Trouble, right here in River City. Trouble with a capital "T", that rhymes with "P," and that stands for POOL....

Wednesday, July 16:

Well, you might guess that I am in Mason City, Iowa--The "River City, Iowa" of the musical /movie, The Music Man. Some of you know me well enough to know that my very favorite movie is The Music Man with Robert Preston and Shirley Jones, which premiered in 1962. It is based on the Broadway play and music written by Meredith Willson. Mason City, Iowa, is the boyhood home of Meredith Willson.

Let me backup. This morning, on the motel TV, the local station covered Rochester, MN; Albert Lea, MN and Mason City, Iowa. I heard that, and "ding" thought "that is Meredith Willson's hometown" and "it can't be that far away." So, after consulting the map, I made a decision to head south and west from Spring Valley, MN.

It took awhile to get here because of a road detour. But, because of the detour, I went past the Congregational Church built in 1890-1894 that the song, "Church in the Wildwood" (the Little Brown Church in the Vale) was written for.

So, arriving in River , ugh Mason City, Iowa, I was able to tour Meridith Willson's boyhood home, and a museum. The museum is build as a part of a streetscape that includes the Pool Hall, the River City High School, Madison Public Park with its footbridge, Mrs. Paroo and Marion's house, but, sadly, not the Madison Public Library. ( This real public library of Mason City is right across the street from Meredith Willson's house, but I can't believe they didn't include it for that reason. This may remain a mystery.)

I saw a thirty minute film on the making of the film, The Music Man, narrated by Shirley Jones. I met some very cool ladies of Mason City, including one who has been to the Indy 500 a number of times.

So, now I will head back toward U.S. 52 and continue my journey to Dubuque and then crossing the Mississippi into Illinois.