Hot Springs & Little Rock, Arkansas

On the way to Hot Springs, Arkansas we drove through a severe rainstorm which tore apart the cover/shroud of the air conditioning unit on the roof of our RV!

Missing shroud. Notice how some remnants of it is still attached to the screws.

We didn't know about the incident until we arrived at our camp site hours later, and the manager greeted us with "Welcome, huh, do you know the cover of your air conditioning unit is missing?" Fortunately the next morning we were able to buy the exact type of shroud we needed from the main RV shop in the city, as they had one in stock.

New shroud.

We visited the Hot Springs National Park, including the historic Bathhouse Row with 9 fancy bathhouses built in the late 19th and early 20th century for patrons to enjoy the hot spring waters. Little known fact: Bill Clinton grew up in Hot Springs between the ages of 4 and 18.

Bathhouse Row (bathhouses on the left).

Fordyce bathhouse.

Hot spring water.

Quapaw bathhouse.

Grand promenade behind Bathhouse Row.

Another hot spring.

Fordyce bathhouse.

Fordyce bathhouse sun room.

Fordyce bathhouse.

Next we drove to Little Rock where we saw the Presidential Library of Bill Clinton:

Main hall.

Replica of the Cabinet Room.

Interesting display.

Madame President in an exact replica of Bill Clinton's oval office during his presidency.

Presidential Limousine.

Standard items issued to the Secret Service agents during the Clinton Presidency.

We went to the Little Rock Central High School's visitor center dedicated to the Little Rock crisis caused by the racial desegregation of schools in the 1950/60s:

Little Rock Central High School.

Historic gas station by the school which had the only nearby payphone used by news reporters to cover the crisis (see explanatory video). You may notice my left sunglass lens is pointing upward—it broke and none of us noticed it :-/

Visitor center.

Finally, we visited the nearby Toltec Mounds, built by relatively unknown indigenous ancestors of the regional Native Americans, likely for ceremonial purposes:

Next stop: Tennessee.

Sulphur, Oklahoma

We left Austin and drove through Dallas, barely stopping for some grocery shopping, and are currently spending our second night in the town of Sulphur, known for its sulfurous springs and the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, named to honor the Chickasaw native Americans who lived and still live in the area. We hiked to see some of the springs, and visited the Chickasaw Cultural Center (recommended, it is very big, the exhibits are of very high quality, and visitors can take part in various activities).

Our campground in the vicinity of Sulphur.

Travertine Nature Center, a starting point of many of the trails.

Trails around Travertine Nature Center.

Antelope Spring—water surges out of the rocks in the backround.

Near Antelope Spring.

Buffalo Spring.

Buffalo Spring.

Bromide Hill, highest point in the park.

Chickasaw Cultural Center.

Cafe at Chickasaw Cultural Center.

We ate their specialty: a Chickasaw taco.

Reconstruction of a typical Chickasaw village.

The staff, who by the way seemed to be mostly comprised of Chickasaw people, were preparing a typical stew and handing out free tastings.

Performing a stomp dance.

Tomorrow morning we will wake up early and drive about 7 hours to Arkansas.

San Antonio & Austin, Texas

We reached San Antonio and Austin, Texas. The weather is still with us—sunny and perfect temperatures.

Landscape before approaching San Antonio.

Texas freeways are the first American highways I see where the speed limit is as high as 80 MPH.

Alamo Mission in San Antonio.

Spanish Governor's Palace.

San Antonio City Hall.

Cathedral of San Fernando.

We had lunch on the riverwalk district of San Antonio. Notice the water is artificially colored green for the upcoming St Patrick's Day.

Our waitress brought a little cart by our table to make fresh guacamole for us. Yum.

Austin is only a 1h30 drive from San Antonio. We visited Lauren's cousin Kelly who lives in this city.

We forgot to get a photo with Kelly, but here's a pic of her awesome dog, Zoey.

View of Austin's downtown, from South Congress Ave, looking north.

Colorful mural.

Selfie.

And as a bonus, on our way out of town we stopped by Waco, Texas... home of Lauren's current favorite show: Fixer Upper. We stopped by the twin Magnolia silos (Chip and Joanna) and Harp Design (Clint).

The line to get in the store to shop was at least 2 hours long.