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.

Back in Central Arkansas

Every year we come to Arkansas for my $20 medical checkup at UAMS (University Arkansas Medical Sciences).  Every year we stay at the Maumelle Campground, a Corp of Engineer campground.  We had planned to stop in Fort Smith on Saturday and leave Fort Smith on Tuesday…but Marcia is still not feeling the best, I have had moments of relapse (which last just a short time period), so we canceled our visits and drove straight to Little Rock last Saturday.  We have done little the past two days outside of letting the dogs out, a visit to a Kroger’s and to Walmart for me, and Marcia has made some wonderful split pea soup using the ham bone from the Thanksgiving dinner. 

The park is nearly empty, and we are parked in the same spot we were in last year from what I can tell.  Most of our neighbors are using the long-term UAMS medical visit sites, and there is little action coming from these RV’s.

On this side of us are a few more RV’s which are not using the UAMS sites.  Our five night visit cost $65 with our National Park Pass.  Definitely no need for reservations this time of year.

The dogs always love this park.  Grass (lots of leave this time of year), and all sorts of bird noises through the day.  To us, it is the quietest park we have been in since our trip to Washington State where we stayed at some very quiet, remote locations as we went around Olympic National Park.

A few cars have driven by, and a few dog walkers have walked by, but for the most part there have been few other visitors.  And with the Arkansas River behind us, I figures we would hear an occasional boat…but the river is so high I don’t even think barges are traveling up and down the river.

As the two river photos show….it is peaceful and quiet and a great place for recuperating from this early winter cold we both are successfully trying to shake. 

Bye Bye Arkansas

Tomorrow morning we head out of Little Rock, into Mississippi, and down south.  Lived in this state from January 1st, 1991 until my retirement in 2012, nearly 22 years.  When we first moved here, my youngest was 3 months old.  My children's mother got her teaching degree by the time he was in 6th grade, and she is still a very successful teacher in White Hall, a community close to Pine Bluff.  When we first moved here the local PBS station shut down every night, or was it just Sunday night, and they played this song above.  It really does tell how Arkansas "grows" on you. 

While here, we had a very enjoyable meal with our dear friends, Jana and Mike at Applebee's.  I think we were there for over three hours, and we wish we could have stayed another three hours visiting.  There will be a next time, that's for sure.

Saw my doctor today, and although my high blood pressure is coming down, he changed out one medication and encouraged me to loose more weight.  In the past year and a half since I last saw him, he said my weight had not changed....guess I need to do more of those hikes that I pass up from time to time. I asked him if I should wait until the results of the blood tests, and he assured me that I should head on out, and he would call me with the results in a few days.

On our way back to the motorhome, we just had to stop at Corky's, my favorite BBQ place in Little Rock.  We had a late lunch, early dinner, an got a rack for the road for tomorrow's dinner.  You can now buy Corky's BBQ in some grocery stores, and if you order off their website, they can deliver just about anywhere pretty fast since the headquarter location is in Memphis where FedEx has its headquarters.  

Above is picture from the Internet (public use ok) of the Buffalo River.  There is so much beauty in Arkansas, and yet it is overlooked because what many first see is the flat, cotton and soy bean fields between Memphis and Little Rock.  When you live here for awhile, it really does, as the song say, "Runs deep in me...."  For us, we are signing off from Arkansas until our return visit next year.