Little Rock, Arkansas

So we made the big 65 mile route to Little Rock in the blistering heat. When leaving Stuttgart we gave our hosts a big good bye and began to bike through the rice plants to leave the area. Well, I was the van driver for the day so I simply just turned the ignition and found a place for lunch. Once lunch was over the fun began of helping people under our route as they made their way through the Bike Path of Little Rock. Only half of the group actually ended up going the correct way off the Big Dam Bridge, too bad not enough people checked out the map of the bike path.

So the great thing about Little Rock was that we actually got to spend our day off in the location. Fortunately we had amazing hosts who offered us endless amounts of food, volunteered to help with laundry and even helped shuttle our group to downtown. The hosts were absolutely amazing and despite it being 10 miles away from downtown, I would still recommend that next year's group go back. So I thank the Winfield United Methodist Church for making our stay an inspiring one.

On my day off in Little Rock, I had time to just relax and act like I had no responsibilities for the day as much as possible. I woke up early and got to go for a bike ride on the River Trail Bike Path that I missed the day before due to my van driving schedule. It sure was a beautiful one with great views along the Arkansas River showing off downtown and the parks.

I took some time after that to bike through downtown North Little Rock and Little Rock (two separate towns). With that, I checked out the capitol building which is a replica of the capitol building in Washington DC. I than just biked through the neighborhoods and ended up in the River Market. When there, I befriended a couple of managers of stores who loved the idea of our group. With these connections, I got some free t-shirts, postcards and pass to the Bill Clinton Memorial Library for the afternoon.

The Bill Clinton Memorial was a great way to not only avoid the mid day heat of Little Rock but learn more about his tenure as president. I would give it a good rating as it went through his style of presidency, events during his term and the showing of gifts that he received from famous people.

The night included a minor league game Double A game of the Little Rock Travelers. They got a beating after their starting pitcher left but it was fun to watch young players working their tails off to make it to the big league. Good luck to them! When there, I randomly saw a friend from college who is now a Clubhouse Manager for the Stadium. He is hoping to move up all the way to the Big Leagues one day where he can be a Clubhouse Manager to make the big bucks from tips. With his work ethic, he will be there soon!

So overall the day was a great one! I would recommend people to check out the place where Bill Clinton made his first marking in the political sector. It offers great food options, good biking/hiking options and just a nice place to walk around. Cheers!