The Coal Miner's Daughter

6-30-07

Today, we drove and drove and drove and drove, but we made good time, and made it to Loretta Lynn’s Ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee. When I was young, I saw Coal Miner’s Daughter, and I have loved Loretta Lynn ever since (although as a kid I used to picture her as Sissy Spacek). The first LP I ever bought was Loretta. I saw her perform a few years back in Reno. So I thought it would be cool to visit her ranch, and I found out online that she has an RV park as part of her ranch.

Now that I’m here though, I think that I feel differently. It feels so artificial. It has the feeling that Loretta made her ranch into a campground/museum, etc. of her life because she wants to reach out to her fans that want to be a part of her life, but at the same time, it seems strange. Everyone here would love to get the chance to meet Loretta, but I just have no desire to meet her as a gawking tourist. I’ve never been the kind of person to get autographs from famous people, and I guess I feel kind of cheesy being here. Tomorrow, I will get my picture taken in front of the Coal Miner’s Daughter gate, and I will probably go though the museum of her life. But I think that this will be my only experience with trying to glimpse into the life of a star.

I still love Loretta though.