Chi Town Rocks!

Waking up in a suburb of Chicago, IL, I had breakfast with my cousin Tommy and his daughter Elizabeth.


She’s five now, but 10 years from now, watch out!


I hadn’t seen either of them in a couple of years, and my cousin had the good sense to take me to a Greek diner. Ethnic food! I already miss it.

I took a double-decker train into the main Chicago train station (how genius is that?) where homeless men offered to hail cabs for tips. It reminded me of pre-Giuliani New York.


The big event for the day was Chicago’s Air & Water show, a free outdoor event where our military and engineering might is on full display. It drew millions of people allowing for various people-watching opportunities.

Great looking young people mixed with old overweight ones. Cats and dogs mixed together! It was chaos!


Although you could see it just about anywhere, I met up with Ross at Lincoln Park on the north side of Chicago.


The planes were going so fast that they seemed ahead of their sound; if you looked where your ears told you where the plane was, you had already missed it. The photos do not do it justice.


The pilots, many of whom were part of the Illinois National Guard, did various tricks and it was a great atmosphere.


There was an area of promotional vehicles, with the U.S. Army and Navy taking up quite a bit of space.

To tour the trucks, where you can learn about military technology and get free dogtags, you had to sign a form with your name and address on it (“Jimmy Carter Smith” will be getting some mail).

On the line, someone walked past the kid standing in front of me and said “enjoy it kid, but remember there’s a war going on."

There were some protestors nearby, but they seemed to be ignored.


Nothing can be cooler than a Hummer with a Best Buy logo on it.


Tony the Tiger was there. Celebrities!

Here is a young Mom reassuring her child that cartoon characters selling sugar products are OK to approach.


Red Barron was giving away pizzas. That was by far the largest line at the event. I'm going to hit fast food a lot on this tour, so I passed.


It was a fun, but quick time. I rode in Ross’ semi through Milwaukee to Appleton, WI to get ready for our second client inspection.

RANDOM STUFF:
Random song heard today: All Through the Night by Cyndi Lauper, heard in an Outback Steakhouse.

Ross is trying to convert me into liking country music. He was playing some Cross Canadian Ragweed, a Texas band. I...liked...it...

RELATED LINKS:
America's Treasures