The day started early as we got up and were checked out by 9:00am. We made a few stops for some quick shopping .. Smoky Mountain Knife Works, Lodge Cast Iron and a Russell Stover (chocolate!) outlet. The knife store was amazing. The store was massive and there were so many knives it was hard to choose just one.
We got onto I-40 going westbound, and headed for Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. Our stop for tonight is Loretta Lynn’s campground and we are staying on her tour bus ($150 USD). I’ve always wanted to visit her ranch and when I went to her website, it said that you could rent her old tour bus for the night. It’s the one that was in the movie “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (with Sissy Spacek and Tommy Lee Jones).
We decided to take the guided tour of Loretta Lynn’s former home. The tour also included a recreation of her parent’s home in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky and the simulation of a coal mine. Before the tour got started, Joannie (our tour guide with the Loretta-type drawl) informed us of some rules. No smoking, drinking or picture taking. A southern lady(?) on the tour then asked “Can you chew tobacco?”, and Joannie’s answer was yes .. but only if you swallow it. We knew right then that this would be a fun tour!
We boarded the tour bus to go to Loretta’s house. You only get to tour the main floor but it’s fascinating to see. The house is left exactly as it was when Loretta and Mooney (Loretta’s husband) moved out. They didn’t move very far .. right behind the plantation house, to a smaller more modern house, which you could actually see from the kitchen window of her old house. And her new tour bus was parked out back, so we suspect she was just a few feet away from us!
After the house tour, we did the “Coal Miner’s Daughter” museum tour. Loretta kept everything … every award, costumes, gowns, gifts from fans, etc. She has enough interesting momentos to rival even Elvis!
After spending the afternoon touring, we had dinner at Loretta Lynn’s Country Kitchen. It was good old fashioned home cooking.
Now I sit here, enjoying the summer evening, working on the blog. We’re going to have a campfire later.
Continued later …
We went and bought a bundle of wood, made ourselves a roaring campfire, and had a great time sitting around the fire with our camping neighbors. They were from Indiana and Georgia, and gave us marshmallows and fresh Georgia peaches, in exchange for sharing our campfire. We had tons of fun, and lots of laughs.
If this is camping, I like it. I like the electricity in the bus, I like Dish TV in the bus, I like all the conveniences of home!
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