Park View is approximately 10 minutes from Eldridge and is a small town of approximately 2000 citizens. Neil Armstrong was built in 1975 and for a brick school built over 30 years ago I found it in remarkably good shape. The students were in high spirits and my two brave actors performed the Fuji-Dad skit like seasoned pros. Despite the lack of a PA system, these two remarkable students spoke with drama and vigor in their voices and were able to grab the audience's attention because of their skills.

After my speech, a teacher congratulated me and said that her son was in fourth grade and attended Ed White. She said that he came home excited and couldn't wait to read the Principal Park book. She said he had never wanted to read before that. She asked me to keep on speaking because I needed to encourage other children to read.

After quite a long journey in Iowa the teacher's encouragement did lift my spirits. I can only hope more students learn how important reading is in terms of building strong character skills that can be used later in life.

Thank you from a tired Ohio traveler.