I'm not sure how many people are on the list, but photographer Wade Harris and I are now among those in a building that was hit by a tornado. A whole slew of Kentucky fans are now also on that list.

Thursday was largely a travel day where we drove to Atlanta from Louisville. When we got into town we checked in, set up shop at the Georgia Dome and then grabbed a bite to eat. Kentucky fans were already making their presence felt, and we saw Patrick Patterson along with a couple of other Wildcats walking the streets near the Hard Rock Cafe. UK had a first round bye and used Thursday to prepare. We shot some stuff for Good Morning Kentuckiana, and then, after some technical challenges, fed video at 11:10pm. We have editing equipment set up inside the Geogia Dome, and we're doing live shots and feeding tape out of WTVQ's truck in Lexington. They were incredibly helpful.

Knowing we had an early start planned for Friday we hustled back to the hotel hitting the pillow at around 1:30am. Working as an anchor for GMK I'm used to getting up early, but I'm not too acustomed to staying up late. On this trip we learned to do both.

Friday started with a phone interview for Good Morning Kentuckiana at 6:30. Since I'm used to getting up at 2:30 am the wake up wasn't bad. Now it was time to start turning stories for the rest of the day. The plan was to do preview stories at 12noon,12:30, 5:00pm, 6:00pm, 6:20 sports and then to cover the game. The game was scheduled to tip at 9:45, but the scheduled 9:45 tip on Thursday didn't actually start till 10:15pm. We now knew that Georgia would be Kentucky's first round opponent.

We headed back over to the Georgia Dome at around 9:30. After checking in with the WTVQ crew we went to work shooting video, doing interviews and writting stories. We edited our noon stuff, and did a live shot at 12:30. Now famished, it was time to get some grub. The Georgia Dome had a nice spread for the media.

Now nourished and rejuvinated we went to work on stories for the evening newscasts. Wade and I had some fun with fans of other schools by asking them if they're *really secretly* Kentucky fans. They were not!

After more shooting, more writing and more editing we made it through the early evening newscasts looking good. We figured we even had time for a nice meal before we came back to the arena for the game. Time for a steak!

Tornado Time!!!! When we got back to the arena Wade said he was going to wait in the arena area for Kentucky to take the floor. It was a decision that led to some great pictures. Local television stations are not permited to shoot video of the game, so few cameras are ever actually in the arena area outside of the network game cameras.

I headed into the media video feed area to get our equipment ready for recording the game. I walked into the bathroom to wash my hands and was at the sink when white dust started falling on my head from the ceiling. It was bizarre, and I had to check myself to make sure I wasn't loosing my mind. I didn't hear the sound of the tornado, but I later learned that Wade did. And yes, he said it sounded like a train.

I walked out into the arena still not knowing what was going on and there were people running towards me. Panic was in the air. Fearful that the building was going to collapse my first reaction was to get out. I headed for the back door, and a security guard said, "I wouldn't go out there". It was raining, the wind was blowing and there was debris flying around, so I headed back in.

When I reached Wade he told me what had happened inside. Two huge holes had been blown out of the Dome and the roof was sagging. I grabbed the microphone and together we started interviewing people about what they experienced. Basketball was now not the first thing on everyone's minds.

Fortunately, we had already set up a 1:00am feed from the WTVQ truck to feed stuff for the morning show Saturday. We would now use that Sat window to feed back tornado coverage.
I then went in search of our WTVQ crew to see if we could get on the air for 11:00pm live shots. Wade stayed in the arena. When I went outside I was shocked at the devastation. It was incredible. I was trying to call Wade to get him out to shoot pictures, I was trying to call the station to report on what I was seeing, and I was trying to call Jacob from WTVQ. I couldn't get a cell phone signal. There were about 25 thousand people inside also trying to make phone calls.

The station got in touch with Wade first, and he did a phone interview for the 10pm show. I was getting phone messages, but still couldn't get a signal out. To make things more difficult they were now not allowing anyone back into the Dome area. I had no way of communicating with Wade. Eventually we got back together and formulated our plan. I used his phone to do an interview with Doug for the 11, and he shot video outside.

When we got back together it was time to put together our story. Mississippi State and Alabama took the floor to finish it's game, and it looked like Kentucky might take the floor after all. They did not.

We fed our overnight story for the morning show, and then took more pictures of the devastation. When heading back to our hotel we ran into another problem. The streets around the hotel were all closed. The tornado had ripped right through downtown Atlanta. It's not often you see these urban pictures of tornado damage.

We finally got back to the hotel just after 3am and turned on the TV. We still didn't know when and where Kentucky would play. Rescheduling a major event like the SEC Tournament overnight is no easy task. The media found out the revised plan at around 5am. The tournament was being moved to Georgia Tech's campus, and fans were not welcome. Only family, friends, cheerleaders, bands, and media would be welcome inside. Gametime for Kentucky was 12noon. If they win they'll play again at 8:30pm.

After passing out I was awaken by the phone at 9am Saturday. One of our producer was on the other line asking if I could do another phone interview. I gathered as much information as I could and did the interview at 9:30. In a brilliant move Wade went to get breakfast. When he came back with French Toast I nearly kissed him. Wisely, we settled for a high five.

Some of our equipment was still at the Georgia Dome, but we gambled that we would be able to shoot pictures of the game with a camera. We didn't think the SEC could move the entire video feed opperation to the Alexander Memorial Coliseum overnight. Fortunately, we were right. We got to Georgia Tech's campus at around 10:10am and noticed a frenzy of activity. A sea of blue was already at the gates trying to find a way inside.

Some made it in, some didn't, and we knew that was part of the story we had to tell. The other part of the story was the bizarre nature of an SEC Tournament basketball game played in front of 1,458 people.

I'm sure you know by now, Kentucky lost the game in overtime 60-56. It was another gritty effort, but this time they came up just short. Now they'll cross their fingers and hope 18 wins is enough to get them in the NCAA Tournament. Most of the experts have them on the inside of the bubble.

As for our "Long Strange Trip" it was almost over. But first we had to get our reports back for the 6:30 and late newscasts. That too, ended up being a challenge.

Our editing equipment was still at the Georgia Dome. When we drove back over there the building was completely roped off. We had to find a way in to get our gear. Without it we had no way of editing our story. Through the loading dock we found our way under the Georgia Dome. The place was an absolute mess. Daylight made it very clear why they couldn't hold basketball games there.

Eventually we got our stuff and headed back to Georgia Tech to write and edit. WTVQ had moved their Sat' truck at 5:30 Saturday morning. We were scheduled to feed tape from 6:15 to 6:30 for the 6:30 newscast and for sports. It's never easy. WTVQ owns the truck and they get first priority. Their tape feed took us up to about 6:25. Our story was the lead in the 6:30 newscast. If it doesn't make it back our crew back at the station is in trouble. Obviously, there's a lot of stress on both ends in these situations.

In the end our news report made it back to lead the show, but our sports stuff for Kyle Draper still hadn't fed. WTVQ had a live shot at 6:30 and they again needed control of the truck. Wade was feeding, while I was in our car editing. After WTVQ cleared Wade fed the highlights while I was scrambling to edit the sound. Kyle got the material much later than any of us had hoped and some of the video on my standup was digitizing, and not air-worthy. So, Kyle had to edit Kentucky post game sound back at the station just seconds before his show. There was screaming, and maybe even some cursing on both ends. Isn't TV fun?

Now we had to run back into the arena to shoot some video for the 10pm and 11:pm newscasts. Our feed to get that back ended at 7:20pm. Just a little extra stress to end a challenging trip.

In the end, it's a trip we'll never forget. But it's not the slam dunk we were hoping for. For starters Kentucky could have won a game or two. Secondly, both Wade and I felt bad about the problems with our feed that put stress on our crew back in Louisville.

Some storms are avoidable, some aren't!