Lawton Is So Diverse, Hearing A Southern Accent Is Odd

I've lived in so many places in my life, I never really had the chance to develop an accent for myself. At least, I don't hear one until I get really tired on those long fishing trips. But I hear accents in all the places I spend my time at. Small towns all over Southwest Oklahoma all sound similar in that drawl, but it's not something I hear very often here in Lawton. That's not to say you don't hear accents in Lawton, believe me, I hear them too. You'd know instantly that one of my buddies is from New York long before he goes full-vegan and tells you about how he's from New York. But I don't hear that Southern Accent much.

A few days ago, I was tired from working in the yard and decided to call a burger in over at Wayne's. The little voice that answered the phone had the biggest twang in it I've heard in a long time. For a moment in time, I thought "Was this a Tennessee accent?" but as she repeated my order back, I wasn't sure. It took me back to a much younger place in life where that Southern drawl was the norm, and anybody without it was probably just a visitor from somewhere else. I was going to ask her where she was from, but forgot all about it when I smelled my burger steaming from that white paper sack.

What about you? Do you hear that Southern accent here in town very often? Or am I just not exploring the right places?