Heartland Memories from David Lewis

http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/Boom!.mp3

In the midst of exquisitely brutal training to become a Navy Seal, a young man was asked why he persisted in the face of such agony. His reply?

“Because I get to blow stuff up.”

Ah, the fascination with making things go “boom”. Even in my advanced years, I have still been known […]

http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/TheOffering.mp3

Sunup was over an hour away when I crawled out of the tent onto the dew-slick grass. Stretching my back, I slowly walked to the remnants of last night’s fire and poked at it with a stick, stirring some feeble coals to the surface on which to place some kindling, needing warmth and not […]

http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/Blanche.mp3

In the 1950s, the southern portions of Illinois were often much farther south than a map might indicate. The pace of life in many of its parts was slower and more elemental than among the northern tribes, and a trip to that area could not only transport the traveler much farther south than he […]

Hoofbeats in the Fog http://heartlandmemories.com/bits/OldJoe.mp3

It was damp, it was foggy, it was chilly, it was perfect. My wife and I crunched our way across the gravel parking lot of the Jock’s kitchen heading for the racetrack. It was barely dawn, and we’d just had breakfast with LaVette Drummond, a 40-year old Louisianan, who looked […]