Jim Stone Elementary School!
I finally got the recognition I have deserved for so, so long. In honor of my amazing influence on the nation's schools they finally named a school after me here in Conway, Arkansas. Ok...maybe it wasn't THIS Jim Stone that they named it after. In fact, it was the Jim Stone pictured with me below!
It's a strange series of coincidences that made that photo possible. First, I had found that there was a Jim Stone Elementary a year or two ago when I was Googleing my name. While I had always intended on visiting the school one day I had forgotten about it until I had already arranged to meet up with Daniel, my current host from CouchSurfing. Once I arrived I found out that not only did Daniel know about the school but you can see it from his porch! Even better, he had met the Jim Stone it was named after. Not only was Conway's Jim Stone a retired prinicipal of one of the schools in Conway but he was the "Toadmaster" of the annual Toad Suck Festival here in Conway. When Daniel was in the third grade he had been awarded by the Toadmaster for having the fastest toad in his divisional race.
What do you know: Jim Stone is in the phone book. After three conversations with Jim's at first, understandably, skeptical wife (he was out golfing for a charity most of the day) I finally got ahold of Jim Stone of Conway. I blurted something out about riding around on my motorcycle with a red couch in tow and wanting to take his picture in front of his school. Without hesitation he said, "see you in five minutes."
So it was a race to drive the couch over to the school to meet up with my double. Since the couch didn't fit into Daniel's Mercedes I popped it on top of the car and held on to it as we drove down the street and around the corner to the school. Sure we could have walked but a) we're Americans and we don't waste an opportunity to drive anywhere, and b) it wouldn't have looked near as funny as my arm clinging to a big red couch on the roof of a Benz that, truly, was originally custom built for one of the Rockerfeller clan.
Jim Stone turned out to be a great guy. He didn't bat an eye when I suggested he plop down on my bright red inflatable couch next to me for a picture. He even hung around for a few minutes to tell us about finding out they were naming the school after him. What can I say, Jim Stone is obviously a name that belongs to the best of men.
:)
