6 minutes ago, Artie said:

 Submarine sandwiches are called subs. Never heard of a hero, or a hoagie, till after boot camp. 

Some places, they're called "grinders."

 

 

And I lived for a year just south of Chanute as I was an Illini.

1 minute ago, kmealy said:

And I lived for a year just south of Chanute as I was an Illini.

So you lived in Illinoise then?

Got to Chanute Jan 4, 1979 (I think it was the 4’th), and left March 9, cause I wanted to be home for me birthday, which is the 11’th. To a kid from Massachusetts it was a strange land. I don’t remember the snow being wet enough to make a snowball the 2 months I was there. I remember we could only enter the barracks on one side because of the snowdrifts on the other side blocking the doors. Over night the wind would shift and we would have to use the opposite doors than the night before. I never understood the joke of spending all morning watching the dog run away from home, till I got there. On base there was a hill, maybe 50-60 feet tall, turned out to be the tallest one around. People would drive from all over to get there and go sledding. I had a bigger hill than that in our back yard (sorta true, we didn’t own the land, but it was right out our back door   ) When I was there the news would lead off every morning with how the excavations were going at John Wayne Gacey’s house (very bad), and during a horrible blizzard in Chicago, a plow driver went crazy and started ramming cars. He wasn’t trying to kill anyone, he was hitting cars he thought were empty, but one of them had people in it and he killed them/him/her.  I was 18 then and life was very good.  

28 minutes ago, Grandpadave52 said:

So you lived in Illinoise then?

Yes, went to U of I grad school, then my first job was in NW Chicago suburbs.  From there to N. Wisconsin, Pittsburgh, then Cincinnati.

A generic midwesterner. less Indiana.   My whole life has been in Great Lakes or Ohio River watersheds.

 

Edited January 31, 20197 yr by kmealy

2 hours ago, Artie said:

On base there was a hill, maybe 50-60 feet tall, turned out to be the tallest one around.

Yep...you were smack dab in the middle of the Illinois prairie...not many hills any where around...miles of corn & soybean rows in the summer.

There were some major snow storms during the period you describe. My daughter was born near the end of February, 1979. The day she was born from Indianapolis to Louisville, KY, I-65 was closed due to heavy snow (12"+ IIRC) plus heavy drifting and blizzard like conditions. We missed all of that thank goodness. Also a full Solar Eclipse the day she was born.

 

Interesting Article today 20 years after Chanute's closure you might be interested to read. Sad really. Chanute had a great history. Both BIL's processed through there to/from Vietnam.

I didn’tknow It had closed. I went into town once, to get my tattoo  

9 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

 

Interesting Article today 20 years after Chanute's closure you might be interested to read.

Hey Dave, tried to read the article - but got taken hostage by Google; without taking a survey the article is blocked out

 

@Artie, were you studying something in the electronics field at Chanute?  I spent about Jan. 4-April or May, 1971 there.  8 hours a day, 5 (or 6) days a week; I pretty much got a college degree in meteorology upon "graduation".

13 hours ago, kmealy said:

I guess in some places, if you ask what kind of Coke they have, they can respond "We have root beer, 7-up, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi, what kind do you want?"   And it would make perfect sense

That's almost all correct Keith, except for the Pepsi part...

The first time I brought my new bride south we stopped at a McDonald's somewhere here in Georgia.  After her initial shock of seeing the confederate flag out front - it wasn't really, it was the state flag at the time which was only 2/3 stars and bars... she ordered her meal and an orange soda.  A blank stare from the cashier and wifey looked at me so I told her to order a coke.  I don't want a coke she says, I said again - order a coke, you will get what you want.  OK, she turns around asks for a coke and got a cheery "what flavor"?  She got her orange Fanta.

 

I don't think it is quite so much like that today, but I am really not sure.  I know and have eaten in most every small town in south Georgia - but I normally order water, no ice.  With the proliferation of all these different coke flavors and self serve drink machines at fast food joints I hear most people just order the meal deal with a extra large, extra syrupy, just give me a barrel of carbonated corn syrup!  At a sit down restaurant you don't normally order a coke -it's tea - and sweet - and bottomless.  Except for me, I will still have water, no ice please

 

Maybe a Jamocha shake at Arby's once in awhile...

Edited January 31, 20197 yr by Cal

I was born and raised about 100 mi. South of Chanute. Joined the AF to get the heck out of IL. Boot at San Antonio was a start. But, then got sent to Chanute for jet engine school. Winters on the prairies are miserable. Next base was Davis-Monthan, in Tucson. Heaven!

14 hours ago, kmealy said:

I guess in some places, if you ask what kind of Coke they have, they can respond "We have root beer, 7-up, Dr. Pepper and Pepsi, what kind do you want?"   And it would make perfect sense

Typical question anywhere in the South. Unless you're a transplant this is the typical question. Coke is the generic name for any soft drink. This may be an archaic hold over, since Coca-cola was born in Vicksburg, Mississippi.

 

Even more interesting is how a particular region can be split into two distinct camps. When I attended Penn State you could generally tell where in the state someone was from by which term they used. Pop for the western side and soda from the eastern side.

 

Looking at the map you can see that the term soda is universal from Maine down to Virginia, while Pop is thoroughly a Midwestern term with the exception of small pockets.

 

 

Never got confused when ordering a drink in the south. Everybody understands "beer". 

But, ordering food is a different story. A breakfast menu choice was "Scrapple". Now, I'm game to try almost anything but, I had to ask. The waitress told me it was "LOP". Again, I sought clarification and, was told "LOP" was Left Over Pig. 

It was delicious! But, no beer for breakfast.

17 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

I may have to dispute some of the data...in the south, at least years ago in Middle Tennessee, if you wanted a "soft drink", it was RC Cola, sometimes accompanied by a Moon Pie.

I heard more like R O C and moonpie. Hey those used to taste good but not so appealing now.

3 hours ago, Cal said:

Hey Dave, tried to read the article - but got taken hostage by Google; without taking a survey the article is blocked out

I viewed initially w/o incident...I use Duckduckgo within Chrome; however it did "hold me hostage" today unless I registered for my complimentary free 5/mo articles which I did/will not do.

Sorry...too bad too, it was quite interesting what has happened to Rantoul and surrounding area after the AF left having had a 71+ year presence.

 

Might try doing a manual search

  

2 hours ago, Gene Howe said:

Never got confused when ordering a drink in the south. Everybody understands "beer". 

But, ordering food is a different story. A breakfast menu choice was "Scrapple". Now, I'm game to try almost anything but, I had to ask. The waitress told me it was "LOP". Again, I sought clarification and, was told "LOP" was Left Over Pig. 

It was delicious! But, no beer for breakfast.

Why not? Beer is a perfectly acceptable breakfast beverage in Europe.

2 minutes ago, schnewj said:

Why not? Beer is a perfectly acceptable breakfast beverage in Europe.

There are some local English pub ales that are indeed, chewable. 

17 hours ago, Grandpadave52 said:

Yep...you were smack dab in the middle of the Illinois prairie...not many hills any where around...miles of corn & soybean rows in the summer.

There were some major snow storms during the period you describe. My daughter was born near the end of February, 1979. The day she was born from Indianapolis to Louisville, KY, I-65 was closed due to heavy snow (12"+ IIRC) plus heavy drifting and blizzard like conditions. We missed all of that thank goodness. Also a full Solar Eclipse the day she was born.

When I first started dating my wife, we visited her parents' home a bit east of Toledo, OH.   They would give me directions like, "Go over the hill and turn left."   

 

"Hill, what hill?"  

"The hill where the road goes over the turnpike."

Geez, that's an overpass not a hill.

 

And the ditches were 8' deep and 20' wide.  I thought if I ever skidded off, I'd get drifted over and found in the spring thaw.

 

----
I remember driving in "downstate" Illinois where yes, you'd see the corn and soybeans for miles and miles.  Road flat and straight until you reached a grain elevator next to the train tracks.  Then you'd curve one way, go past the elevator, then curve back onto the straight road for another 10 miles where you'd do it again.

---

The day I had a final exam, there was a foot of snow overnight.   I normally rode my bike the mile to campus, but that was out.   I tried walking and gave that up.   If the busses were running, I might have tried that.  I returned to my apartment and got in my car.  I took me forever to get off the side street onto the main street because there was never a break in traffic long enough for me to wiggle out.   I finally got to campus and tried to park in a lot, whereupon, I promptly hit a drift that I could not go forward or backward.   I walked into the exam room after 90 minutes of travel and the prof said they'd just started the exam so have a seat and get started.

1 hour ago, kmealy said:

I remember driving in "downstate" Illinois where yes, you'd see the corn and soybeans for miles and miles.  Road flat and straight until you reached a grain elevator next to the train tracks.  Then you'd curve one way, go past the elevator, then curve back onto the straight road for another 10 miles where you'd do it again.

Still like that today away from the interstates although many of the elevators no longer are operating in part due to the demise of the rail system and many of the large/corporate farms now have their own grain handling set-ups. All the "villages" had an elevator...sometimes nothing else...all roads led to the elevator though.

1 hour ago, kmealy said:

And the ditches were 8' deep and 20' wide. 

And that's how they drained the Great Black Swamp.   Lots of big ditches.

I thought that map was an election map.

Herb

11 hours ago, Cal said:

Hey Dave, tried to read the article - but got taken hostage by Google; without taking a survey the article is blocked out

 

@Artie, were you studying something in the electronics field at Chanute?  I spent about Jan. 4-April or May, 1971 there.  8 hours a day, 5 (or 6) days a week; I pretty much got a college degree in meteorology upon "graduation".

Yeah I was studying to be aircraft electrician. If my memory is correct it was  42350 for a designation. There was a name for what the number meant, I can’t remember that, but I think the number is right, it’s only been 37 years since I’ve been out LOLOL.