World Trip 2002 - Chicago
Day 3
The
flight into Chicago from Los Angeles was really very interesting. The plane
crossed out over the sea before turning around and flew over the foothills
of the Rockies before heading across Imperial valley. I began to appreciate
how dry that valley has become. Big round circles from irrigated crops were
the only areas of green I saw.
The plane flew on over some areas which looked distinctly like they were missile launch pads. It came as no surprise to discover that we had either flown over Fort Irwin or at least very close to it. We flew north of interstate 15 towards Las Vegas before crossing Lake Mead and the Grand Canyon. I wish I had a GPS to take my position down for later cross referencing with old missile silo locations. I am sure there's a good number of them we flew over.
The
Grand Canyon was an added bonus. I was quite surprised to see the green blue
waters of Lake Mead. I could clearly see down through the water to features
under the surface. I spotted a number of small canyons, and presumed these
were the Grand Canyon, but soon enough, we were flying over the real thing.
There was no mistaking it. I could look right down into the canyon and see
the Colorado River in the bottom of it. I shot some good video, zooming right
in. Hoover Dam was a surprise, one moment there was a deep canyon which became
a lot narrower and deeper before ending at the Hoover Dam where the canyon
became a lake. I could see small boats on it's surface.
Chicago. The Windy City. It wasn't windy when we landed but the plane bumped down and lurched to one side before bumping down again. When the hostess announced she was glad to welcome us to Chicago one passenger quipped. "I bet you are!" It was the hairiest landing of the trip. It was however, not really that bad. American Airlines was a pretty cheap-ass airline overall. They still charge five dollars for headphone hire and the food they offered even on the longer flights I took was abysmal. I got a full meal on a one hour flight I took with Qantas and a breakfast with desert on my cross Channel flight with British Airways. I also wish they'd shut up about extra leg room, it's the same you get on Qantas and British airways. Still, they got me there in one piece and that's what counted.
I traveled to meet Shyx of Chicago Urban Exploration via train and bus. I immediately began to like Chicago. The trains were pleasant to travel on. The line from the airport was elevated in part, looking a lot like some of the railway line back home in Melbourne. There was also plenty of green in the city, from trees and parks. LA had been a lot drier, less parks, less green, more concrete and dust. The bus ride out from the city was great too, passing parks and fountains and buzzing shopping centers. This city was alive. If it wasn't for the snow in winter I could probably happily live here.
I found Shyx's place in the evening. She was a great host. She settled me in to her spare room, introduced me to the family and let me have a shower before showing me some of her photos and talking about places. We talked a lot about exploration, and in particular recent events concerning a guy they had met in the Chicago Tunnels who had run into some trouble because of exploring with a minor and using strychnine or some other poison in the tunnels, presumably for killing off rats. The whole thing seemed to have been blown completely out of proportion after September 11, even the police had said so. It reminded me that my hobby was still considered a gray area, particularly herein the United States. In Australia I expected it would not be difficult to talk your way out of such a problem. Not that I was about to go exploring with minors or use poison for any reason.
Day 4
The
next day we drove out of Chicago to go explore an abandoned
mental asylum. We had checked some possible entry points to the Chicago
Tunnel Company's tunnels but they had been welded shut. It seems the City
had been welding shut all of the entrances they could find. It was a bit of
a disappointment, but not overly so. Everything else I saw in Chicago made
up for missing the tunnels.
Manteno state funny farm certainly was well worth it. This place was beautiful. Over twenty large abandoned buildings, most of them in a good state. Easy access and kilometers of tunnels running beneath them. Courtyards full of greenery, semi collapsed roofs, yet outside were laws still being mowed. It was an explorer's paradise. We spent most of the day exploring the place before driving across state to an old abandoned military base.
The military base was quite large. You could have built a sizeable city within it's boundaries. Though we never entered it, we could see water towers some distance off across the fences. Shyx told me she thought there might be barracks or a town in it somewhere. We drove around the base on state highways and small country roads. We parked by the fence on a small side road. Interesting things could be seen beyond it, light poles, houses, streets, bunkers. All looked abandoned, some in bad need of paint. The place was disused now. It was going to be turned into a prairie for buffalo if the locals had their way.
By the gate we found a Harley Davidson motorcycle hidden behind some bushes. We pondered if this might be another urban explorer who had some how snuck into the base. We could see no obvious entrances other than jumping over the fence. We were not about to because both of us were not keen on climbing a barb wire topped fence. I left some stickers by the area, hoping such an explorer might get in contact with me. They never did.
I liked driving around Illinois. It was so green there. We were driving out on made roads past kilometer after kilometer of cornfields. These cornfields grew right up to the edge of the road, no fences at all. You could just walk straight into them if you wanted to. As a child Shyx had, and told me you could expect to see some pretty big spiders in those fields.
Day 5 & 6
Day five of my trip saw me fly out of Chicago to St Louis. I returned to Chicago late on Day 6, a Saturday.
Day 7
This was the day we drove south out of Chicago to see the abandoned Blues Brothers mall in Harvey Illinois. It is really the Dixie Mall, but has become synonymous with the move. The mall was already disused when shooting for the movie took place. Harvey was a town facing economic depression. It still looks that way today.
After parking in the parking lot of the Mall we walked to an obvious entrance where we immediately encountered an old guy who was hanging around there. I think he was removing copper from the mall. Or maybe just looking around. To our amazement I think he asked us if we were urban explorers. Either that of he referred to it when we said we were exploring. It was nice to know the word was getting around. He advised Shyx to park her car somewhere other than in the parking lot, as the police were bound to check it out. While Shyx went to move the car, the other three of us took a brief look around.
It did not take us long to spot the big open courtyard in the center of the abandoned shopping mall where trees grew that were taller than me. We wandered around the old Blues Brothers Mall, looking into abandoned shops and wondering where the Blues Brothers had driven in the movie. We found shops that were damaged, having roofs collapsed in due to fire. There were big huge open areas. In some stores we found fittings remaining, but many were empty. It was a lot of fun exploring. We wandered into two of the major chain stores, one with some real sixties paint and wallpaper schemes.
Shyx wandered off on her own at one point when we were exploring the upper level of the JC Penny's. We heard a short shout from her. I thought 'oh no, that sounds like she's fallen through the floor!" It was a thought shared by the other two explorers I was with at the time. It was not the case though. Shyx had come across one of the homeless dogs living there. It was a lame old dog that had jumped up and ran away when she came across it. Still, I think most of us would have reacted the same way.
The mall was a great place to explore. Something I had not expected to see. Until shortly before my trip, I was not even aware it was in Illinois. I had seen the movie, but had no idea the mall was abandoned.
Day 8
I flew down to Phoenix and bussed it across to Tucson in the hope of exploring an abandoned missile silo at Pima Air museum but my contact never turned up. I ended up spending a really hot day wandering around Tucson and after being warned by a cop that I was in a 'bad area' I walked a block back to the Greyhound terminal. I caught a bus back to Phoenix, staying over the night in a Motel 6 before changing my flight details to fly out earlier the next day. I never did hear back from the guy I was supposed to meet, so I hope he is okay.
Day 9
I arrived back in Chicago and made my way back to Shyx house after a brief wander around down town Chicago where I photographed many of the varied manholes they have there. It seems every company had their own manhole covers, unlike in Australia where they are pretty much standardized.
Though tiered, I went along with Shyx to a night club called the Metro where a band called The CruxShadows were playing. This place was an old abandoned theater which was turned into a Goth club. It was great! The place was brilliant. Much better than the Metro down in Melbourne. The CruxShadows were a great band too, nice and loud. I also liked the movements of the lead singer. He was this big tall guy who for some reason moved in a way that kind of reminded me of the aliens in the move Aliens. It was brilliant. I have to admit I was quite interested in the very attractive Goth women wandering around. There's something to be said for a woman wandering around in a big black dress with lots of cleverage.
Day 10
Day ten of my trip was my last day in Chicago. I left early to meet David downtown. I said a find goodbye to Shyx and her family first. She had been an excellent and very accommodating host. I expect not many people would let you stay over and come and go as you please. Let alone drive you around and show you the exploration sights of their home town. I was proud to have met her and others that explored with her.
David drove me east, to Gary, Indiana.
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