I had no idea how close Iowa was to South Dakota. And just as you might imagine, the temperature dropped nearly 20 degrees from Des Moines to Le Mars where I stayed at Bel Air Motel. The owner of the motel was very cordial even offering me a discount once I told him I was speaking in Marcus and Cleghorn. He asked me to autograph a copy of the Principal Park book which he was going to read to his two-year-old son.

With time to kill, I opted to explore the town of Le Mars, which was pretty empty probably because it was Sunday. Le Mars is consired the "Ice Cream Capital of the World" because of Wells Dairy which most of us know as Blue Bunny ice cream. At its peak, Wells employed nearly 1400 employees and was founded in 1913. However, it has since sold its milk operation to Dean's Foods. It still owns the North Plant where ice cream is processed. I sampled a hot fudge sundae at its visitor's shop and just like the old days the hot fudge was good to the last spooning.

I also ate at Bob's Drive-in which was opened in 1949. Bob's is know for its Tavern sandwiches. The ground beef is crumbled into pea-sized pebbles and steam-heated. In my neck-of-the-woods, we'd call them a sloppy joe without the sauce. I sampled a Bob's Dog, which is a hot dog with a liberal sprinking of Bob's beef. It was an unusual taste, but good.

I spoke to the students at Marcus in a small gym where the high school wrestlers practice. The children were excited and one young boy with a pierced ear won over the crowd with his soft, yet dramatic scream.

I then spoke to the middle school students at Cleghorn and I called on one young man to help me read a skit between Fuji and his father. My volunteer tried with all his effort to put on the performance of his life in front of his peers. Mrs. Tritz-Rhodes, who'd invited me to speak, was impressed. She said, "We weren't sure how he would perform because he struggles in reading." And yet she said, "His words were clear and even the students paused on how well he had performed."

I had to agree with Mrs. Tritz-Rhodes. All children - regardless of physical/mental disabilities - will always give us their best when offered a chance to shine.