When I spoke at the Parkers Crossroads Kennerly-Cupples Lectureship in spring, I was a fortunate author — we had a great crowd, and I enjoyed talking with folks afterwards. I was signing my book, “Soldiers, Saints & Sinners.” My new book will be out in October 2017, “Echoes and Footprints.”

Last year when I went to speak, the skies opened with pouring rain, and it was perfect weather for ducks, not so much for people! But this year, the weather cooperated.

It makes you remember those soldiers who fought in the Civil War and had to endure whatever Mother Nature tossed at them, plus gunfire and cannon fire! Imagine walking through pouring rain in a wool uniform and getting soaking wet. Imagine the cold snow in winter leaking through holes in their boots!

As a retired Army captain, I’ve always been interested in how soldiers of other times survived and endured. That has certainly had an effect on my chosen topics.

But it’s the characters of those times who made history and whose actions may have changed the paths we walk today! I think of Roscoe Turner who flew with his pet lion; of the Holy Cheat, a con man from England whose mellifluous voice enthralled the women of his church congregation — he ended up in prison. And what about John Burton Tigrett, entrepreneur, and Steve Fossett, pioneering pilot who flew around the world, or the Music Men . . . Carl Perkins, Eddy Arnold and Sonny Boy Williamson. So many stories to tell and so little time, which rushes on so we cannot step into its river of events more than once and live them. But I’ll ford the river in words and share the tales.

To find out more about Parkers Crossroads Battlefield, you can email pcvc@att.net. If you’ve always wanted to tour the battlefield, go out I-40 East and turn onto Hwy. 22 at Exit 108. Take a left onto Federal Lane.

I promise if you love history, you’ll find this a welcome excursion through time!