Chicago travel adventures
The University of Chicago team has had some unfortunate adventures while traveling to quizbowl tournaments.
The Deerslayer
At some point before the 1999-2000 school year, John Sheahan hit a deer with a rented car, possibly while driving to Deep Bench.
2000 Deep Bench at Minnesota
The Chicago team learned that if you're going to speed in Wisconsin, you'd better do it for real. The car that drove 115mph from Chicago to Minneapolis did not receive a ticket, while the car that drove 90mph received a $240 ticket (probably because they were also cited for weaving).
2001 SCT at the University of Iowa
Several problems arose when the University of Chicago team ventured to University of Iowa for the 2001 NAQT SCT on a very snowy weekend. On the way to the tournament Friday evening, one of the team's vans was detained for several hours in Davenport, having been told that all roads west of Davenport were closed. (This was not true.) Saturday morning was free of travel issues (for the Chicago team, at least; Northwestern drove one of their cars into a ditch), but Saturday night was not. One of the team's vans (the same one that got stuck in Davenport) was passing through Naperville on the way to Chicago. A car ahead of them (car 1) slowed down to rubberneck at an accident along the side of the road. The car behind the rubbernecking car (car 2) rear-ended it. The driver of the Chicago van (car 3) managed to come to a sudden stop on the icy road, avoiding a collision with the cars ahead of it. Just when the van's occupants had breathed a sigh of relief, the van was rear-ended (by car 4), pushing it into cars 1 and 2. A fifth car was also involved in the accident (possibly by rear-ending car 4?). One Chicago player was taken to the hospital for stitches on her face, but everyone else was fine (if a bit shaken up, as evidenced by the driver of the car giving an incorrect name and date of birth to the police). The driver of car 4 later decided to sue everyone involved in the crash, despite being more at fault for the accident than Chicago was, which made sorting out the insurance issues with the rental company rather complicated.
2001 Deep Bench at Minnesota
The Chicago team learned that Minnesota has the most amazing gas stations in the world. After the (astonishingly terrible) tournament, they returned to find that one of the tires on their van had gone flat. Six players worked together to locate the spare tire (um, this took about an hour), only to find that it was a donut tire. Since the prospect of driving back seven hours on a wee little tire did not appeal to anyone, Chicago drove to a gas station to get the tire patched. Oh, what a gas station! It had two stories, including a lounge area with a big-screen TV. In addition to snacks and tire patching kits, the gas station also sold artwork; several paintings were advertised for $3000 each. It was with regret that the Chicago team departed this oasis to make their trip home.
2001 DSHIT
The Chicago team learned that paper tickets, unlike e-tickets, need to be taken with one to the airport. Oops.
2005 Michigan MLK
A Chicago team was booked in a Holiday Inn in Ypsilanti, MI without functional heating. In February.
2007 Michigan MLK
A Chicago player struck a bold blow against gender stereotypes and (allegedly) cried his way out of a speeding ticket.
2008: the Year of Damon Wang
Damon Wang managed to miss trips on two separate occasions by budgeting insufficient time on public transportation: once to Union Station and once to Midway Airport. Damon and Kannan Mahadevan (who was turning in his B.A.) both missed their flights to 2008 ACF Nationals, leaving both Chicago A and Chicago B as three-player teams. Chicago A managed to win the tournament anyway.
2014 VCUO
In 2014, Max Schindler wrote a liveblog with John Lawrence as they traveled to 2014 VCU Open. The trip produced many classic anecdotes and has been immortalized in the "Best of the Best" subforum.