Why I Love Her
Posted September, 2001

by John Wayne

YOU ask me "Why I Love Her"? Well, I think it's pretty well explained with the words and music, but we can dwell a little more on it.

"From the mountains" (and we sure have them). The Adirondacks, the Catskills, the Cascades and the Great Smokies. The Grand Tetons, the Bitterroots, the Allegheny and the Blue Ridge. And let's not forget our Spanish sisters, the Sierra Madres and the Sierra Nevadas, and of course the big daddy of them all, the Rockies. No one in a lifetime could explore them all and I can't help but think of a few lines from a great song by Bob Nolan that the "Sons of the Pioneers" sing.

The desert breeze that brushed my hair,
The leaf that fell from who knows where,
The scent of wild flowers in the air,
Is just the touch of God's hand.

"To the prairie." Well, if you look westward from a Kansas prairie along about evening, you'll be amazed at what God can do with a sunset. Take a slow ride through Nebraska, stand in a field of tall Iowa corn or sample the cheeses of Wisconsin. Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio--names and places that spring from some of the richest soil in our known world. Rivers like the Ohio and wide Missouri funnel their waters into the mighty Mississippi, which in turn carries much of the bountiful prairie harvest to a needy world. Rivers like the Cumberland, the Osage, the Platte.

The settlements that spring into cities because of rivers such as those are a pulsating heart of America: St. Louis, St. Paul, Natchez, Omaha, Louisville and New Orleans. Their names are a part of our heritage and they grow stronger with each passing year.

"To the oceans, white with foam." The Oregon Coast--unforgettable--awe-inspiring during a winter storm. Massachusetts, with its Marblehead and Martha's Vineyard. And how about rip-roaring, always-moving New York City? The Eastern shore with Delaware and its apple orchards making you wish you were a kid again. The pine forests of North Carolina and the southern peaches of Georgia. Seems to me they still set beauty standards all over the world.

Watch a Hawaiian island sunrise from the old Lahaina Inn or Maui. Go ahead! Dream of old whalers and island kings! In this country you're free to go any place you want to go. From the Florida Keys to Alaska, from Hawaii to Maine, Americans move freely within her border and there's no one going to stop you.

Sure you have to pay your dues--but walleyed pike are waiting for you in Minnesota; backpacking for free in Washington, and watermelon's ripe and juicy in Mississippi. Dig for oysters in Maryland or go after steelhead in Idaho. Try shooting the rapids on the Colorado or picking blueberries in Maine.

Try your country on for size. It's free and it's a big order. I've been doing it for years and I can never get enough of America.