In an effort to not let a slow Friday bleed in to Saturday, and partly because I didn’t leave the apartment yesterday, I took a road trip to Little Rock, Arkansas today. It’s about a two hour drive from Memphis – a straight shot west on Interstate 40.
I passed through a lot of flat land and a handful of small towns. The kind with the name of the town on the water tower and oversized American flags out front of the car dealership that is overstocked with pickup trucks. The countryside is miles of fields in the middle of which stand hulking steel silos. The other exits – the ones that don’t look like towns have tall skinny red and green neon signs announcing the gas and diesel prices at the two or three gas stations at the exit ramps.
Downtown Little Rock is very walkable. I spent all of my time in the area by the river – if I go back, I’d like to venture a little deeper in to town along Main St. and towards MacArthur Park. I started of at the one end of town and made my way over to the Clinton Presidential Library and Heifer International. I didn’t go in to either building – there’s a $10 fee to visit the presidential library, and when I looked at the exhibits online – it just didn’t seem worth it. The building itself is impressive – though to be honest, it seemed like a little much. I’ve haven’t seen any of the presidential libraries, but this was a pretty massive building. I shudder to think what Trump’s library will look like, and it’s hard to swallow the irony of a president who doesn’t read (“I know words. I have the best words.”) having a massive library named after him. The Heifer International area is very peaceful with lots of landscaping and at some spot has an urban farm. They’re an amazing charity – one that I’ve supported on and off throughout the years.
Clinton Library 
Heifer International
Between the Heifer building and the back of the Clinton Library was a meditation path. I walked it for a little bit when I saw in the distance a group of five men doing what looked like military (army reserves) training (low crawl, stress positions holding a log, etc). It was an odd juxtaposition a meditation path (peace) and military exercises.
meditation path 
4 guys carrying a log
There’s a river path that runs the length of the city. A section of it has a sculpture garden with between 100 and 150 sculptures.
I sat at the sculpture of what appeared to be a monk, and I really liked the one called forever a rose.
There are a few pedestrian bridges, I walked across one, took pictures of the love locks cropping up as well as the skyline. I’m hoping Corey and Julie and Tiff and Dwayne make it.
I found a bookshop and bought a volume of poetry that I’m really enjoying Periscope Heart by Kai Coggin, I read a bit in a coffee shop, had an early-ish dinner and made my way home. Driving east, there were two skies at dusk. Behind me the oranges and purples of a dramatic sunset and in front a blue turning dark with a bright white moon. At one point a cloud of birds rose from the treeline by the side of the road and at another point, a fire in the distance glowed on the horizon.
