NEW DIARY-STYLE POSTS + Lunch with a day-old friend and arriving in Tulsa, OK!

I thought I’d change up my blogging format a bit and instead of just recalling restaurants and experiences that I had, as long as three months ago, I will start to keep a record of my journey, diary style.

My decision to switch up the format has a lot to do with feeling like much of my restaurant coverage is repetitive. Granted, I had never considered myself a writer before or during this trip but let’s face it, that’s essentially what I’ve become. I believe that forcing myself to write at the close of each day will not only (hopefully) make reading along more interesting for you but will also perhaps make me a better writer. Also, I’m officially entering a part of the country with far fewer vegan restaurants and so there will be far less to recount in terms of food. However, I intend to deepen our relationship (yes – yours and mine) by giving you a more in-depth look into my day to day life of writing, driving, eating, scheduling meet ups, finding places to sleep, places to pee, and places to brush my teeth. I’m also really excited because my mom and a couple of friends will be joining me on the road, each separately, over the next few weeks and as a result my days will be far more entertaining. :)

Despite this diary-style format I will tell you that these posts will likely go out several days or weeks after I’ve been in the location(s) that I’m writing about. This is both to ensure I have content consistently streaming out of wtfveganfood.com for you and for general safety reasons. You know.

I haven’t truly decided on the writing style I’ll move forward with. That is to say, if I’ll mostly talk directly to you or to myself. Perhaps it’ll be a little of both. We’ll find out together. But I like talking to all y’all (I’m not out of the south yet!).

One more thing – I obviously have a lot of catching up to do on all the restaurants and places I’ve visited between this here blog post and the last one that was published to this website. Therefore, going forward, you’ll find a smattering of older blog posts mixed among and between these new diary-style posts. I’ll try to remember to include notes atop each post to help keep things straight but if all else fails please refer to the “schedule” page to see where I’ve been and where I’m headed next. The restaurants that are highlighted are ones that I’ve written about. You can scroll over and click on the name of the restaurant which will direct you to the associated blog post. :)

So. Now that I’ve laid it all out there I’m happy to present to you my very first “diary” post as part of Will Travel For Vegan Food.

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September 18, 2012

Oklahoma – OKCity Whole Foods Rocks, Norman is a cool town, Tulsa has potential

It’s currently 9:10PM and I’m sitting in the back of Gerty (my van), on the built-in bed. I’ve put up the black-out curtains so that no one can see in or out and I’ve got the cigarette lighter inverter plugged in, and my computer cord plugged into that, so the computer will remain charged. I landed a boss parking spot just around the corner from a pretty cool coffee shop on a busy main road, just outside the city of Tulsa. And by “boss” I mean, I am able to access their free wifi from the van. Don’t worry! I had spent a couple of hours in there earlier today and purchased a drink. Hey, I’m living out of a van and off of donations, give a girl a break. ;)

[Side note: Ooooh, I already like writing this way more. I like recounting the day! I’ve come to mildly dread the repeat style of all my blog posts to date. Hooray for a fresh outlook!]

Anyway. Where was I? Oh yes, so I’m here. In the van. It’s nearly pitch black in here with just a mild glow, from street lights, peeking through a few breaks in the curtains that separate the front and back of the van. I wonder if the glow off of the computer screen can be seen? Ethan (my first travel buddy) and I tested this out waaaay back in the beginning of the trip. I’d sit inside with my computer on and he’d walk around the outside to check for breaks in the curtains. I trust everything is still working properly.

I arrived in Tulsa around 5PM today, after having lunch with Noelle at The Earth Cafe in Norman. Noelle and I met via Instagram (IG) less than twenty four hours ago. Haha! It’s true. Oh how I love social media! Last night I had dinner at Matthew Kenney in Oklahoma City and posted a picture of my meal to my IG account (@wtfveganfood). One of our mutual vegan food friends, who also happens to own Sweet Pea Cafe and follows us both on IG, noted that I was in OKC. Noelle responded by saying that she had just left work — she’s the pastry chef at Matthew Kenney! — and was sorry to have missed me. Within a couple of exchanges we had arranged to meet for lunch at Earth Cafe today. And that was that! Noelle has a massive number of followers on IG due to her beautiful food photography. You should check it out, her IG handle is @likeitraw. So THAT was super cool. Like.. REALLY cool. I can’t say I’ve ever met someone via social media twenty-four hours before meeting them in person. And someone who is so awesome to boot. Love it!

A cup of the soup special: potato, kale, quinoa, onion, and carrot. It was a bit too salty for my taste but had all the right ingredients.

I think this is called the Über Super Burger. It’s a vegan patty with a layer of Daiya cheese, lettuce, tomato, sprouts, and avocado. I also got a side of carrots with an amazingly awesome vegan ranch dressing. The burger was good – lots of flavor and very filling.

Matthew Kenney was actually the only all-vegan restaurant that I knew of in OKC until I had lunch with Noelle. She told me about a brand spankin’ new raw restaurant in Broken Arrow, which is close to Tulsa. And I was already planning to check out another vegan-friendly restaurant in Tulsa anyway. So it worked out. Unfortunately both restaurants have unusual hours, and yet they have the same exact hours, somehow. Haha… 11AM-3PM M-Th and 11AM-9PM F. Open until three? Ugh.

Given that I arrived in Tulsa at 5, and before realizing how early either place closed, I planted myself in a coffee shop, this time it was to catch up with a long time pal. My friend Connie and I have known each other since we were… shoot, I don’t know, twelve or so. Even though we’ve never lived in the same place (even as kids) we’ve always found a way to maintain our close friendship. So this evening we had a Skype date. I talked quietly into the mic on my earbuds while we discussed life, being sick on the road, work, school, and boys. It was quite lovely.

I then realized that it was 7PM and I should check the hours of the restaurants I came here to see. “11AM-3PM.” Darn. The other? “11AM-3PM.” Crap. Haha

Thankfully I had leftovers from lunch so I went back to the van and watched What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, via Netflix, while finishing my leftovers for dinner.

Another great thing about my parking spot and location is that this coffee shop is open until midnight, which means I can go in and grab a drink and have a tinkle before bed. Perfect. It’s even more perfect because I think I left my Go-Girl at a hotel a couple of nights ago. I brought it in to clean it, of course!

Hmm… that reminds me. I have to pee. Alrighty. Well. I’m going to pack up this here computer, go into the coffeehouse, buy a drink, use the restroom, sit for a minute to start writing my second post about Louisville, and then come back to the van to sleep.

Goodnight, my beautiful, lovely, wonderful readers. I’ll write again tomorrow.

Eat well. Travel often.

xo