"Come to Hot Springs, Arkansas and have a black guy smack your butt!" That's what the advertising slogan should be for this place. But then it might put people off. But that's how I could choose to describe my experience here.

Firstly, I'm really glad I chose this place to be my stopover point in Arkansas, rather than my initial 'obvious' choice of Little Rock, the capital city. I was lucky that I could walk to everything I wanted here. The Greyhound bus station was only two blocks from my hotel and, for once, I didn't start off walking a block or two the wrong way just to establish which way to go.

One thing that appealed to me was that there was a hill to walk up right next to downtown. Given the inevitable hot temperatures I made sure I took plenty of water and some lunch and I set off. I sensibly picked up a trail map to make sure I wouldn't get lost. I set off at a gentle pace but shortly had to stop for a rest under some trees to cool down. That was when I realised I was almost at the top of the mammoth... half mile walk. That's it? That was what I'd prepared for? I'd unpacked my walking boots for this? Oh well.

At the top of the hill is Hot Springs Mountain Tower, which, for a small fee, you can go up to a height of 216 feet above the hilltop. The views were magnificent, apparently up to 140 miles. There was a full history of the city, park and the world-famous bathhouses on panels and a short video about Bill Clinton. The latter is because, although I didn't realise it before I walked through town, this is his hometown where he grew up (although he was born a little way away in Hope, Arkansas).

The other thing I did was to take one of their world-famous mineral baths in the only original operating bathhouse remaining on Bathhouse Row. It's the only time in my life that I've ever walked into an establishment and said "I'd like to take a bath" and not been given the reply "Why should I care?".

It started well after I'd changed into a sheet like I was going to a toga party, except the room I was led into didn't have any balloons or women with grapes, just bath-related apparatus. My attendant was James, a friendly black guy (are you starting to see where the introduction is coming from?). He led me to a bath, disrobed me and instructed me to climb in. My modesty was gone from that point. He checked the water temperature and activated the whirlpool. I laid there for about 20 minutes in the 104 degree (40 C) water and when I got out he checked me over and told me I had some tension in my lower back. So I got five minutes sitting in a sitz tub with hot water on my lower back, two minutes in a steam room and then I was led to a table to lie on.

That was the scene of my grievous assault. James asked me to arch my back so he could slip a very hot towel under my lower back and, presumably because I didn't do so quickly enough, he gave me a little tap on the side of the buttock to indicate the part of my body I should be raising. At least after that he did wrap the sheet over me to finally give me my dignity back and left me there for several minutes. After a shower and ten minutes laying down in the cooling room I was free to redress and leave a gratuity at reception for him. The whole thing took about an hour and was very relaxing. I'm waiting to see whether the hot spring water itself had any lasting effect. My lower back feels the same as it did before.

My final piece of excitement on my second evening when I chose an Italian restaurant that I had passed during the day. It had looked nice and the pasta dishes were well priced for my budget. As I approached in the late evening there was a group of well-dressed people out front but I ignored them and went in. I asked for a table and I thought the hostess gave me a funny look. As I was led to my table I couldn't help noticing that all the other men in the restaurant were wearing shirts and the women were wearing pretty dresses. I was dressed in shorts and sneakers. At least I had a collar on although the sleeves of my shirt were short. I felt like the whole restaurant was following me with their eyes as I sat down. Oh, and there was also a piano player in the room.

It was very odd to feel so out of place amongst my own people. I say 'my own people' because usually I'm on their side of the silent judging. I think all this budget travelling has taken its toll on my social standing. Fortunately my waiter, Larry, was a nice old chap and brought me my Peroni and pasta with no pomp. The food was really excellent and after two evenings of burgers it was so good to have some decent food for a change. Of course I couldn't finish it all and Larry told me that meal usually does him for three courses - he takes home two thirds of it, has a little later on and then gives the rest to his dog.

I've slightly ruined the potential of this blog entry. I was going to make a big deal about Arkansas being my 25th visited state and thus I am halfway around the country. However it turns out I miscounted (misrecorded, actually) and Texas was my 25th state so I rather blew that. But I can make up for it now: I am halfway through the states! As of Austin, Texas I've travelled approximately 6580 miles by bus in a rough total of 170 hours. That's equivalent to a quarter of the way around the equator!