Driving to Airventure

[robert l]

Lots of good info. I'm going to check it all out on mapquest.
Thanks
Bob

[Eastburn]

Coming from the South to avoid Chicago & Milwaukee. Take I-74W to Bloomington. Take I-55N& I-39N. Take I-39N to Rockford IL. Take I-90N to Madison Wis. Take State Route 151 Northeast from Madison. Take Route 151to FonDuLac Wis. take Route 41N to Oshkosh.

[Cary]

Cary, cant believe you were at Rantoul, Chanute. I was there for tech school late 69. A really depressing place. My best day was when I found out that if you had an A average in your field of training, mine was mechanic, that you got to leave 2 weeks early. So I, who was a C student mostly in college studied every spare moment and too good believe I got to leave 2 weeks early. I used to go 50 miles south on the train to Champaign and Univ of Illinois on free weekends to see some normal people and try to stay sane. I had just come from that idealic type of college environment 3 months before. and Chanute was about as opposite as could be. I just felt like it was a waste of time and didnt have anyone there that I had anything in common with. I dont know what it would have been like if we'd have been in a war like 1942, but there was nothing to feel patriotic nor optimistic about Vietnam at that late date. My only objective was to get out of there. I was sleepy everyday and had a low grade fever, had to eat asprins, but coulnt take time off to go to doctor. When I got home I went to my doctor who said I had the worst case of mono he had ever seen. He diagnosed me even before the lab test result came in, and it took me 4 months to recover.
I never went to Vietnam, so never shot anyone or was shot at, but lots of people were not so lucky.

Then you were probably victimized at 6 a.m. by my presentation on behalf of the legal office. I got saddled with that duty within a few months after my arrival there in April 1968 and did the last one just before I was transferred to Elmendorf AFB in May 1970. Apparently my sick sense of humor made for a somewhat enlivening wake-up for most of the kids, as those who fell asleep found themselves embarrassed by the blankets I would sometimes put over them, as they awakened to the laughs and cheers of the rest of the audience.

The most depressing thing about that part of Illinois to me was that if I stood on the roof of the car, I could see for miles. When you've grown up surrounded by the mountains of Wyoming, the pool table flatness of Illinois is a bit disappointing.

I also avoided going to Viet Nam. When it came time to be transferred (Chanute was historically a 2 year post for JAG), JAG Personnel wanted me to go to the Philippines, but we'd just bought a new motorhome and neither Wife 1 nor I had any desire to go there. The alternative I was given was "Southeast Asia", i.e., Viet Nam or Korea, but Alaska was considered "overseas", so I offered that as an alternative. The personnel officer said, "You can't go to Alaska--you only have 2 years left, and that's a 3 year assignment." I said, "How about I donate an extra year to the Air Force?" He said, "You're going to Alaska." That's how I wound up in Anchorage, a much better assignment than either Chanute or anywhere in Southeast Asia.

Cary

[Gil]

The alternative I was given was "Southeast Asia", i.e., Viet Nam or Korea, but Alaska was considered "overseas", so I offered that as an alternative. The personnel officer said, "You can't go to Alaska--you only have 2 years left, and that's a 3 year assignment." I said, "How about I donate an extra year to the Air Force?" He said, "You're going to Alaska." That's how I wound up in Anchorage, a much better assignment than either Chanute or anywhere in Southeast Asia.

Cary

I have never been to Alaska (sad to say) but after a couple of years in Topeka, I volunteered for overseas duty, which, in 1971, meant Southeast Asia. I loved my time in Taiwan, and our missions included quite a variety, such as hurricane relief in the Philippines, long trips from Bangkok to Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, Guam, Okinawa, and of course, Vietnam and Cambodia. I flew 70 combat missions in Vietnam, but 68 of them were pretty routine (if we were shot at during the others, we didn't know it).

Could have served all my time in Topeka, but I was actually influenced by the movie "Patton:" "When your grandkids ask what you did during the war, you don't want to tell them that you shoveled shit in Louisiana." My aircraft commanders were all combat veterans and none of them had any regrets... I had been training for three years as a combat-ready crew member, so I wanted to go off to war.

My wife and infant son were hard to leave behind, but I have no regrets.

[robert l]

Thank all you gentlemen for your service !

[malexander]

Although Chicago isn't on my route from OKC, I have an IPASS. I bought/got it a few years ago to get around Rockford on I-39.

[martymayes]

Although Chicago isn't on my route from OKC, I have an IPASS. I bought/got it a few years ago to get around Rockford on I-39.

Can you sell it? Are they transferable? Just curious......

[FlyingRon]

I don't know about iPass but you don't pay for EZPass, they're "loaned" to you when you have set up an account with one of the issuing toll authorities.

[Gil]

Can you sell it? Are they transferable? Just curious......

I can't imagine why someone would buy it from a private person, since Illinois Tollway just wants a ten dollar deposit for use of it. I often mail mine to my daughter who lives in lower Michigan... discovered you have to wrap it in foil or the trip on the mail truck will garner some tolls.

[CHICAGORANDY]

The I-Pass account is tied to your vehicle(s) - you can register more than one vehicle to a single I-Pass device. I have my SUV and motorcycle tied to mine.