Plan C in Tennessee

Remember, a year and a half ago, when I packed up my clothes and cookbooks and journeyed solo down to Florida to start my life over? I didn't tell you about a little bump in the road I encountered in Tennessee.

When I knew that I was leaving Missouri, I put out a call to friends near and far, asking for hook-ups of couches to crash upon along my journey. (This was loooong before I joined CouchSurfer.) I knew for sure I had a place to stay in St. Louis and Gainesville, and I thought I was set in Nashville, too.

I had messaged an old friend on Facebook, a guy I briefly went to high school with, and we sorta-kinda kept in touch on Facebook. I told him the date I'd be rolling into town and he said it should be fine, he just needed to check with his wife because he thought his mother-in-law might be visiting.

And then he disappeared.

Nervous about where to stay, another friend of mine (who used to live in Missouri but was now living in Oregon) put me in touch with an old friend of her's from high school, saying he was really nice and totally legit. I spoke with him via Facebook message and we talked on the phone while I was in St. Louis. Ah, what a relief. I had a Plan B! He said he had to work late, but his girlfriend would be around and she was excited to meet me. He said he'd text me her phone number. He never did.

En route from St. Louis to Nashville, the guy texted me to say work was running later than expected and it might be really, really late before he got home. No worries, I said. Just let me know.

He never did.

Meanwhile, I had plans to meet with an Internet friend for dinner in Nashville. We met at a Thai restaurant, had great food and hilariously punny conversation. We hit it off famously. She asked where I was staying that night, and after I explained my interesting situation (I was constantly checking my phone for Plan B to contact me), she offered up her couch. A couple hours passed with still no word from Plan B (and of course, not a peep from Plan A), so I went with Plan C.

And thus, my friend Rae is the coolest person in Nashville.

Needless to say, after this experience in Nashville, I was a little nervous about what to expect in Atlanta, where a similar couch arrangement awaited me. That story will come next.