German Tourist’s Cross-Country Road Trip Pit Stops in Little Rock and Hot Springs, Arkansas

A German tourist traveling across the southern United States on his way to Texas for Saturday’s Oklahoma-Texas football game has been documenting his journey on social media, with recent stops in Little Rock and Hot Springs, Arkansas drawing attention online.

The traveler, known online as Freddy, had already made headlines on his trip after encountering two abandoned dogs in Arkansas and arranging food and help for them. His latest posts shifted to lighter fare: fast food and local landmarks.

In Little Rock, Freddy and his traveling companions visited Little Rock Central High School, a site central to the civil rights movement in the United States. In 1957, nine Black students, now known as the Little Rock Nine, required an Army escort to integrate the school amid violent resistance. The building still operates as a working high school today, and Freddy’s group toured the visitor center to learn its history.

“Damn look at this high school. Could be straight out of a movie,” Freddy wrote in a post that generated significant attention on X.

From Little Rock, the group traveled to Hot Springs, where Freddy noted the architecture reminded him of Eastern Europe. “Currently walking through Hot Springs in Arkansas and quite fascinated that a lot of the buildings look like they could be from Eastern Europe,” he wrote. One of the buildings he highlighted was the Arlington Resort Hotel and Spa, a historic landmark with past visitors including Babe Ruth and Franklin Roosevelt. The resemblance Freddy noticed is not incidental; the region saw substantial Eastern European influence historically.

A Crash Course in American Fast Food

Much of Freddy’s trip has also doubled as an introduction to American fast food chains unfamiliar to him. Sonic has become a favorite. “We’re in Little Rock, Arkansas. Our biggest fast food discovery of this trip has been Sonic. We’re eating there all the time. Our friend who arrived last week is the biggest fan and is forcing us to go there pretty much every second day. It’s slop food, but it’s so good,” Freddy posted.

The group also tried Arby’s for the first time. A traveling companion, who has been rating every restaurant stop on the trip, gave Arby’s the first 10 out of 10 score of the journey. Freddy’s own experience was less enthusiastic — he ordered what he described as a burger but turned out to be a sandwich topped with barbecue sauce, which he said he does not like. “Ok officially what I got (ArbysQ) is listed as a sandwich but it looks like a burger to me. I didn’t check what sauce is on it, and it ended up being BBQ sauce which I don’t like at all,” he wrote, adding he would need to try the chain again before forming a full opinion.

The group’s next stop is Texas, where Freddy is expected to try Whataburger as the trip continues toward Saturday’s Oklahoma-Texas game.