May 7, 2003
Excited about a possible outlaw road trip. I left a message on Dave Daiss’ phone yesterday about wanting to do a photo shoot for the Turkey Creek Canyon shootout for Classic Gunfights. The outlaws were using smokeless powder and the posse could not get a bead on Will Carver who was shooting from a rocky knoll with brush in front of him. Carver dominated the entire fight, basically whipping a seven man posse all by himself. I told Dave I wanted to do a photo shoot, somewhere around here of a rifleman in a similar environment shooting with black powder and then with smokeless powder so the reader can visualize just how hard it is to spot a shooter using smokeless powder. Dave left a message on my phone last night saying, “Hey, let’s drive to Turkey Creek Canyon and shoot it on the exact spot.” That is so Dave Daiss and that’s why we call him Mr. Unstoppable. He’ll take off at the drop of a hat and I love that about him. Trying to figure out when I can go (I need to get these damn shots over with).

Good staff meeting yesterday. Went over the parameters for the Christmas Gift Guide. Sales wants it be total whoreville, while editorial wants it to be separate, or as far away from editorial as possible. We may go with an “advertorial” section.

Also discussed the next cover image and came back to Pancho Villa. Bob Brink’s advice is: “Sometimes you’ve got to roll the dice.”

Meghan and I worked on the True Cowgirl photo layout. We want to emulate the old Life magazine layouts and Gus brought in some classics for us to look at and steal from.

Kathy and I drove in for my shot at six, stopped at Paddock Pools and got a pool cover ($85) so we can warm up the pool enough to swim laps. Shot went good, hope it’s one of the last ones.

It's Deena's birthday today. She's 23.

“Fortune favors the brave.”
—Tobias Smollett