Hi Tim,
Wow ... are you ever in the middle of nowhere. There's not a major city within a few hundred miles of you!
Anyway ... I think the best approach is to use the outlets that are available to get a sense of the overall mattress construction that is best for you in terms of a comfort layer and a support core and which type of construction feels best for you (ie latex over either a latex, innerspring, or polyfoam core). If there aren't local manufacturers or retailers who carry the mattress you want or the value you are looking for ... then your testing can serve as a model for an online purchase.
There are a few outlets that carry latex near you so at least you have some testing grounds. They include ...
www.furniturerow.com/locations/locationsByState.jsp?state=Texas Regional factory direct manufacturer. Makes 2 Talalay latex mattresses called the aspen and the snowmass.
www.cartersfurnituremidland.com/dept_matresses.htm Retailer. Carries some mattresses by
Sleep Designs whichincludes their new Elemental sleep line (which include latex and memory foam). They also told me that they would call the factory if their spec sheets didn't include information about foam type or density.
mattresscityofmidland.com/ They carry the Boyd line (latex hybrids) and Enso (memory foam but lower density) and will provide "real" information about the materials in their mattresses as much aq possible. Boyd has both "engineered" latex (which is not latex at all but polyfoam) and mattresses that contain talalay but they will tell their customers the difference and not try to sell "engineered" latex as being real latex.
There are a couple of other "possibilities" (andI've included the brands that I would include in your research) in the area but these may require more research and questions to find out if they will disclose the details of the layers in their mattresses.
www.kingofbed.com/ Corsicana, Noah's (only a few but they may be adding more).
elrodsfurniture.com/Mattresses.html Big Spring, TX. Carry Sleep Design but none of the latex or gel yet (he's looking at them).
www.roomstogo.com/ CMG, Therapedic. I would be very careful here and only look at these two brands and only then if they provide real specs of every layer of the mattress. Like most chain stores ... the information available here may be limited and you may be subject to many "sales techniques". Never buy a mattress from a chain store on the same day as you are looking at them or based on "deals" or "sale prices".
Hope this helps. Feel free to post with any questions about the mattresses you encounter. Some information about your height/weight and sleeping positions would also help point to a blueprint for an online purchase assuming that the mattresses at these outlets are not what you are looking for.
Phoenix
