Best route to Traverse City?

[GH85Carrera]

Simple question. (or two or three)

My GPS and Google Maps want me to travel up I-55 into Joliet and across a lot of Chicago metro area. I guess everyone has heard about the South Side of Chicago, and all I know is I don't want to stop there. I would prefer to avoid driving across a major city.

Going up I-57 would only add a dozen miles. Does that make sense? Which way has the least traffic?

Is there a good way to bypass the entire area coming from St Louis?

We will likely stop for the first night around Kankakee, IL if we drive up I-57. Is that a decent town to spend the night in? Again I would prefer to stay in a smaller city for the the night. Kankakee, IL looks like a good choice but all I know is what is on the web.

Any suggestions?

[Sarc]

Though I live here in Metro Detroit, I’m a native of Central Illinois (Peoria) and have done the route many times. For what it’s worth, I find I-57 slightly more desirable of a drive then taking I-55. As you approach the area where I-80/I-55/I-57/Illinois/Indiana meet, it all becomes industrial, highly congested, any pretty “unscenic” no matter the route. To your original concern, 57 is no more safer than 55. Personally, I would pass on Kankakee as it has become the kind of town I think your trying to avoid driving through. I would either do a stop somewhere in Central/Southern Illinois or hold out until Indiana or Michigan (things start to get “pretty” around New Buffalo).
Sometimes we often bypass that whole area in Illinois by flying along I-24, which is two lane farm country. You would take that from I-57 and connect up to 65. Take 65 to 94 and you bypass the mess and get into Michigan about 15-20 minutes later. Might be a little more distance wise, but you will probably avoid a lot of traffic up at the 80/55/94.
Have a safe trip.

[gprsh924]

No real reason to bypass the entire area. You don't even come close "the south side" by taking 55 to 80 and shooting across to to Indiana.

But if you're looking for a nicer place to spend the night, you should head out on 70 from STL and catch 57 up to Champaign IL. Spend the night there, nice college town where U of I is located. Then take 57 north a ways and cut across on a rural interstate to 65 north in Indiana. By the time you hit 80 to continue heading east, you will have bypassed the most congested areas of the IL/IN border.

[GH85Carrera]

The entire trip is 1,086 miles for us. If I was by myself I would just push on and do it in one day. My wife is riding along, so that is not an option. I am figuring we will want to cover 650 to 700 miles or so the first day. If I knew the city names along the route of good state highways I would do that.

I want to program the waypoints into the GPS ahead of time.

What is a good city to stop at? Sheldon Il maybe? That is is 740 miles for us.

[GH85Carrera]

OK, so up interstate 57, across on highway 24 to interstate 65 up to 80 then interstate 94 the interstate 196 to Grand Rapids then highway 131.

[Sarc]

Sure, Watseka as well. Both pretty sleepy towns. Better options in Champaign as gprsh suggested...

[Noporscheform]

Drove from Memphis to St Joe Michigan (in one day) last summer. We were in the Porsche (as part of a 4000 mile drive). My wife and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express south of St Joe on lake Michigan. I was not concerned about the car or our safety. We took I-55 up thru the state of Illinois and then went east on I-80/90/94 as I recall, staying on I-94 until we exited for St Joe MI.

The next day we meandered up the Lake Michigan coast to Traverse City. We ended up at a very nice waterfront restaurant for a late lunch (north of Traverse City). We then headed to a local winery to pick up a case of the local product (what we shared at lunch) before heading further east to meet friends in Alpena, Mi. My wife and I both were impressed with the beauty of the coastline.

[jshape]

One option is to head north to Milwaukee and take the Lake Express ferry accross to Muskegon and head north to TC from there. Here's a link to times, costs, etc.

Lake Express - Home

The ferry is a high speed catamaran and the crossing is usually pretty smooth.

[GH85Carrera]

I will check that out. It might be a good return route. I have never been on a ferry. Not many ferries around the central USA.

[GH85Carrera]

I checked out the ferry. It is basicly 200 bucks for the car and two people one way. The wife gets motion sick pretty easy so she says NO!

I guess MN will not get crossed off of my states I have driven in list .

[john70t]

A few tangents:
Home Page June 29-July 6, 2013 National Cherry Festival Traverse City, Michigan
The Chocolate Garden - Extraordinary Handmade Chocolate Truffles Best truffles ever made. Off 94 east of the 196 intersection.
St. Julian - St. Julian Michigan's Oldest and Largest Winery Cherry wines in the middle of fruit country. Off 94 west of 131.

[ddbach]

To catch MN for your list you could go home the northern route through the UP and across northern WI to the Minneapolis area to either pick up the Great River Road along the Mississippi for a stretch then hook up to I-35 or take I-35 out of Minneapolis to start with. Looks like it would add about a 1/3 more miles to the trip home

[porsche4life]

Glen... I've driven in MN.. You can have my miles...

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by porsche4life

Glen... I've driven in MN.. You can have my miles...

Nope, not gonna do that

One of my goals is to drive my Porsche in all lower 48 states. I have lived in Hawaii & spent two weeks in Alaska. I will notch international driving and several more states very shortly.