Getting to Little Rock

The author has gotten some heat for Monday's trip to Little Rock, which included a lift from the helicopter owned by the Arkansas State Police between Arkadelphia and Little Rock once the interstate closed on me for the 2nd time. Here's a pic from my viewpoint at daybreak Monday on I-30.

Having driven I-30 so many times I could make it with my eyes closed, I knew I wasn't going to make it on Sunday night after the weather had turned from freezing rain to sleet during church and hearing from my cousin and fellow legislator from Nashville, who spent nine hours on Interstate 30 from Arkadelphia to Benton Sunday night.

With no apartment in Little Rock to go up on Saturday, I knew my only option was to hope that the roads cleared on Monday with the additional traffic and higher temps. After five hours of travel and only 70 miles of headway in that span, I finally called the Senate to advise that I'd miss the opening day's activities. Senate staff then put me in touch with the state police after they indicated I'd be the lone person not in attendance, and the ASP said its helicopter was already in the vicinity and was about to head back to the ASP base in LR and that I could tag along. I did so.

I made the conscious decision to travel back and forth daily between the Capitol and my district in extreme southwest Arkansas in order to keep a better pulse on my constituency, and that's looking like a tall order this week.

Alas, I did finally get sworn in: