The Official (only!) Newspaper of The Red River Gorge Vol. 6 No. 5 Adventure ~ Relaxation ~ Accommodations ~ Awe Inspiring Natural Beauty ~ Friendly People
Freedom Isn’t Free! No amount of money can buy freedom; it has to be achieved by people, mostly young people, willing to sacrifice comfort, safety even their own well-being so we as Americans can enjoy the uniquely American way of living. The envious freedoms and prosperity unequaled in history, found nowhere else on earth. W are truly blessed!
Don’t Forget ‘Em!
Politicians, judges, lawyers, talking heads, journalists; even the police don’t guarantee your freedom. It’s the young people in uniform who do. They secure your liberty at great cost to themselves. In sacrifice, loneliness and some times the ultimate selflessness! Don’t forget - it’s them who deserve your gratitude!
July 2026
Happy 250th Birthday
A merica !
In the summer of 1893, Katherine Lee Bates, a professor at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, left Wellesley to teach English in Colorado Springs at the Colorado Summer School. Not long after her arrival several of her fellow teachers invited Bates to come along with them on a day-long trek to the summit of nearby Pikes Peak. By now, she knew all about Pikes Peak; if you’re in Colorado Springs, the mountain is visible from almost anywhere. It rules the skyline! So Bates jumped at the chance to experience the mountain firsthand. They traveled in a wagon pulled by a team of mules but it was still a long tiring journey. It took most of the morning to travel those 150+ curves in the road’s 19 miles from base to summit. Katherine was exhausted when they finally reached the top. However, one glance at the beautiful landscape stretching in every direction overpowered the tiredness. She was awe struck, having never seen anything that came close to the spectacular landscape that lay before her. From the perfect vantage point, she could view the majestic purple mountains to the west. A turn of the head and there in the east, the vast prairie and endless fields of wheat, the amber grain waving in the gentle breeze of west Kansas. Katherine Bates was a well published writer and poet, talents which gave her a vision that begged to be shared. Later that evening after a much quicker trip down, she felt compelled to compose a poem that would capture what she had felt while gazing upon a land that seemed to go on and on in every direction. A land of unbridled beauty and promise. Thankfully, she created a poem that would quickly catch the hearts of Americans all across the country; then and to this day. Actually, from sea to shining sea. The poem’s lyrics and natural rhythm attracted scores of musicians who set it to a variety of different tunes over the years. Samuel A. Ward published the poem set to a tune called “Moderna.” Nowadays we know that song as “America The Beautiful”. Jerry Ison Thank you Katherine Lee Bates.