Gone With the Wind!

April 3 – 10, 2023

During our drive to Little Rock, we stopped at a rest area that happened to also be a welcome center, fully equipped with brochures and information regarding all things Arkansas!  The gal behind the desk started pulling out all kinds of information concerning the Little Rock area, including a brochure of the Old Mill.  This picturesque park is famous for its appearance in the opening scenes from “Gone with the Wind”.  It’s been so long since I’ve seen that movie!  Now, I need to add that to my list of films to watch.

                       

Locally, the Old Mill appears to be famous for being the go-to location for taking photos.  It’s easy to understand the attraction as both pink and white dogwoods, azaleas, tulips and other flowers were in full bloom.  During our short time there, we saw numerous prom couples, along with their mothers, snapping pictures!  The trend seems to be for the young gals to have trains on their gowns.  I have to admit, it was amusing watching the gals in their high heels attempting (unsuccessfully!) to walk gracefully on the uneven cobblestone paths.  Their dates were by the girl’s side with the trains in one hand while trying to offer the other arm for the girl to steady herself with!  I admired the one girl in her Converse shoes!  Now, there is a practical gal who doesn’t care what other people say or do!  It also seems another trend for the girls is to have  bouquets rather than corsages.  In addition to prom photos, there was a professional photographer there taking graduation pictures and another taking family photos.  Yep!  This is the place to go for photo shoots!

Sadly, our arrival in Little Rock also pointed out several other things that were gone with the wind.  Three days before we came, an EF3 tornado with 165 mph winds hit Little Rock.  It was on the ground for over 30 miles, cutting a path through families’ homes and local businesses.  It was absolutely heartbreaking to witness the damage.  Little Rock has a wonderful volunteer website in place which they quickly added tornado recovery sign-up to.  It was a blessing to be able to spend a few hours for a couple of days helping remove debris from people’s yards.  Many people showed up with chain saws.  Many others showed up with work gloves and strong backs.  We showed up with work gloves and helpful attitudes!  It worked well for us to follow around one of those guys who had a chain saw.  They cut tree trunks and branches into six-foot lengths and we got them to the curb where, eventually, the city will haul them away.  It was incredible when a US Coast Guard team showed up in the yard adjacent to the one we were cleaning up!  It wasn’t long before they had their yard cleared and came over to aid in clearing some of the trickier trees on our lot.  It reminded me of playing pick-up-sticks or Jenga, trying to remove a piece without disturbing any other piece.  In real life, this was no game.  One wrong cut could have fatal results.  I certainly spent a lot of time sending up prayers for safety!  

We had been instructed to separate debris into piles at the curb.  One pile for vegetation, another for construction material, one for household garbage and another for tires.  Shingles, insulation, gutters, and 2x4s were all common materials we hauled to the curb along with all of the trees.   

Many of these homes will end up being demolished.  With all of the destruction, it’s nothing less than a miracle that the only fatality associated with this tornado was due to a heart attack.  The entire home’s roof was in the back yard of one of the properties we were cleaning up.  The doors and windows were all broken out, allowing you to see straight through the house.  Living through this must have been terrifying!

Our team of volunteers!

The night after we arrived, another severe storm with the potential for tornados was predicted to hit the area.  It ended up going a little north of us, so we were beyond thankful not to be counted as something else that was gone with the wind!  We had a go-bag packed, ready if we needed to take shelter.  There was a bath house across the road from us if we needed to evacuate the camper.  This time of year, it is a little nerve-wracking to be heading north directly through Tornado Alley!  Although we were spared high wind and tornadoes, we did receive quite a bit of rain for a day.  This gave me the prefect opportunity to pull out my sewing machine and complete the quilt top I’ve been working on during Lent. I started this cactus-themed quilt top last year when we were in California.  When I hadn’t finished it before Easter of 2022, I tucked it away to finish up this year.  It was fun to finally have it ready to be quilted!

We’ve made a little hobby of touring presidential libraries during this adventure, so Bill Clinton’s turn finally arrived!  Unique to his library is a full-size replica of the Cabinet Room!  The president always sits in the center of the long side of the table.  It surprised me, as I had assumed the president would sit at the head of the table.  It actually makes a lot of sense, as this table is 40 feet long.  Being seated in the center of the table gives him the best seat to hear and be heard!  The US flag is over his right shoulder and the presidential flag is over his left.  Also, just to make sure the president knows where to sit, the back is a few inches taller than all of the other chairs!

Currently included in the library is a temporary exhibit called “Women’s Voices, Women’s Votes, Women’s Rights” commemorating the 19th amendment giving women the right to vote.  I found this of particular interest as it includes a large number of quilts on display.  I’ve never seen such art work in the form of quilts in my life.  Really incredibly talented artists!  

On the grounds of the presidential library is Clinton Presidential Park.  It’s really lovely with a board walk (currently under repairs), a pedestrian bridge from what previously had been used for passenger trains and lovely green space.  It was a fun walk across the bridge and around on the hiking trails that were open. 

The Clinton Library can be seen in the background

Our history lesson for this stop was learning all about the Little Rock Nine.  I keep wondering whether I slept through all of my history classes in my youth or if my school was slack in teaching much about the Civil Rights Movement.  Surely, I couldn’t have slept through this lesson!  Until 1957, the schools in Little Rock were segregated.  In 1954, the Supreme Court ruled “separate educational facilities are inherently unequal” in the Brown v. Board of Education case, forcing schools to desegregate.  The world watched as Little Rock Central High School fought this change.  In fact, on September 4, 1957, Governor Orval Faubus called in the National Guard to bar the nine black students enrolled at Central HS from entering the school.  President Eisenhower countered, sending 1,200 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division to escort these students into Central HS on September 25th.  Believe it or not, on September 26th, Governor Faubus appeared on television saying, “We are now an occupied territory.”  Those nine brave students endured a year of both physical and verbal abuse.  When Ernest Green (one of the nine) graduated on May 25, 1958 he said, “It’s been an interesting year.  I’ve had a course in human relations first hand.” We really appreciated the tour the National Park Service offered.  The park ranger shared so many vivid details and made the experience very real.  On a side note, at Hot Springs National Park we enjoyed going to the only brewery that is part of the National Park system.  Now, we have toured the grounds of the only active school to be part of the National Park system.  Way to be creative, Arkansas!

Little Rock Central High School

The bench Elizabeth Eckford (one of the nine) waited on for the bus while people yelled and spat on her.

Little Rock Nine Memorial at the Capitol

Dunbar High School was once the Black high school -- a whole other story!

We did manage to get our bikes out and rode the Arkansas River Trail – or at least most of it!  It’s about a 15-mile trail that begins near the Clinton Presidential Library following the south side of the Arkansas River upstream to the Big Dam Bridge (funny, right?), across the Big Dam Bridge (I just had to type it again!) and then downstream along the north side of the river.  Well, we were a solid 10 miles into the ride when we encountered more evidence of that EF3 twister.  Needless to say, the trail was closed with absolutely no way around it.  Yep, we got to go over that Big Dam Bridge again!  We weren’t really thrilled about it as we had a tour we had signed up for and now we were going to be late!  Dam it!  

Maumelle Park is another Corp of Engineering campground  that was another “win” as far as accommodations go!  Following the rain, it was a bit messy, but that is with any campground.  It dried up within a few days and was a lovely place to call home for the week.  We did have some kids in the area who got a kick out of knocking on our door one evening and running away.  It reminded me of “Ding Dong Ditch’em”!  I have to admit, in a dark campground, it creeped me out when they pounded on our door.  I bet Frankie’s bark creeped them out a bit too!  

Up next:  Northwest Arkansas