Super 8 Motel
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Tuesday, October 24

my buddy Matt and a Texas sunset

I'm waking up this morning in a Super 8 motel. There's nothing particularly unusual about that, of course, it's just that I didn't expect to be waking up in this particular town today. The tour through Texas, Louisiana and Florida has been going beautifully until last night when I hit a proverbial rock in the proverbial road.

It took the form of a literal rock in the literal road, roughly the size of a backpack (I told someone it was roughly the size of a Chihuahua, but they got offended, so let's say backpack). It seemed to be a chunk of the cement interstate that had been flipped out by a passing truck. It was sitting in the middle of the lane and there was no time or maneuvering space to miss it, so it crunched down the length of the van at 70 miles per hour. Two hours later the tow truck plucked us both from beside the highway and dropped Dan the Tan Van off at the hospital (i.e. the Chevy dealer in Lake Charles) and me at the Super 8. I'm currently waiting to hear back from Alex the mechanic as to Dan's prognosis. I'm scheduled to play at LSU in Baton Rouge tonight, so I'm hoping they can fix him up in time to get back on the road. If not, I'll get over there for the show by other means and get back tomorrow to get back on the highway, Lord willin' and the creek don't rise.

Actually, the creek not rising is as literal a concern as rocks in the road, as there has been extensive flooding here in the last week. Jason, who was driving the tow truck that rescued me, had moved to Illinois with his family after hurricane Rita decimated the area a year ago or so, and had recently moved back. He and his family watched the water rise again last week with real concern, but came through it OK. It's powerful to encounter people who are having real problems when I'm in the middle of what really amounts to more of an inconvenience. I wouldn't wish anyone the trouble, but it's a good reminder for me. I was talking with the desk clerk at the hotel when I checked in and found that he had spent a much harder day than I had, too, attending two funerals in one day, an old friend and a cousin.

So now I'm hanging out at the Super 8, and the bonus there is that I have time to write a note here. It's ironic that when I have the most going on and plenty of news I have the least time to write about it. And a lot has certainly happened since I last checked in: The new record is out and we had a blast with the release shows ('we' meaning the band and the dancers); I went back to Guatemala to check on some old and new projects; the new CD, Change, has hit number 11 on the Folk-DJ charts nationwide in the US (with airplay on XM radio and the works!), and I'm off to Germany next week for a tour there.

an independence day parade in Antigua, Guatemala

The Guatemala trip went very well. I went down by myself for this trip, the fourth time I've been down there. Deanna and I are hoping to make a longer trip next summer, and we look forward to that. I got to talk with a few people about some possible new projects, check in on one completed project - the preschool in Tzanchaj that was just finishing it's first year of operation, and visit a library at the Pedro Molina school in Chimaltenango. The latter is our latest project to get involved with, and it's an exciting one. The school that the library serves is on the campus of a teachers' school - training young poor Guatemalans (mostly Mayans) from all over the country to teach primary school. The school is located on an abandoned Guatemalan military base, which turns out to make a great school site, complete with barracks for boarding students, though the facility certainly needs some work. The students there are all government-assisted, and many come from small villages. The hope is that after graduation they can go back to their own villages and teach children there.

Rigoberto Zamora, the director of Probigua school, where Deanna and I studied Spanish on our honeymoon, has a vision to expand this facility into the central library of a small system with satellite libraries in smaller outlying communities nearby. That way the larger book selection could serve a larger and more remote population. The need was evident, with a small and tired book collection, and Rigoberto's track record with accomplishing these kinds of goals is quite impressive. When I got back I went through the numbers with the board and we decided to send $9100 for the project, which will pay two librarians' salaries for a year and buy $3000 worth of books.

Rigoberto and I talking with students at Pedro Molina

It was a treat to finally see the Tzanchaj preschool, which they named "Escuelita de Preschool David LaMotte," in operation with kids there. The teacher seemed to be doing a good job with them, and the kids looked happy.

I had a string of fun shows after Guatemala that led up to the release parties for the new CD, Change. It was great to play with Mike and River backing me up again, not to mention having 3DEF dance at the Grey Eagle. Those guys are so good. The Asheville Citizen-Times and Mountain Xpress both ran cool articles (click on the links to go to the articles). The coolest news about the new record, though, is that it charted at number 11 for the month of September on the Folk-DJ charts, behind Bob Dylan, John Gorka (who's singing on my record too), etc. Good company to keep. It's cool that the DJs are diggin' it.

Sam with his new fountain

I've just been in Texas for shows and a four day workshop with a bunch of Presbyterian pastors from the area. I brought my friend Paul Scouten in to put this workshop on with me. Paul's a coppersmith, and we each built copper fountains, and I led two creative writing classes each day. We had a blast, and I actually built a copper fountain. Too cool.

talking through a new poem

And now I'm in Lake Charles, Louisiana, hoping I can pick ride Dan the Tan Van on to shows in Baton Rouge and Florida before racing home to catch a plane to Europe. Life is unpredictable if it's anything. It's also sweet. So much to be grateful for in all of this - the fact that Dan didn't catch fire for starters, not to mention the little detail that I was able to get safely to the shoulder. Road life is always an adventure, and I don't suppose you can have an adventure without occasional rocks in the road, huh?

See you out there somewhere. Keep in touch.

David