After a couple of days, Brent and I began making our way to his parent's home in Terre Haute, IN. While en route, our paths crossed with a truly amazing individual... Tom W. Tom is a former teacher and coach. He holds several advanced degrees (including a masters in astrophysics). Now retired, Tom was looking for a project... and boy did he find one. It seems that this former tennis coach was having a difficult time finding people to play tennis with him on his home court. That combined with a desire to travel freely and economically with his wife, led him to him to begin a truly spectacular project... Tom is building a 55' sailboat, from scratch... Out of steel.
He converted his tennis court into his dry dock, purchased the plans off of the internet, created all of the necessary hardware to construct the vessel, and began. From the keel up, he has constructed this marvel... All told, 13 tons of steel have gone into her construction. She is aptly named
Money and subject willing, I hope to revisit Tom this spring and photograph him with a completed
Our encounter with Tom and his wife proved to be our only "project" worthy encounter during our travels.
After spending the evening with Brent's parents in Terre Haute, we made our way over to St. Louis, MO, home of our alma mater, Washington University. While there, I made a portrait of the Clarke family. After the shoot, we made our way over to our friends' the Khazen's for a great meal. Brent's brother Dan was good enough to allow us to couch surf that night.
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| The Khazen's |
The next day we made our way to Omaha, NE... Stopping in Kansas City, MO to see our friend Nilesh and to dine on some world famous
Arthur Bryant's BBQ. We also stopped at the Chase candy company (home of
Cherry Mash) and the
Stetson hat outlet... Both in St. Joseph, MO.
We made it to Omaha late in the day, Friday, October 29th...
We spend some time hanging out with my mother that night, grabbed a drink with my friend Kelly, and prepared for Saturday's battle.
For those who do not know, Brent and I vowed in November 1997 (while watching the
Mizzou v. NEBRASKA game) that we, for the rest of our lives would view that game, together, in person. We both held true to our word and hit every match up... 12 years straight. Unfortunately, this was the last year... Nebraska has joined a new athletic conference and will no longer be playing Mizzou. In the end, the
Husker's were victorious and completed a record of
9 wins 3 losses during our 12 year run.
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| Traditional Pre-Game shot |
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| Ever confident Brent |
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| Scared Mizzou Tiger |
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| Nebraska Victory! |
After the game, we had some dinner with my mother and made our way out to celebrate Halloween.
Sunday (Halloween day) marked my 35th year on this earth. We celebrated with a nice brunch and steak dinner... And some sinful birthday cake.
We hung around Omaha for another couple of days, had lunch with my old friend Lisa and even found time to hit the
SAC Museum in Ashland, NE.
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SR-71 Blackbird
© Scott S. Clinton |
Wednesday came and it was time to once again hit the road. We made our way across Iowa, en route to Chicago, IL. While traveling through Iowa, we stopped off in Winterset, IA....
Birth Place of John Wayne
and location for the movie
The Bridges of Madison County. We had a nice lunch at the
Northside Cafe
and made our way over to Van Meter, IA and the
Bob Fellar museum (Brent's choice).
In Chicago, we met up some more old friends, Goofy, P-Do, and Jenni.
Jenni was not only good enough to allow Brent and I to crash as her place, but was also good enough to hire me to photograph her family. To thank her, I took us all to lunch at
Kuma's Corner, home of the greatest burger ever... The
CLUTCH burger.
From Chi-town, we made our way down to Lincoln, IL to see our old pal Don Cicci. He showed us around town and introduced us to the
Horseshoe Sandwich.
After a screening of
Almost Famous (which is one of my favorite films) and an all too short night of sleep, we made tracks back to Terre Haute, IN and the completion of Brent's portion of the trip.
Running behind as always, I made my way to Nashville, TN where I had a booking with our old friend Rachel. While there, I was also able to catch up with Sarah. So, after another all too short night of sleep (after honky tonkin w/ Sarah and her friends),
a successful shoot with Rachel's family, and meals at the Waffle House and
Carl's Perfect Pig, I made my way over to Knoxville.
Once again, I was running late. I met up with Casey, Crystal, Ricky, and Kary and proceeded to stay out entirely too late... Again.
Sunday came and so did another booking... Casey and Crystal's engagement portrait at the University of Tennessee's football facility. The shoot turned into a long one, but a good one. Well worth the time and effort.
From there, it was time to head back to Charlotte. Two weeks on the road had taken their toll on me. I was exhausted and ready to sleep in my own bed.
After a couple days of recovery, I made myself busy... Editing the 65+ Gigabytes of images captured on the trip. Like clockwork, my return to Charlotte also marked the return of my troubles. I keep trying to forget and they keep resurfacing. Time does not heal all wounds. Perhaps it will, however, deaden the pain.
Until then, next up... Houston, TX and the
Texas A&M v. NEBRASKA game!
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Lincoln, NE's historic Haymarket (at dusk)
© Scott S. Clinton |
