Max and Dave’s Excellent Adventure

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|| SportsShooter.com: News Item: Posted 2003-04-24

Max and Dave’s Excellent Adventure
Students and intructors gather at Churchill Downs for weekend workshop

By Max Morse, Brooks Institute of Photography

Photo by Max Morse, Brooks Institute

Dave Black shoots some pictures at sunset during the road trip from Chicago to Louisville.

Editors note: Max Morse and several other SportsShooter.com members, including many students and instructors like Dave Black, have decended upon Louisville, Kentucky (April 24, 2003) for the start of the 2003 Collegiate Sports Journalism Seminar at Churchill Downs.

The 2003 Collegiate Sports Journalism Seminar at Churchill Downs is finally here. After all the anticipation, myself and 14 other photojournalism students are ready for the races and pageantry. But I almost didn’t even make it.

All was going well as my flight from San Jose to Chicago’s O’Hare airport went smoothly. It was on time, the in-flight breakfast wasn’t horrible, and we got to watch a Sandra Bullock movie. All was well in the land as I made my way through the airport to my connecting flight. It was going to be a simple, hour-long departure to Louisville. As I got to the terminal, I even spotted Dave Black, an instructor at the seminar (and SportsShooter.com member).

We boarded the plane and were taxied out to the runway. Then, we heard those words that you hope to never hear on a plane. “Sorry, folks, we’re having a mechanical problem. We’re going to have to go back to the gate and get this repaired,” the captain belted over the intercom.

Once we arrived back at the gate, the captain told us to stay on the plane,

Photo by Max Morse, Brooks Institute

Dave Black shows off the cool cd he bought for the road trip, "Racing Songs."

and they were going to try and fix the problems quickly. Yeh, right. Within fifteen minutes, he was back on, telling us we needed to de-board … and we should probably take our stuff.

So, a crowd formed in the terminal, awaiting word on whether or not we were getting to Louisville. Within another fifteen minutes, they told us that the flight was cancelled, and that we should all make our way to the customer service desk. After the 100-meter dash of angry passengers landed at the counter, a whole new madness ensued.

United Airlines had possibly the least friendly woman in the world working with all the passengers, and so, after being yelled at, pushed aside, and sent to the end of the line, we had had enough. We rented a car and decided to drive from Chicago to Louisville.

Dave and I headed out into the great wide open in our purple Mazda 626, ready for the open road. Our first stop was in Lowell, Indiana. I don’t know if any of you have ever been to Lowell, but the banjos were playing. The Flying J Travelstore and Cookery was our stop for dinner. After a hearty helping of the greasiest buffet in the Midwest, we decided that we needed some tunes for the highway. After all, the rental car did come with a CD player.

Photo by Max Morse, Brooks Institute

Dave Black out front of the Flying J Travelstore and Cookery alongside the purple Mazda 626 rental car that took he and Max from Chicago to Louisville.

So, we proceeded to drop 50 bucks on a disc simply titled, Racing Songs, the newest offering from J-Lo, a George Strait live album, and two waters. We were once again ready to hit the streets of Indiana.

Flying down the freeway, blasting Racing Songs, we decided that we might as well try to shoot some pictures as the sun was setting. So we stopped along the side of our freeway, grabbed some gear and shot away. We actually made some nice pictures, too. Indiana can be beautiful country when the light is right.

Night fell and we kept on trucking. After a few more hours, and another round of Racing Music, we pulled into Louisville. A good eight hours later than our scheduled arrival. Hopefully things will go smoother with the return trip. If not, we always have our tunes, our 626, and the open road.

Related Links:

Max Morse's member page

Dave Black's member page

Collegiate Sports Journalism Seminar at Churchill Downs