Just like children on summer break, Lori Casey and Kate Pleasant get to spend their days outside when school is let out for the summer.

“It’s always a really nice day to be out and about,” Pleasant said. “Most people have to be inside and work and we get to be out on the road.”

Casey and Pleasant are the videographers, producers, writers, editors and hosts for Heartland Highways on WEIU.

Heartland Highways is a local travel program in which unique people and places are featured.

“We’re the guys that make the DVDs to send out when people order them,” Pleasant said with a laugh. “It truly is our show so when we put it out there. It’s our heart and soul.”

The show was started about 12 years ago when Casey recreated Heartland Highways from a show she did in Minnesota.

“When I got hired by WEIU, they wanted me to do the same type of program, but an Illinois version,” Casey said in an email.

Pleasant said she joined the “crew” during season six in 2007, but before she was a student at Eastern and a part of the news program.

“That’s where I really found my passion for story telling, and that’s what translates now with what I do with Heartland Highways,” Pleasant said. “I mean, so many times we say people don’t go to things that are right in their own town.”

Most people try to visit big, well-known attractions and cities, she said.

“What we do with this show is bringing back to the fact that there’s all this really great stuff right here in your own backyard,” Pleasant said.

Pleasant, who is originally from Robinson, said before she started working on the show, she traveled frequently.

“My family likes to travel,” she said. “We weren’t much of homebodies. Even on a Saturday afternoon, we wouldn’t sit at home.”

Pleasant said she and her family would drive around the country side and find something new to do in town.

Her inspiration for segments of Heartland Highways often come from her drives in the county with her husband and son.

“We go out on Tuesday nights,” Pleasant said. “You just never know what you’re going to find. I’ve found stories just out driving like that.”

Casey said when she was a child, her family traveled west and stopped at many historic sites and national parks.

“That’s probably where I got my love of travel,” she said.

Pleasant said it is hard to choose which experience she has had to be her favorite.

“We’ve interviewed more than 400-500 people over the course of this show,” she said.

Pleasant said a couple of years ago, she and Lori did a segment on a circus in Bloomington.

“It’s not like your traditional, animals type of circus,” she said. “It’s acrobatics and things like that.”

The circus members let Casey and Pleasant try out the trapeze, Pleasant said.

Casey said her favorite experience was from the most recent season.

“I really enjoyed the story on the Arcola Walldog project where a group of mural painters came down for five days,” she said.

She and Pleasant met people from Scotland and New Zealand for that segment.

“It’s not your typical workplace, and it’s never your typical work day at Heartland Highways because we get to do things like that,” Pleasant said.

Pleasant said on average, she and Casey will travel about 100 miles for a segment.

“It’s thousands. I can’t even fathom a guess,” Pleasant said about how many miles in total.

Besides working on three segments for every one of the 13 Heartland Highways shows, Casey and Pleasant are responsible for producing client-produced commercials and other local television shows.

Since she and Casey started working together, Pleasant said they have grown to work harmoniously.

“It flows really well, and we kind of know what each other’s going to do so we don’t waste time trying to figure out who’s doing what, we just know because we’ve been working together long enough now,” Pleasant said.

Pleasant said it is surprising so many people recognize her, especially so far away.

She said the show is broadcasted farther than Champaign.

“It’s really humbling,” Pleasant said. “It’s so nice when someone says, ‘I watch your show.’ To do something that people really like, there’s a lot of gratification.”

Amanda Wilkinson can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].