Backup plans

One of my mental exercises is to try to figure alternate ways of getting from A to B without the usual tools (e.g. no car), no handy friends, and as cheaply as possible. To get from Fermilab to Madison, back in the day, meant walking (no bus at the time) to Aurora to get to the commuter rail line, taking that to downtown Chicago, taking the El to O'Hare, and then an intercity bus to Madison. The last time I took the El to O'Hare was 20 years ago.

One should revisit these things now and then, and not take the solution as "good for all time." There's a pair of buses now you can take to get to Aurora, the commuter trains run every hour until late, and the intercity bus leaves from close to Union Station, so you can skip the O'Hare link. Which is probably a good thing, especially when not at peak ridership times.