In 1968, I had the opportunity to join twelve Extension Agents from a dozen different states on a three-week tour of the eastern United States. This was a Dow Study Scholarship Tour, sponsored by the Dow Chemical Company. It was a whirlwind trip I will never forget.

One of the unique ideas of this tour was you had a different roommate each night. Too bad it was an all man tour! We swapped ideas and talked about our different programs including our successes and failures. That, in and of itself, was worth the trip.

We had the opportunity to visit Fort Detrick, Maryland, about a one-hour drive from Washington D.C. It was, at that time, a top secret government agency that carried on all kinds of experiments, some you wouldn't want to know about.

We had a tour of Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Speedway. Only race car drivers and their pit crews are admitted there. But being VIPs, we got in. At the time we were there, Hollywood was filming a movie titled Winning with Paul Newman and Robert Wagner. Race car driver A.J. Foyt was there for the technical part of the movie. We visited for a moment with Wagner but the fun part was watching Paul Newman.