Finding Grace and Hope

This one's for our beagle, Miles: "You ain't nothin' but a hound dog, crying all the time..." Who sang that timeless tune? (We have to have trivia wherever we go right? :) ) Why, none other than Elvis Presley!! Checking out all things Elvis at Graceland, TN was lots of fun, though it was over 100 degrees once again. As our Treasure Hunt clue book last year noted, The King, was born in Mississippi but lived and died in Tennessee.

Now THANKS already covered Elvis, but in the universal game of life, a little more info never hurts! Did you know......

• Elvis's favorite food was fried peanut butter and jelly

• Even though he was famous beyond measure, he will always be remembered for using his talent for good by using his profits to quietly pay off struggling neighbors' debts

Then we left the land of country music and gooey pies and headed west on Interstate 40 and into Arkansas.

We wished we had time to stop and join the thousands who were pouring into the ENORMOUS Little Rock Pentacostal church because we're sure it would have been a great experience, but we were just too hungry for real, rather than spiritual, food so we opted for the turn into downtown Little Rock instead.

This beautiful sculpture, titled Carpe Diem, can be found outside one of Little Rock's newest and finest eating establishments, The Copper Grill. We interviewed lots of nice Arkansans who sent along their warmest wishes for the troops and their families. In fact the owner of the Grill lobbies in Washington, DC with the National Restaurant Association. Now that is grassroots lobbying at its finest.

We ended our day in Hope, Arkansas; birthplace of former President Clinton. We thought it fitting that our motel is right across the street from a WalMart as Sam Walton was from Arkansas. Our distinguished board member Gen Norm Lezy would be proud of us...he used to be an executive with WalMart. Too bad we will miss the Watermelon Festival this weekend in Hope. We did get to see a 150 lb melon displayed at our motel, though.

Back on the road to meet in Austin, TX with several of our Texas scholarship winners. How exciting!