Best road trip stories (including Elvis) of Knox News columnist John Adams' hall of fame career

John Adams and Dan Fleser were about halfway through their 16-hour drive to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, in 2016 when they learned they were driving straight into a snowstorm.

The Knox News columnist and former Lady Vols writer were traveling to the NCAA Tournament regional to cover Pat Summitt and the Lady Vols. As they drove, Winter Storm Selene whipped across the United States, and would eventually dump 14.3 inches of snow in South Dakota.

If they had stopped in Illinois for the night as planned, they may not have made it to the Sweet 16 matchup with Ohio State. So they changed their plans on the fly and pushed on to Iowa City.

Road trips with Adams were always filled with hilarity, and as the hours of driving went on, an idea began to form. The name Winter Storm Selene made them think of singer Celine Dion and Adams came up with a song – just off the top of his head.

First, Fleser dedicated the song to Winter Storm Selene.

Then Adams began his ballad.

"I'll be waiting for you, in the storm coming through, and the temperature falls like the rain," Adams sang. "As it turns now to snow, but onward we go, unafraid of the world that's ahead."

"We just had this idea to do this, we need to do a video," Fleser said. "(Adams) nailed that thing in one take. I was stunned."

The lyrics flowed so smoothly and the melody felt so natural you would never know it came straight from Adams' brain. It was an all-time moment on the road during Adam's 50-year career as a columnist, which he'll be honored for when he's inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame on Thursday.

It was also a moment that summed up Fleser's thousands of hours traveled with Adams – it's a video worth 2,000 words, he said.

"It was just wonderful traveling with him for so many reasons," Fleser said. "I'm just so grateful that I worked at a newspaper with someone like him ... (as a columnist) he could big-time me and maybe have gone on a trip here and there, covered a game here and there – but he did so much more than that."

'He was a born opinion-maker'

Mike Strange was always a bit envious of Adams.

It was because Adams always knew he wanted to be a sports writer. Strange, who was Knox News' football writer before becoming a columnist, scrambled around in early adulthood, looking for the right profession.

"But John knew what he wanted to do. He practically was running the paper in his hometown when he was in high school," Strange said. "So, he had a very clear vision of what he wanted to be."

Strange started working at Knox News in 1983 and Adams arrived four years later. They spent 30 years working together until Strange retired in 2017.

"I was just impressed that John, he was a born opinion-maker and he’d never pull any punches," Strange said. "He had no compunctions at all with throwing it out there, saying exactly what he felt and basically being critical of people ... I always appreciated that John would be the bad cop and that let me be the good cop a lot of time."

Adams always went the extra mile, Fleser said, and his dedication to traveling with the Lady Vols wasn't lost on Summitt and later Holly Warlick. He was also always very conscientious about what he writes, and it was important to him to have a good take on something.

"He was unflinching in his look at the subjects that he wrote about," Fleser said. "I mean, you got an honest take from him, and it was thought-provoking. He wasn't a cheerleader for anyone, but I always thought he was fair in his opining. I just think he really cared a lot about his job."

Former Knox News sports editor Steve Ahillen felt like Adams' writing borders on courageous. People could be upset, but Adams never let that influence his writing. He also appreciated the "off the wall" humor and fun Adams injected into his writing.

"I was more concerned with the fact that he wrote well, that he had an opinion – you don’t want a columnist to be boring for anything," Ahillen said. "And John is definitely not boring."

Why you just had to be there for John Adams moments

Fleser got out and saw a lot on their trips because of Adams. They went birdwatching, on hikes, all kinds of things outdoors Fleser wouldn't have done on his own.

"That was great for me, because if I'd been left to my own devices on the road, I probably wouldn't have done near as much as I did with him," Fleser said. "Beat writers, you kind of get in your own little world and you get kind of insular ... my time away from the coverage stuff was so much better spent too, and so I was better off in so many ways having him on the road with me."

One of those times was when Strange, Fleser and Adams went to Tempe, Arizona, for the Fiesta Bowl following the 1991 football season.

While they were there, the trio took a trip to Sedona for a hike. It was filled with tourists, and Adams' schtick that day was being overly friendly to every person they encountered on the trail. Not just a "hello," but a bellowing "Hi, how are you doing?" He tried to blow them away with a greeting, Strange said.

"The last person I think we encountered on that trail beat him to the punch on that," Fleser said. "It was one of those things that, to tell you that, it doesn't sound funny. But in the moment, we were laughing our butts off."

Fleser was there for most of the funny memories with Adams. But the one he missed was Adams' wedding in an Elvis chapel in Las Vegas – and he regrets it to this day.

It was a small group, about seven or eight people in attendance. But the officiant wasn't the only one who was dressed as Elvis that day.

"What Melinda (John's wife) didn't know, was that John was also going to be Elvis," Strange said. "So that afternoon, we went out to a costume place and got John an Elvis outfit, wig and everything. So when Melinda walked into the room, the bride makes her entrance, there's Elvis on stage, and there's John as Elvis ... he enjoyed doing stuff like that and getting a reaction from people so much."

There was video proof, at least, and Fleser could see Adams in all his glory, doing Elvis moves and almost tripping on his belt that fell to his ankles at one point. But Fleser cherishes every memory he experienced firsthand.

"There's a lot of funny moments that you just had to be there. And I was there," Fleser said. "And I'm so grateful and so glad that he was there, because it was just so much fun. It just really was, it was just so much fun."

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: The best road trip stories of Knox News columnist John Adams' career