We have continued on from Tennessee to Arkansas, finally arriving in a state that was completely unknown to the three of us. We had been hearing great things about Arkansas, "The Natual State," so we decided to take a rest day in Little Rock.
A few days before arriving in Little Rock we contacted a couple via Warm Showers.com. Warm Showers is a cycling networking site that helps touring cyclists find places to stay. When you sign up to use the site it is with the understanding that you also will offer your home to future cyclists. You can choose to offer a place to camp, a couch, bed, shower, food, etc. We had tried one time before to use warm showers and the contact we chose fell through, but this time the hosts Mac and Amelia seemed very eager to meet us and welcome us to their home.
As we biked closer to Little Rock you could see some of it's tall buildings from far away because Arkansas is so flat. When we finally arrived at Mac and Amelia's home we were greeted by Mac and their two dachshunds, Jenny and Percey. That night we enjoyed pizza, board games, and real beds!
The next morning we took full advantage of our rest day and stayed in bed for a while. Eventually, we exited to explore Little Rock. We began with delicious burgers with Mac and Amelia at a restaurant in Midtown called Big Orange. They also have great milkshakes. (We have enjoyed eatting our way through the states as well as biking.) After Amilia had to return to work and Mac showed us some hot spots of Little Rock. Some highlights being The Clinton Library, the Heifer International Headquarters, and the Rock Town Whiskey Distillery.
My favorite was the Heifer International Headquarters. Heifer is a truly extraordinary organization that I had known very little about before visiting Little Rock. It is their goal to help solve world hunger by educating people and equipping them with tools to sustain their needs for food. They do this by delivering people farm animals like cows, which can provide them with resources like milk, which they can use to feed their families and also sell. Then it is the expectation that once that cow has a baby cow they will give that cow to someone else in need. Heifer has helped lift over 20.7 million families out of hunger and poverty. In addition to the great things that Heifer is doing abroad they also have a highly sustainable building. We toured the building, learning about the natural light, efficient air regulation, and water usage. The parking lot is even designed to help decrease polluted water runoff.
As we left Little Rock today we had beautiful views of Pinnacle Mountain, which is the highest point in Arkansas. We were sad to say goodbye to our new friends Mac and Amelia but also happy to of had such a positive warm showers experience and feeling excited to host cyclists in our own homes in the future.