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.

South By Southeast: Day Three Recap

My Wednesday started bright and early: up at 7am and out the door at 7:40. My first stop was to check out the Parthenon replica, which happens to be super close to where I stayed for the night. I saw it at night, but didn't take pictures.

I didn't go inside since it costs money.



From there, I headed to Cafe Coco to use their free wi-fi. I sipped a delicious soy chai while I internetted.

Cafe Coco is a REALLY cool place. If I lived in Nashville, I'd hang out here regularly. It was pretty quiet since I was there from 8:something until 10am, but they have a bar and a stage and vegan options!(They're open 24 hours.)



They also had some vegan options in the dessert case. The raw blueberry cheesecake looked so good, but not good enough to spend $7. Ho hum.

They are big honkin' pieces, though.

Two of the staff members were super helpful and friendly when I asked about where to go, what's a "must see" in Nashville, etc. Very cool people.


They have a really cool patio, too.

I did just a little more wandering in that neighborhood, then set sail for Wild Cow. I was really excited about this. I had originally planned to go with my Nashville host the night before, but they were closed.

It was really hard to choose what to order because everything sounded so good.

As delicious as their sandwiches looked, I knew I had to stay away because their gluten-free bread is sadly not vegan. After hemming and hawing for several minutes, I settled on the taco salad. They had me at Vegan Queso.
What came to my table was this gorgeous plate.

Man, that queso. It looks and tastes like the overly processed cheese-like substance that regular queso is made of, but I mean that in a good way! It's such a novelty, you know? And it was delicious. I was really digging their homemade ranch dressing, too. The only thing this salad was missing was extra tortilla chips and maybe another little scoop of beans. Otherwise, I enjoyed every bite of this taco salad.
The staff here were also very friendly and helpful when I asked questions about Nashville and if there was anything worth seeing between here and Atlanta. I got to chatting with the owner of Wild Cow, who is a really sweet lady, and she indulged my dorky food blogger side and opened up the dessert covers so I could take pictures for the blog.

Check out these GORGEOUS cupcakes!


And then this cake blew my mind (and also reminded me of a doughnut I had at Voo Doo just a couple of months ago).

They also had impressively big slices of RAW GERMAN CHOCOLATE CAKE (Amber, I'm looking at you!)

Sadly, I couldn't try them all, as my wallet and my stomach couldn't afford that much decadence. The owner kindly sent me on my way with a rosewater cupcake (the first one pictured) which I enjoyed thoroughly just outside of Chattanooga. (Seriously, I have never had a cupcake so moist and so fluffy. I felt like I was eating a sweet, sugary cloud. Loved it! It almost made me turn right around and go back.)
Other fun facts about Wild Cow:
* everything made in-house is vegan, but they offer some dairy products. The gluten-free items are made in a dedicated facility, and some are vegan, some are not.
* They have a nutritional yeast shaker. (Many vegans see this as a sign of a good restaurant.)

* I smiled when I saw this as the sign for the ladies room.

I was hoping to find Moby on the mens' room door, but it was some athlete.

So, in short, Wild Cow is awesome and will certainly bring me back to Nashville.

From there, I felt it necessary to check out the heart of downtown Nashville just because. I parked around 2nd & Broadway and milled about for not quite an hour (I had a meter to mind). I was there at high noon and the sun was beating down. There was quite a bit of foot traffic and a lot of buzz about the CMAs (which I later learned was happening that night). There was a camera crew setting up on the sidewalk at one point and a bunch of people hovering around. I'm guessing they were about to shoot a commercial for the awards show. I thought of my friend Adam and thought about sticking around to see what was going to happen, but I don't care about country music enough to stand around and find out. (Sorry, Adam.) Besides, this handsome little fella caught my eye.


Otherwise, downtown Nashville just wasn't my scene. Too much country, too much BBQ. Too much Elvis, not enough Dolly.




Back on the highway, pointed toward Chattanooga. Unfortunately, I didn't have the time or daylight to stop in the area and check out anything (Chattanooga is in the Eastern time zone, so I had that working against me, too). The drive was absolutely gorgeous, though. The trees aren't all naked yet, there were patches of colorful leaves here and there, and hilly enough to keep the drive interesting. There was a beautiful pink & purple sunset stretching across the sky as I entered Georgia.

Up next: HOTLANTA!

South by Southeast: Day Two (A Day Late)

Well, I missed blogging yesterday. Blogging on the daily isn't required for Vegan MoFo, they actually only suggest blogging at least 5 days a week, but I was so determined to post every single day in November. But let me say that it wasn't from lack of trying that I missed posting yesterday! At 11:30pm, I exhaustedly hauled out my lap top with the intention of posting just a quick snippet, but then I couldn't find a hole for the cable modem plug at a friend's house! Weird! I thought of blogging, though, and I think that counts.

Today is technically Day Three of the trip, but I'm posting about Day Two.

I took my sweet time leaving St. Louis, and actually ended up leaving an hour later than I had originally planned. My day started out with some fun kids boppin' around the house and a simply delicious breakfast, made with love by my host.
Tofu scramble and roasted potatoes

I'm not exaggerating when I say it's the best tofu scramble I've ever had. Whenever I make it myself, I always seem to be missing *something,* and it's never Quite Right. This was perfect. It may have been the salsa.

After lingering for awhile, I headed back out on the road, driving through a little more Missouri, then suffered through southern Illinois' 65 MPH speed limit on the Interstate.
Hello from a IL rest area!


I was pretty stoked to discover that the giant Superman statue in Metropolis, IL (the hometown of Superman) was just a few miles off course. Naturally, I made the detour.





That ate up quite a bit of time, and then I pulled over again when I saw this stud muffin on the side of the road.

Growl!

Back on the road, there was a beautiful sunset over the Ohio river, just as I drove into Kentucky. I've been trying to avoid driving in the dark because a) I don't have very good night vision, and b) DEER! Ugh, I was a little nervous going through Kentucky in the dark, but I survived. I met up with a friend in Nashville at the Smiling Elephant, which was recommended to me by a fellow vegan blogger.

I was easily talked into starting with a bowl of coconut soup. I love these bowls! (Are they still called bowls when they're not round?)

My dinner companion went with lemongrass soup, which was very good, but I'm quite partial to coconut milk.

We both ordered the vegetable stir-fry with tofu.

The veggies were crisp and I especially like the bamboo shoot "noodles." Tofu is always good. I love tofu.

The Curry of the Day was Panang, and I love a good Panang, but I didn't feel very confident that it could be prepared mild enough for my wimpy tastes. I figured I'd better play it safe since I'm on the road, didn't pack antacids, and was dining with a new friend, so I didn't want to have a runny nose all through dinner.


The gong was hit and we attempted to visit Cafe Coco, but there was a show going on nearby, which meant ZERO parking spaces. I was getting pretty tired, so we called it night shortly after that.

And that pretty much wraps up Day Two of my solo journey. I'm surprised at how much I enjoy traveling alone. With road trips, I love being a passenger, but if I'm the one driving, I feel more comfortable driving alone. (For some reason, I feel nervous when other people are riding in my car.) I've always felt happy and content on the road. Some sad thoughts creep into my mind from time to time (how could they not?), but I'm careful to listen to happy music (which has been challenging, since I'm partial to the sappy, mushy, broken-hearted stuff) and sing and dance along the highway. I'm having fun overall.

More to come!

PS. Don't forget to enter the Larabar giveaway!