The truckers are having no small amount of trouble staying in their lines tonight and I’m a little afeared for my Life. We’ve just passed a second broken down 18-wheeler on the side of the road with flares and (3!) orange triangles forcing the rest of the traffic over into the right lane. Somehow they loom out of the darkness with very little warning and I think that’s causing no small number of these close calls as the still mobile trucks suddenly swing from lane to lane – or sometimes just straddle the centre.
It’s only 12.30 in the morning and they’ve no right to be tired yet, and I’d expect the experienced truckers of the I-70 corridor to be far more alert than they are this dark Friday night. The weather’s finally clear, there’s no rain to cloud our vision, but the semis are just out of control.
Tonight we played one of our first good shows in Indianapolis. For the many years we’ve been passing through here, I can’t think of a gig that I’ve really not been disappointed with and I feel like during all this time we’ve never found a venue that really appealed to us, or a venue that seemed to be happy about us being there. Finally, tonight’s gig at Urban Element brought us into a hip environment with friendly staff in a downtown area that wasn’t as abjectly depressed as so much of Indy seems to be.
There’s actually a CITY in Indy! That’s definitely the danger of not exploring much outside of the venues one plays at – you get the impression that you’ve seen the whole city and that there’s nothing more to it. I think it was a huge relief to finally see a real downtown with city spires and lights and generally a couple of buildings that made me REALLY want to go back and check them out. The Public Library is an inspirational steel and glass monument to learning and the Indianapolis Artsgarden (?) was like a beautiful and fanciful flying saucer come to probe us with delicious enlightened delights.
Unfortunately, unlike EVERYTHING else in the world I didn’t photograph any of the above because we were a little bit lost. We’ve been a little bit lost a couple of times in cities on this trip and seen pretty things – and been in a position to totally be unable to photograph them.
We’re listening to Bryan Adams sing “Those were the best days of my Life… “ the summer of 69 – whatever the song is. It’s such a mixed tune for me, because it’s full of optimism and beauty and ending. I’m so amazed by my Life and I’m so glad I don’t really look back at any particular time and say “that – that was as good as it got!”. We’re still doing so much and seeing so many things – and there’s so much on the list. I’m listing towards Europe now, I want to try and get there before my brother leaves France. Heather and I make such amazing music together and touch so many people – I do kind of miss being on the road a little more hardcore, but the downtime of our current Lifestyle has certainly allowed for wonderful things as well. I Love having a home and… well… the cats are okay. Girlfriend? AWESOME even if I don’t go on about her in the Journal.
Hey – dear reader – some things ARE private!
We stopped at the truck stop in Brazil, IN and joined the grave shifters in a rousing
chorus of “King of the Road” before moving on with McDonalds and gasoline. The former a guilty pleasure and the latter a guilt-free fossil necessity. Three hours till Susan’s floor. Thank Saturn for cruise control.
