Upon leaving Arkadelphia, Ark. late Friday morning (I had the motel’s indoor swimming pool all to myself!) there was only one must-see place left on the sightseeing list for my odyssey I-55 South to I-30 West road trip from Chicago to rural east Texas. It was Hope, Ark., birthplace of Bill Clinton (not to mention childhood home of native Mike Huckabee).

In fact, when I called my mom the night before to tell her I was fine and give her my next-day itinerary, she reminded me, “ ‘The Man From Hope’—that was one of Clinton’s slogans when he ran for president: ‘The Man From Hope.’ ”

I had to go to the bathroom real bad by the time I journeyed from the interstate into downtown Hope (which was fascinatingly dilapidated and time-warped!), and upon passing the Clinton museum (a converted old railroad depot), I saw a big sign, “RESTROOMS.”

Absolutely nobody was on the street and I parked right out in front. Quickly opening the front door, I was immediately hit in the eye with a six-foot cardboard cut-out image of Clinton. An elderly woman in a presidential blue suit immediately jumped out from behind her glass-cabinet perch to greet me.

She started right in about Clinton and Hillary and Huckabee, and when I kindly interrupted here to tell her I really needed to use the restroom, she said, “Oh, yes, you go right ahead; we’ll talk when you come out.”

The women’s room opened to a six-foot cardboard cut-out image of Hillary. There were framed pictures of the Clintons everywhere.

*****

Since I was the only one inside the Hope Visitor Center & Museum, I had the undivided attention of the delightfully sweet museum manager named Margaret. She handed me a handful of papers, including two color brochure sheets—one of the depot “shrine” (my assessment) and one of Clinton’s childhood home, which Margaret convinced me I had to stop and see since I was only three blocks away.

The brochure boasted, “Almost fifty-thousand people from 157 countries have visited Bill Clinton’s 1^st Home, traveling to Hope from Antarctica and Greenland and all around the Equator to learn about the influences of Clinton’s childhood environment, the people and place that shaped his life, his policies and ideas which now influence the whole world.”

I was given a driving tour map of Hope, a chocolate chip cookie recipe from Hillary and a sheet of vital statistics for Mike Dale Huckabee, listed as being born Aug. 24, 1955 inside Hope’s Julia Chester Hospital.

“Mike Huckabee worked as an announcer at KXAR radio during his four years of high school,” read a line from the Xeroxed resume. “He preached his first sermon at age 15 at Garrett Memorial Baptist Church in Hope.”

*****

After Margaret convinced me to watch a 10-minute film on Clinton’s life—complete with lengthy comments from Hillary, Chelsea and Clinton’s mother Virginia—she asked me if I would vote for Hillary for president.

I said, “No, I don’t like her.” She asked, “How about Mike Huckabee?” I said, “No, I don’t like him.” She said, “How about Barack Obama?” “NO WAY!” I answered.

Margaret then said, “Well, who do you like?” I answered “Nobody who’s running.”

“So you’re not going to vote?” she responded. I assured her, “Oh, no, I’ll vote for McCain most likely, but I don’t like any of the candidates.”

Then, in a bold impetuous moment I blurted out, “I think Clinton is a big fat phony.” Margaret just looked at me. “What are you going to do in Texas?” she asked after a big pause.

“Oh, I’m working on finishing a book I’m writing on the Bible,” I told her. She responded very enthusiastically, so I asked her if she was a Bible-believer to which she readily responded, “Oh, yes.” When I asked her if she believed in Jesus Christ as her personal Savior, we looked deep into each others eyes and she said, “Oh, yes!”

Before leaving, I gave her my self-written Bible tract and told her she could keep track of me through my website address at the bottom. We had a very affectionate parting.

*****

After quickly driving past Clinton’s childhood house, I lost my bearings and ended up going into a Dairy Queen to ask for directions back to I-30.

Taped to the cash register was a Xeroxed color photograph taken off the internet showing Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and Bill Richardson at a public event standing next to an American flag.

While Hillary and Richardson both had their hands on their heart with their mouths open, Obama stood close-mouthed with his hands clasped together at his waist.

A caption inserted at the bottom of the page explained that not only wouldn’t Obama put his hand on his heart, he would not give the Pledge of Allegiance! The message was, “Be warned—Obama’s a fake!” I couldn’t agree more!