Once my eyes cleared-up I headed to the Arkansas State Fairgrounds which looked rather, uh, empty.

The hard-working guys on the Mothers® rig were, well, working hard. I thought I’d pitch-in and pull my fair share of the load, but they decided I was better-off saving my energies for important things like drinking bottles of water, and they sent me on my way. Set-up seemed to go faster when I was drinking water for some reason.

Saving gas (sure to be a major topic of the Tour this year), we walked down toward the cars, restaurants and sounds of Cruiseapalooza.

Whether your tastes ran towards donkin’ Chevys,

or vintage racers,

there was a car there for you. (Vintage Ford Fastback Mustang)

As we found out, when the music stopped, the real fun started. Not exactly a cake walk, or a walk in the park; a real, honest to goodness tricycle race.

Yep, that’s right. The NATRL (North American Tricycle Racing League) made a stop in Little Rock and all the big names were there competing for the Holy Grail of tricycle racing — “Big Red.”

The Piston Cup from Disney’s “Cars” pales in comparison.

We stopped for a great meal at The Flying Fish, where EVERYTHING is grilled or fried, including the salads

and where they care for all the old, unwanted Billy Basses...

On our way back to the hotel, the youngest of us, Shane, found a small building he had never seen the likes of,

so Ken patiently explained how back in the last millenium, folks stepped into one of these to call other people using a coin and turning your finger in a circular motion.

Kids these days.

Shane is really into alternative means of transportation these days. He found one that didn’t consume gas, though it could generate its own gas.

Of course, with a three bean burrito Shane can, too.

And thanks to Google, he learned this large transporter that went “clang, clang, clang,” was known as a trolley.

Little Rock can be proud of the way they’ve revitalized their downtown riverfront. I’ll bet it was no pork barrel project.

They went whole hog.

Today (Friday), oil closed at a new high, increasing almost $11 a barrel. Will the Power Tour be emasculated, everyone driving 40 miles-per-hour to eek out a few more miles per gallon? Or will the crowd take to smaller means of conveyance?