279 miles today. This is a driving day. No museums! The sun came out around noon time. We were on I-81 and I-40. The hills continue to be gently rolling. I-40 always makes me nervous with fast moving tractor trailer trucks only inches from us. At least it isn't' snowing like the last time.
We passed this sign that intrigued me: Hungry Mother State Park. We didn't stop but I found a story on the internet.
The Legend of Hungry Mother
Legend has it that when the Native Americans destroyed several settlements on the New River south of the park, Molly Marley and her small child were among the survivors taken to the raiders’ base north of the park. They eventually escaped, wandering through the wilderness eating berries. Molly finally collapsed, and her child wandered down a creek until the child found help. The only words the child could utter were "Hungry Mother." The search party arrived at the foot of the mountain where Molly collapsed to find the child's mother dead. Today that mountain is Molly’s Knob, and the stream is Hungry Mother Creek.
We saw these oak leaves at a rest area. I thought they looked purple.
Victory Baptist Church had this very large cross on the lawn.
From Bristol, we drove 385 miles. Weather is showery with wind gusts. We plan to camp at Loretta Lynn's Ranch just as soon as we find it! The GPS failed us by sending us off on old back roads. We asked for directions and followed a guy for a while but we lost him, too. It was getting dark by now and the anxiety level is ramped up. Finally, we got on a more traveled road and into the local town for more directions. In the end, the GPS had us to turn a half mile before the main Ranch entrance. Had we stayed on the main road, we only had another mile or two to go. Grrrrrr. The campground was in a pretty tree covered hill with paved sites. However, it was on a hill and it was a sharp turn to exit the site. I walked ahead while Sonny pulled out as I didn't want to watch!
On Monday, we asked the park host if we could leave our rig at our site while we took the Ranch tour. She kindly agreed so we drove out to the ranch where Loretta lives. She actually owns 3500 acres which is the whole town of Hurricane Mills, TN. I believe the Post Office is the smallest in the US. We aren't big followers of Loretta Lynn but Sonny listened to her music growing up. I'll continue with our tour in the next post.
