July 14th, 2006
The day after I last wrote, we did make it to the Loretta Lynn campground, near Waverly TN, and it was just what you might expect from the name. It had a great swimming pool, where we played around for a while, gratefully (yes, it was still in the high nineties with a heat index hovering around 105), and it had a washer and dryer so we could do our clothes, and showers with hot water. What a treat! The whole camp had a very country/cowboy flavor, with a separate horse camping area, gift shops, tours of her house, a museum, an old mining tour, club house, basketball, a creek that we could wade in, paddleboats, and soda fountain – where we killed time out of the heat by ever so slowly drinking a root beer float and looking at all the food and supplies. The heat was really overwhelming, but we did enjoy the campground (other than the rather large number of flies and mosquitoes, and then huge bugs in the washrooms). We got a spot right next to the creek.
We needed ice, so we took a tour into Waverly, which was the closest town, and what a difference it was! The town itself had a great feeling and a lot of atmosphere in the downtown area. We got directions to a Wal-Mart, and again, what a difference! Compared to the lack of services and goods in Iuka, Mississippi, the most recent Wal-Mart, this one had everything, and I mean everything, including organic food and a selection of energy bars. While still a working-class clientele, there seemed to be a great deal more sophistication in the store. The accent is still very southern, but more country now than southern, and is easier to understand. We hated having to go back to the tent to deal with the heat, so we made a normally short shopping trip into at least a two-hour event! Alex got going on a comic stand-up routine about macaroni and cheese, and Wal-Marts, and we stood and laughed until we nearly cried.