This week’s question is, “What was your first big trip?”

My first big trip came about from the Selective Service desiring my services.

It was late August 1966. I lived in Waukegan, Illinois, and worked at Abbott Laboratories. A phone call alerted me that my draft notice arrived at my parent’s home in Beverly Manor, Illinois.

Enlistment and San Diego

I enlisted in the Navy the next day on a ninety-day deferment program. I found myself at the recruiting station in Chicago on 29 November 1966. The ninety-days had passed quickly.

Later that day, I was off on my first airplane ride and the start of the biggest trip I had taken to date. I flew to San Diego, California. Thirteen weeks later, I rode an airplane to Peoria, Illinois, to spend a few days with my family, completing the journey.

More flights

I flew again to San Diego at the end of my first leave to continue my Navy career. During the next twenty-five years, I would find myself on airplanes to Rome, Italy, Keflavik, Iceland, Panama City, Panama, Honolulu, Hawaii, Adak, Alaska, Guam, and multiple US cities. Most of these were longer flights than the first one to San Diego.

Some might ask what I did for the thirteen weeks between the first flight and its return. I spent those weeks, over the holidays, in boot camp. I posted on my blog at https://dwaneknott.com/2016/10/boot-camp-san-diego/ with more details on how I started and how I spent my first big trip.

Share your first big trip with me on the attached form.