Studebaker Jaunt To Chicago Next Week

[JoeHall]

Looks like we (a family of five) will take the Stude to Chicago O'Hare next week to drop off my daughter, bound for Japan. Plan is to leave Kentucky Thursday eve for a motel in Lafayette, IN that night; Friday, on to Chicago and the Japanese market area in Arlington Heights; Saturday morning to the airport, and then head home.
Mapquest says its about 730 miles, but we plan to sight-see a bit while there, and will likely top 750 before we get home.

Only issue is deciding which Hawk to take, the 62GT, 63GT, or 56J. Probably the 62GT, since its always been kinda the "winter rat", and we might hit a snow storm in Chicago.

[sweetolbob]

Only issue is deciding which Hawk to take, the 62GT, 63GT, or 56J. Probably the 62GT, since its always been kinda the "winter rat", and we might hit a snow storm in Chicago.

Joe

Take your favorite driver. Chicago 10 day forecast here. Bon voyage.

http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/Chicago+IL+USIL0225:1:US

Bob

[PlainBrownR2]

If you've never been up here, take it from a veteran of the area whose driven his Lark around the city. Yeah, I'd go with the '62, '63, or your best driver. We're entering spring up here, so expect, snow, cold, winds, rain, and sun, all possibly in the same day. Since it's also Chicago traffic, be prepared to take the offensive as you'll either be sailing through, putting on the brakes, and/or contending with people that think you're moving too slow .


Also forgot, the interstate around O'Hare is a tollway, so bring coins or cash, or throw a fully loaded IPass transponder on the dash if you have one, you'll need it.

[Deaf Mute]

Have a good trip!

[JoeHall]

John, thanks for the tip on the tolls. We'll bring our coin jar.

Have been through Chicago a few times, but not in a long time. An old friend wrecked his 56J up around Chicago in the mid 1990s, when returning back to SoCal from a Stude IM somewhere in that area. I don't recall where the IM was, and did not attend myself that year.

Bob, its good to see the weather is gonna be dry, albeit a little cold. Will bring warm clothes, but not rain gear.

Tough to pick a favorite driver. I love'em all, so just try to rotate driving them. But have been driving the heck out of the GT since the EFI and, more recently, cruise control.

The GTs have bench seat in the rear, so seat three more comfortably than the 56J. The kids (10,12 & 14) are starting to complain on longer trips. I have a full set of freshly reupholstered (red) bench seats out of a 63 Lark, I swapped into a few months ago. Have been thinking of putting the rear bench bottom in the 56J, and the front bench in one of the GTs. The red would look like crap in the blue 56J, and a bench would look goofy in the front of a GT, but the extra seating accommodations might let me squeak by for a couple more years of family Studebakering

[PlainBrownR2]

Excellent! One other thing with the tolls. For those of us that use them regularly or commute, like I said, we have the IPass transponders in our cars. We attach them to the windshield, load them up with credits, and all we have to do is fly through the tolls in the center lanes. The credits are immediately deducted from the transponders. For those who are from out of town and have never been here, they'll follow the other drivers with the transponders, without knowing that they blew the tollbooth without paying anything! Usually, they are lenient on the first time somebody does it, but they'll stop people or bill them from their plates if it becomes a chronic habit. Anyway, when you see the tolls on the main road, the regular booths are to the far right on the expressway, with the IPass lanes in the center of the expressway. Pay attention to the signs, and it shouldn't be a problem. The ones that are on the onramps and offramps are similar to the ones on the interstate, except you have to stop at those to toss the change in the buckets. It's probably clear as mud, but you'll probably get the idea. Hehe, they were supposed to remove the tolls years ago to pay for the roads, rather, over the years they just automated the process .

[Colgate Studebaker]

Joe, John gave some real good advise, but I'd like to ad that you'll need more than just change at the tolls. Have a bunch of singles also, as the tolls are mostly over a dollar, some over $2.00. I don't remember the exact prices, but we just came through there 3 weeks ago. Safe travels, hope the kids can endure the ride, Bill.

[PlainBrownR2]

Hehehe, the best advice is that from a local resident! If you have any Studebaker problems, you're also in the neighborhood of the Blackhawk Chapter, so don't forget your glovebox roster list!

[JoeHall]

Joe, John gave some real good advise, but I'd like to ad that you'll need more than just change at the tolls. Have a bunch of singles also, as the tolls are mostly over a dollar, some over $2.00. I don't remember the exact prices, but we just came through there 3 weeks ago. Safe travels, hope the kids can endure the ride, Bill.

Thanks Bill, will bring extra ones also.
The ride back will only have two kids in the rear seat, since the 14 year old daughter is going to Japan for an international violin convention. (She began playing at 4 years old). The extra sprawl room in the back seat coming home will probably be OK for the two boys.

[Colgate Studebaker]

Congrats to your daughter Joe! My mother was a concert violinist, and she began lessons when she was 5! Her inspiration was hearing Jascha Heifetz in concert back in 1919, and she played until she was 85. Let me know how your daughter does, it is quite an accomplishment to go to an international competition, at any age. Best of luck to her, Bill.

[JoeHall]

Congrats to your daughter Joe! My mother was a concert violinist, and she began lessons when she was 5! Her inspiration was hearing Jascha Heifetz in concert back in 1919, and she played until she was 85. Let me know how your daughter does, it is quite an accomplishment to go to an international competition, at any age. Best of luck to her, Bill.

Thanks Bill,
She is in the symphony level of the Louisville Youth Orchestra, and was selected to join them (concert level) when 9 years old. She receives weekly private lessons from one of the pioneers of the "Suzuki Method" up in Louisville. She recently played a solo, eleven minute piece ("Scene De Ballet") on a Louisville Classic Music radio station. The convention she is attending is in Matsumoto Japan (near Tokyo). No competition. Just an opportunity to hang out with other Suzuki folks, from around the globe. Of course we, the parents are hoping for a scholarship someday.

Now you know not to get me started bragging on my kids

[BobPalma]

Hey, Joe, you know the old expression, "It's not bragging if you can do it!"

Congratulations to your daughter. What an honor at her age. BP

[plwindish]

Congratulations to your daughter. That's quite a trip for her to take. O'hare is a really busy place to fly out of, make sure you get her there a good hour and a half before flight time. Rush hour going north on the Tri-state starts around 6AM (CST-daylight savings)and continues to around 9 AM. 3:30-4:00 PM until 7PM is the evening rush time. Try not to get one of your fine cars caught up with the daily commuter idiots. The daily drivers drive differently on the Tollways. Speeds are posted 55 and they drive 75-85. Some lane changers change 4 lanes in one swoop. When I drive my Avanti 40 miles on the Tri-State to go to the Chicagoland AOAI meeting in Mt. Prospect, I usually confine the driving to good weather and off peak travel time. Any of your Hawks will add class to the vehicles traveling the Tri-State. Have a good trip.

[JoeHall]

Congratulations to your daughter. That's quite a trip for her to take. O'hare is a really busy place to fly out of, make sure you get her there a good hour and a half before flight time. Rush hour going north on the Tri-state starts around 6AM (CST-daylight savings)and continues to around 9 AM. 3:30-4:00 PM until 7PM is the evening rush time. Try not to get one of your fine cars caught up with the daily commuter idiots. The daily drivers drive differently on the Tollways. Speeds are posted 55 and they drive 75-85. Some lane changers change 4 lanes in one swoop. When I drive my Avanti 40 miles on the Tri-State to go to the Chicagoland AOAI meeting in Mt. Prospect, I usually confine the driving to good weather and off peak travel time. Any of your Hawks will add class to the vehicles traveling the Tri-State. Have a good trip.

Thanks Paul,
I agree its quite a trip for a 14 year old. Its non-stop from Chicago to Tokyo, and family will be waiting at the airport there. Coming back, its non-stop to Chicago, where she'll have to go through customs and then change planes for the last leg to Lexington, KY. We coulda flew her out of Lexington to Chicago, but USA airline companies would not provide escort services to change planes to a Japanese airline in Chicago. Coming back, the Japanese airline company will provide said services for change over to a USA company there. Kinda weird, and certainly an inconvenience we had not anticipated initially.

She flies out Saturday AM, and we have a motel four miles from the airport. We plan to get her to the airport 2-3 hours early. Thanks for the tip about traffic, we'll figure on an hour to get from the motel to the airport; would rather arrive early than late.

Sounds like Chicago drivers are as crazy as many other places. I survived 10+ years of Stude driving in SoCal, but can only hope the Chicagoans aren't any worse than SoCal drivers !

[PlainBrownR2]

I'd say there's a real dichotomy between Chicago, and the rest of Illinois on drivers . If you imagine a salmon migration, and a great many of them are getting funnelled into that bottleneck in the river, those would be Chicago's drivers.