Thanks Everyone,
The board I ordered I plan to use the USB port. So it is interesting. I do have Visual Studio as the version of VB. The one comment about using C is most intriguing because I believe that is a good answer, but since I am more familiar with VB I am not sure I am up to the new language. My dilemma would be if things don't work when programming in C it creates a double edged sword to trouble shoot Did I program wrong or is there a hardware issue? My goal is eventually to us the Arduino board to interface my PC to a model railroad I want to build.
Thanks again for the thoughts about VB.