Hey, Ron:

Sounds a lot like my experience growing up in a small town in Wisconsin. Except we didn't have the Philadelphia Orchestra within driving distance. Not that it mattered, as we didn't own a car. The biggest thing we had nearby was in Milwaukee, where Whoopee John Willfahrt was king of the polka. Honest. You can look it up.

Every small town has its claims to fame... small though they may be. Mine had Carrie Jacobs Bond who wrote I Love You Truly... for many years the most commonly sung song at weddings. The Gideon Society got it's start in my hometown, too. I didn't discover that until many years after I left home when I wrote a song that mentioned the grandest hotel in town and in reading about its history found out that the first meeting of the Gideon Society was held there.

And then, Kerwin Matthews, who starred in The 7th Voyage Of Sinbad and Gulliver's Travels was a classmate of my older sister... or at least was in High School when she was.

The nice thing about small towns is that there is that tall grass and open country within walking distance. If you walk down to the railroad tracks,

"All you have to do is to walk those tracks
And they're bound to lead you to the country
Lie on your back in the tall, sweet grass
Or you can take your dog and go hunting:

Milwaukee/St. Paul

I wasn't much into hunting.. and had a bad accident when I first started hunting with my Father... accidently shot my dog. I never liked fishing either.. turned out I was a naturalist, and didn't know it yet. I preferred watching to killing.

Been talking to my wife Ruth, and she's enthusiastic about coming down to the Getaway this year on the way to visit my son, his wife and their two kids in North Carolina. If we make it, I may just decide to strap our kitchen table to the top of our car and bring it with me..

Jerry