It was late July in the Texas Badlands, a time of year Wyman Meinzer says turns his home into a "hell hole of a place." We sat in his living room drinking whiskey and talking politics. We were both sweating a bit despite the best efforts of the air conditioning, but managing to get a few laughs in between fits of intense conversation meant to solve the world's problems. Wyman and his wife Sylinda had spent the day with three of their grandchildren, leaving the house cluttered with dolls, juice boxes and the like. Just another sign of changing times for my friend Wyman. He's 67 now and gone are the days when he lived in the old dugout, trapping coyotes and bobcats. Gone are the wild days when he crashed planes and crawled into rattlesnake dens. Things are slower now in Benjamin, Texas, and Wyman is enjoying telling his story rather than furiously writing more chapters. He doesn't mind petting the cat, drinking some whiskey and just talking. He's got enough stories to tell that he and I could fill a lifetime of evenings like this, and I'd be happy to do just that.  Sadly, I don't get all that much time with Wyman, so I'm happy to have recorded this podcast. I'll listen back to it quite often I'm sure, when I'm in need of a reminder of what hard work means and how much I can still achieve in this life. In this episode we cover just about all of Wyman's life and times, and gathered some perspective on how he made it. Enjoy.

 

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