Regnat populous

A guard at Crystal Bridges told us to check out the Thorncrown Chapel when we told him we were headed to the Ozarks.

Frank Lloyd Wright mentored the architect, a good ole boy from Pine Bluff.

Florian steered us to Eureka Springs.  It was a little too cute by half, especially with all the Halloween decorations.

The locals fly more than just rainbow flags!

We drove south through the Buffalo River watershed.  Although you can't see it in these photos, it flows for 135 miles and is one of the few dam-free rivers in the Lower Forty-eight.

We arrived in Little Rock with plenty of time to see the sights.  Both this building and the street are named after the nation's 42nd President.

We dined at Flying Fish which doesn't offer table service.

But if you bring in a Billy Bass, you get a free meal.  Unfortunately, they didn't serenade us.

The Junction Bridge, built a century ago for railroads to cross the Arkansas River, is now strictly for pedestrians.

Until I encountered this fierce statue, I thought Pulaski was the name of a bridge.  Turns out Casimir was a Revolutionary War hero and only one of six foreigners ever awarded an honorary U.S. citizenship.  Fun fact:  he may have been intersex, too!

Clinton's Presidential Library was closed because of the pandemic.

Here are two shots of the Capitol dome, the first one taken from Junction Bridge.  

On our way out of town, we also dropped by Little Rock's Central High School which I thought was a memorial to the civil rights movement.  This woman informed us it's also still an active school although you'd never know it from the ambient hush at 9:30 a.m. on a Friday.  She had brought her granddaughter some supplies because the school doesn't provide lockers.

"United" was erected to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the school's integration in 2017.

The Visitor's Center documents one of America's most visible acts of institutional racism. The images of the armed battle between the federal government and the state of Arkansas over integration at what was then the nation's most expensive public high school definitely helped change the course of American history.

Newspaper reporters used the phone booth at this gas station across the street to file their coverage in 1957.

"Regnat populous," the state motto, means the people rule.  They eventually came around. Testament: The Little Rock Nine Monument, on the Capitol grounds, commemorates the brave Black students who were determined to get as good an education as their White counterparts. 

Daisy Bates didn't mince any words.

We drove past cotton fields en route to Marianna, our lunchtime destination.

Would you believe the New York Times picked this as one of the nation's best restaurants?

Too bad Jones BBQ was closed.  Hours are "7 a.m. until the food runs out."  We arrived at 1 p.m.  Guess the locals eat early!

We ordered take-out at an unmarked highway shack outside of Marianna where the three women behind the counter looked like "Deliverance"extras.  They gaped at us, too!