I had to take a northern detour from where I was staying in Des Moines to Humboldt, Iowa to speak to the students at Mease and Taft Elementary. Humboldt is twenty minutes north of Fort Dodge and can be reached on US 169 North. A nicely etched granite rock welcomes you to Humboldt. As I crossed over the Des Moines River, I saw two hearty fishermen braving the white-capped rapids and fishing for what I assumed were brown river trout.

My host was George Bruder who greeted me at Mease. We instantly became close friends having lived similar lives. He came from a large family and was born in 1960 in January, and I was born in 1960 in March. George wore a colorful baseball tie, and his enthusiasm for baseball got the kids excited about my visit. When he recalled Tony Perez, Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan of the "Big Red Machine" I was certainly impressed.

The students certainly enjoyed themselves and even after our assembly I was having students tugging at my sleeve and wanting to tell me their most precious dream. The young lady who won the screaming contest became so frightened when she gripped Creeper's eyeball in the concealed bag that she was too afraid to scream.

At Taft we filled the middle school auditorium with grades 2-5. The students certainly enjoyed a game of "shadow baseball". The students cheered when I unveiled Erin's Team USA uniform.

George invited me to dinner at the local diner with his family and we were so engrossed in our conversation that when the food was finally served we had just seven minutes to "wolf it down" because parents were waiting our return. It reminded me of my days spent in the military where we had just five minutes to eat our breakfast before early morning marching drills.

We had a good representation at Parents Night and there were some terrific baseball door prizes offered to the attendees. After speaking for roughly 40 minutes I answered questions about writing and the book. After patiently waiting in the front row, I had a three-year-old raise her hand. I decided to give her her opportunity to chime in. She asked me, "When do you go bye-bye?"

I laughed and took this as my cue to say my final farewell to Humboldt.

I had heard that Harry Reasoner - co-host of "60 Minutes" - was a Humboldt native. In fact in 1972, Andy Rooney and Reasoner had created an ABC-TV documentary titled "A Small Town in Iowa." The story focused on the demise of Humboldt because of its youth leaving their small town in search of high-paying jobs in cities like Des Moines.

Thirty-seven years have passed and as I toured the small town of Humboldt I still saw it as a vibrant, thriving community with proud citizens appreciative of small-town farm living. In fact, George nudged me to write about Humboldt's new family aquatic center. What makes America unique are small towns like Humboldt, and I firmly believe that what makes the United States the place where dreams can still come true are these charming communities that have found their niche in our society.

Keep the dream alive Humboldt.