Okay so we are in San Diego right now and my husband got orders for recruiting duty in this region...the options they came back with are HORRIBLE...fontana, corona, riverside...blech i don't want my family in any of those places....so we talked about it and agreed we would both be okay with going to great lakes if he can switch his orders and get an instructor billet out there....so my question is...how do you guys like it? and were are the best places to live that are not in housing because we don't want to be in housing. is the cost of living pretty good there...how much does gas cost? we have two kids and i want to be in a safe area. also, does anyone know how the whole move thing works? i know they will come and pack your crap and take it but will they take both cars or only one? and any idea how it works since we have a trailer and dirt bikes? i probably should have waited until tomorrow to post this but i want to know now!!! it really sucks because we thought we had orders to stay here and then they called my husband and said just kidding you can't stay there here are your choices....so anyways that is all i can think of to ask right now but if you can think of anything else i should know please do tell!!! thanks!

We just left their. I lived in hosing. We did 4 years in Great Lakes. It was OK. Lot's to do and see. The only issue I had were the schools. I had a bad experience and would die before I would send my kids back(but that's just me). If we were to ever go back I think we would live in Wisconsin. Overall it was a good duty station.

I really have no idea about navy housing since we're not navy, but I live a hop, skip and a jump away, welcome to the area! :hugs

My kids aren't old enough for school yet, my oldest is in preschool but I take her somewhere in Gurnee about 20 or so minutes away.
We LOVE it here. My husband is an instructor but actually works in curriculum and LOVES it. He has been able to do quite a bit here.
There is TONS to do here between Chicago and Wisconsin, if you don't mind the really cold weather.
The housing? Eh, they are building nice homes but there are incredibly crappy homes too like the one we live in that won't fit a twin bed in the 3rd bedroom. :rolleyes
Good luck in whatever you choose!:goodvibes

We live here in Great Lakes. We've been here just over a year. We live about 25 minutes from base. I wasn't in the least impressed with the schools in that area so we found a house out in town before we moved here. Breanna is in Kindergarten and I love her school. She goes to Woodland. It is a Gurnee school district. The cost of living is a bit high. We didn't live in housing when we lived in FL. and we made money doing it that way. We don't make any money living in town here. It actually costs us to live in town. If your kids are school aged then you def. want to be VERY careful of where you live. My suggestion is to find a school you would want your kid(s) to go to and go from there. The website Great Schools is really good. WI has some nice areas, too. We were looking in the Kenosha, Racine, Pleasant Prairie area but John's a RDC so with his hours he wanted to be as close as possible while still having Breanna in a good school. I'm not sure about the moving deal. John drove my car with all of us in it and then flew back to FL. to get his truck. All of our stuff was under the weight limit we were allotted so we had no problems. I'm not sure if they add on the trailer, bikes and another car to your weight or if you have to pay flat out for them to move them or say you are on your own. Sorry I'm of absolutely no help in that area. I do want to mention that during the winter it is COLD. They don't call Chicago the windy city for nothing. Lately it has not been uncommon for it to be in the negatives at night. Last week there were days it was in the negatives during the day, too. Not sure how you feel about cold and snow. If you are fine with it then this place won't bother you during the winter. Personally, I don't this place but I don't love and will never want to come back. But that is just me. Good Luck with your decision. If you guys do come here I hope you enjoy it and everything works out with your move.

I am from IL, born and raised so the cost of living I got used to real quick. As far as the cars and other toys you have, I think you guys will have to drive them to IL. We had to drive our car to WA from IL. I do not think they will ship your car unless you are going overseas. Save all your fuel reciepts when driving there. Well save all reciepts when going from CA to IL. when you get your smartmove info they will tell you what you can and can't claim. Good luck and when you do drive to IL, it is a little out of the way but take the northern route to IL, nice drive. Have to go north anyways so why not. :shrug :shrug

We live here in Great Lakes. We've been here just over a year. We live about 25 minutes from base. I wasn't in the least impressed with the schools in that area so we found a house out in town before we moved here. Breanna is in Kindergarten and I love her school. She goes to Woodland. It is a Gurnee school district. The cost of living is a bit high. We didn't live in housing when we lived in FL. and we made money doing it that way. We don't make any money living in town here. It actually costs us to live in town. If your kids are school aged then you def. want to be VERY careful of where you live. My suggestion is to find a school you would want your kid(s) to go to and go from there. The website Great Schools is really good. WI has some nice areas, too. We were looking in the Kenosha, Racine, Pleasant Prairie area but John's a RDC so with his hours he wanted to be as close as possible while still having Breanna in a good school. I'm not sure about the moving deal. John drove my car with all of us in it and then flew back to FL. to get his truck. All of our stuff was under the weight limit we were allotted so we had no problems. I'm not sure if they add on the trailer, bikes and another car to your weight or if you have to pay flat out for them to move them or say you are on your own. Sorry I'm of absolutely no help in that area. I do want to mention that during the winter it is COLD. They don't call Chicago the windy city for nothing. Lately it has not been uncommon for it to be in the negatives at night. Last week there were days it was in the negatives during the day, too. Not sure how you feel about cold and snow. If you are fine with it then this place won't bother you during the winter. Personally, I don't this place but I don't love and will never want to come back. But that is just me. Good Luck with your decision. If you guys do come here I hope you enjoy it and everything works out with your move.

My friend had a child in Woodland school and she loved it.

We are not in Great Lakes yet, I will be there in about 3 months. But my dh is there now and he likes it so far. As for schools yeah, we are looking into private.