"These boots are made for walking..."

I stayed in Dallas until my car was ready for the 2nd time. Then I drove down, picked it up and went to Manahans to see their sand park. It reminded me of the dunes right off the road to Race Point, Cape Cod. I remember running and rolling down them when a kid. These dunes are great in that you can play as much as you want in them. In fact you can even rent discs to slide down the hills. I didn't get too far into them. The more I walked, the less distance I made.Then I returned to Dallas for a couple nights, driving past a number of oil fields again. 

I had a new water hose delivered to my cousins' house, and was delighted with my purchase. It has taken all the hassle out of connecting the water hose. After 3 trips to Dallas to stay with my cousins, over a period of 3 weeks, I finally said goodbye. Kind of sad. I enjoy spending time with them so much!! While I was in Dallas, I bought cowgirl boots -

exactly what I wanted - and handcrafted in the U.S.of A.

My next stop was Hope, Arkansas - first house of Bill Clinton. It was fun seeing all the pictures, and hearing the stories. His hero as a kid was Hopalong Cassidy. He stayed with his grandparents when his widowed mother left to be educated for a profession. His grandmother told his mother that, if he was going to be President, he needed a desk. I doubt he brought this one to Washington with him. He also was born a Blythe, but legally changed his name to Clinton (stepfather's name) in high school. He went to the courthouse to do it on his own. They had to call his mother to get approval. She knew nothing about it.

The next day I went up to Little Rock to see the Clinton library. I was so impressed. Of course, I really liked Clinton as the president. I felt he did a great job for our country.  The tour of the library begins with a film narrated by Clinton, and I found myself getting emotional - surprise!, surprise! They have an exact replica of the oval office, and the cabinet room. As I passed the cabinet room there were some high school kids sitting there solving the world's problems, or at least the problems with the Arkansas education system. There were alcove exhibits showing life in the White House as well as action taken in different areas - health, sciences, world relations, economy, etc. Clinton did a pretty good job - balanced the budget, brought about welfare reform, health care reform, Middle East negotiations, started a domestic "Peace Corps," passed the Brady Bill, and more and more. Like I said, I was impressed. I bought the 2 book series of his life, and am plowing through them.

My next stop was Nashville, TN. I hadn't been here for 42 years, and thought I should go back. I love Nashville. There is much to do in Music City and around there, and the atmosphere is terrific. I took a tour, walked around the downtown, moseyed into a saloon which had music all day and night. Traveling alone affects my going into places, particularly if I'm going to drink and then drive. There were about 6 people in the place. I sat at the bar and had 1 light beer (MGD 64). The guy singing asked where I was from, and what songs I liked. Of course, not a follower of music, all I could think of was Johnny Cash. I finally had to tell him I just turned on the station and listened, but couldn't tell you what I heard. Kind of embarrassing to say that to a country-western singer. But he called me "Darlin" in that southern drawl, which made it all worth it.

They have some interesting architecture in Nashville. There's the Batman building and beside it,

the R2D2 building. And, of course, being country, you see big guitars (with Minnie Pearl hats on them, selling of course, for $1.98), and big boots.I did check out the Buy 1, get 2 free in the boots, but - you guessed it - made in China.
 

 

In Nashville, on the 100th birthday, they built a replica of the Parthenon. On the 200th birthday, they built a great Bi-Centennial mall and park.There is a huge farmers' market, craft outlet, etc. Across the street they have a very impressive display of history of the area. There are very large columns with years on them, starting BC, but around 1700 the years are pretty steady and state along the wall what happened at that time. Davy Crockett played fiddle in Nashville and was elected to Congress before he volunteered at the Alamo and ended his life there. The Cherokee were forced to emigrate from their lands in the area on the Trail of Tears by 1838. A sad note. Next, I'm touring a couple area businesses.

I gave up trying to align this blog. There's only so much time you want to spend on these things.