Stopping in Little Rock

We have to come through Little Rock, Arkansas each year in order for me to get my yearly Physical Exam.  My insurance comes through my retirement from the City of Pine Bluff, and to stay in network, I need to come to Arkansas.  Six years ago I was persuaded by my oldest child, Michael, to see a doctor since it had been many, many years (like when I was 21 years old) since I had a family doctor, had a physical exam, and had been seen by a doctor outside of a quick care for a sore throat hard cold and/or flu type of symptoms.  So I selected the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) as my health care provider.  The doctor I choose was sixty years old, and recommended by a few ladies at the Library as a nice, down to earth, easy to get along with type of doctor.  One advantage of using UAMS is that if you need blood tests, heart tests, camera’s poked up your under side….well, they do all of that right there….and yes, over the past six years I have had them all.  I have paid out-of-pocket a total of around $100 over the entire six years.  As for my health, loose weight and lower my blood pressure and I would have a full, clean bill of health.  Cholesterol?  Well, my overall Cholesterol is lower than some peoples “LDL” numbers.  When asked how my Cholesterol is, and I say, “118”, the typical answer is, “That’s a great LDL number, what is your HDL number?  Then they faint when I tell them that is my overall number, that my LDL is at 72 and my HDL is at 39.  Triglycerides are at 33.  Back when I was 21 years old, working in a steakhouse eating hamburgers at least 4 times per week, steaks at least 5 times per week, and lost of French fries and baked potatoes…and having doing that for the most part of four years…I thought for sure my Cholesterol was going to out of this world…but it wasn’t.   Nor was it six years ago, nor last year.  Today the doctor said he wasn’t even going to test it…he said it is just in me Genes to have low Cholesterol, so he is going to skip it till next year.  So far I have not had Diabetes either…Skruffy, on the other hand, that is a story told a few months ago.  (If anyone wants to read or reread the blog post: “Skruffy’s Last Bark?”, just click it, and grab a box of tissues….and as you read it, remember that Skruffy is still alive!

So yesterday we took the 150 mile drive across I-40 from Fort Smith to Little Rock, and we again sit in the Maumelle COE Park just outside of Little Rock.  Had my check up today…lost 25 pounds (Yippeeeee!) and then went and gained 5 of it back by eating at Corky’s BBQ after the appointment.  The two Corky’s in Little Rock are owned by Joe Kleine, former Arkansas Razorback Basketball Center, and former NBA Center with the Sacramento Kings, and continued his fifteen-year NBA career also playing with the Boston Celtics, Phoenix Suns, Los Angeles Lakers, New Jersey Nets, Chicago Bulls, and Portland Trail Blazers. 

Joe, raised in a strong Catholic family in Missouri, not only owns the two Corky’s Ribs and BBQ in Little Rock, he has also coached in middle school, high school, college, and with the Olympics.  Sometimes you can find Corky’s ribs in the grocery stores frozen foods section…we even found them at Publics back in Florida once.  I really like Corky’s…one thing I miss not living in Arkansas.

On our trip from Kansas City to Fort Smith I noticed the brake pedal was a bit spongy.  Added some Dot 6 but by the time we got here, I needed to add more.  It appears the left rear brakes have a slight leak in the brake line, and the picture above shows that one must have brakes…so we are staying here through the weekend, and on Monday we take it to a shop recommended by both Camping World and a local Firestone shop.  “IF” they need to order parts, we can stay there in their parking lot…but we hope it does not come down to that. Our reservations here in Maumelle Park went through Friday, and to extend we had to move today to the non-reserve area where we got one of the last open spots.  The park will be totally full this weekend, and there were only three non-reserve spots left open this morning, and the other two filled up before we finished setting up...that was a close one.

Tomorrow I plan to go down to the Pine Bluff area for a visit, Friday we will do laundry, Saturday we have dinner planned with some good friends, and the rest will be relaxing…not a bad place to relax at, that’s for sure.