I could have stopped for some photography.
Irene had never heard of Lake Hamilton AR so we decided to go into town and inquire. Lo and behold,
Our Space Was Directly Behind The Laundry Building
Mill Pond Mobile Home Park & RV Village - Lake Hamilton AR the Mill Pond Mobile Home Park & RV Village is right on AR 7. We pulled in, got registered, found our site and set up. This is one of the better parks we have used on this trip - shaded, quiet, picnic table, cable TV, Wi-Fi that actually works (on my computer but not Kay’s), clean laundry room and nicely landscaped. Almost every park where we have stayed has had some kind of issue, but this one is really nice. The only issue here came in the laundry room where the sign warned not to use bleach because of the high iron content in the water. Who needs brown undies!!!
Tuesday night a strong front came through and again reminded us we were in the Midwest. It was predicted to rain most of Wednesday (and it did) so we went to the Hot Springs AR visitor center and made a familiarization drive around the city. It seems that no matter where we go in Arkansas, there is Bill Clinton. After Bill’s mother married his stepfather, the family moved to Hot Springs. Hope claims Clinton’s birthplace, but Hot Springs boasts itself as his hometown. We already knew we would be
Waiting In Luxury
Hot Springs National Park AR seeing more of Bill in other cities. The house where Clinton spent much of his youth is privately owned and unavailable for tourism activities, but we did the obligatory drive-by like well-trained tourists. It’s been two months! Where will my mind be in two years?
Friday, May 21, 2010 dawned a gorgeous morning. We headed for Hot Springs National Park and Bathhouse Row. The Park Visitor Center is housed in the foyer of the former Fordyce Bathhouse and the bathhouse is open for self-guided tours. The therapeutic processes and equipment of the day are interesting to say the least, and the furnishings are quite opulent - at least that’s how this country boy describes marble walls and stained glass skylights! After touring the Fordyce, we looked at a hot spring and huffed and puffed our way along a section of the “rehabilitative” walking trail. Back in the truck, we took a drive around the Hot Springs Mountain Drive loop and checked out the National Park campground, which was quite nice but was only a few dozen yards from the main road traversing the park.
After and old-fashioned cheeseburger, strawberry malt and onion rings at Bubbalu’s, we had time
Opulence At Its Finest
Hot Springs National Park AR to make a trip to Arkadelphia AR and the Andrews Candy Company. Irene took us directly to our destination where we learned that “we’re not making candy today.” Couple this experience with the potter in Carthage TX starting at 1 PM, and I guess the message is, “Call first.” Oh well, we’ll go ahead and take a look at the “historic” downtown. I must admit that most of the dirt lying beneath the streets and the modern-looking buildings has been there a long time so there is an historical component to downtown Arkadelphia. We are learning that “historical” is quite a subjective term, and one never knows until after one arrives. Fortunately, the drive was only 25 miles or so.
The tourism information shows there is a lot to see in Little Rock, but it didn’t make the “destination” list on this trip. It will get a full week when we target the eastern half of Arkansas. Two Little Rock attractions, however, had aroused my interest level beyond restraint. We decided to avoid the traffic and make an orientation trip on Saturday. Our first stop was the Little Rock Central High School National Historic Site. Although I was only
Still Operational Today
Central High School National Historic Site - Little Rock AR nine when the Little Rock Nine broke the racial barrier at Central High, I remember the controversy and the national media attention. There were no Negros attending my school because there were no Negros in my town of 725 people in northern Illinois. My only exposure to racial interaction had been via sport until I entered the Marine Corps in 1967. I remember wondering what all the hubbub was about. I guess I still do! So much wasted energy.
The Visitor Center sits on the opposing corner from Central High - still an operating high school. On the other two corners are a Commemorative Garden and the Education Center - an historic gas station that became an impromptu media center in 1957. The Visitor Center is a comprehensive multi-media experience. Much of the content is historical film and print material. In my opinion, the most enlightening part of the experience was the interviews with the Little Rock Nine and several of their classmates as middle-aged adults. The emotions behind the events, the stories that had not been told and the events that had not been related in the media were incredible. Along with the Alamo, this is one of
Old Choctaw Station
Clinton Presidential Center - Little Rock AR the top historical experiences I have had on this trip and surely should be a “must see” for history and political buffs.
Our next stop was the Clinton Presidential Center. We walked past the Choctaw Station, which now houses the Clinton Foundation and the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service which offers post-graduate courses in public service for students enrolled in the UA Law and Medical Schools. Being a Saturday, only the Presidential Library was open. We had read mixed reviews and found that the library deals almost exclusively with the era of candidate and President Clinton. A timeline identifies key events that happened during his administration and binders contain his daily schedule for each day of his Presidency. Alcoves focus on significant policy issues important to him and archive boxes contain White House correspondence relevant to that issue.
Temporary exhibits on display during our visit were a commemoration of the 25th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing and the lapel pin collection of Clinton’s former Secretary of State Madeline Albright. There is the Presidential limousine, the cabinet room, the oval office and the gifts he received while in office; however, this institution, also in my
A Shocking Display
WARNING: May not be suitable for younger viewers OR WARNING: Exhibit may require parents to have a conversation with their children - Old Statehouse Museum - Little Rock AR opinion, is much more suited to the scholar than to the general public. There is, also in my opinion, too much duplication. For example, in the Oklahoma City bombing exhibit, there were three copies of the remarks Clinton made at the dedication of the victim memorial placed within about ten feet of each other. I preferred the Clinton material I found in Hope AR and the Presidential information I discovered in Austin TX. After we finished touring the library, we utilized one of the several picnic tables to have our late lunch.
We still had time for one elective stop and chose the Old Statehouse Museum. The structure was interesting but much less so than others we have seen including several historic courthouses. The exhibits, likewise, were informative but (duh) were more suited to Arkansans. Essentially, the museum was comprised of four areas - the deterioration and reconstruction of the building, the history of Arkansas law enforcement and corrections at the state level, the display of inaugural gowns worn by former first ladies and the analysis of how Arkansas got and maintains its reputation as a backwards, “hillbilly” state. I believe that even Arkansans might say that too much
attention was paid to too few subjects. Many other attractions are nearby, so (if you are in the area anyway and have some extra time) I would recommend a visit to the Old Statehouse Museum but would not suggest putting it at the top of your list.
Sunday, May 23 was a day of rest and relaxation until late afternoon when we prepared for an early evening cruise on Lake Hamilton aboard the Belle of Hot Springs. Some lake or river cruises are better than others. This particular two-hour cruise was about as ordinary, uninformative and unexciting as I have encountered, but it was relaxing. The first hour was along the shore so we all could see the big houses and wonder where we went wrong, while the second hour was further out in the lake where we could see the big boats and wonder where we went wrong. Some of that stuff is pure overkill! Monday is set aside to finish editing the pictures, writing the blog and preparing for departure. Tuesday we set out for Fort Smith (technically Van Buren) AR. Rand McNally labels the route scenic. I trust it will be.
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