Need advice on the Drive from Chicago

[goofy 28]

hey becky just out of curiosity where is rt 47 never heard of that one, and what about 74 it goes more east and west, don't you want to go south.

 

[Becky2005]

hey becky just out of curiosity where is rt 47 never heard of that one, and what about 74 it goes more east and west, don't you want to go south.

Well....Yes, 74 goes East to connect to 57 (I think) - I'm doing this without looking at a map! LOL!

47 is really far west of Chicago so as I said it depends on where you start at in Chicagoland. HOWEVER, we have found the tollways always seem to take us way out of the way than just taking the State Highways until we have to connect up.

It's kind of a backwards way I suppose but if you look at the map, on the interstates you are going way far one way and then backtrack. I went round and round with this because I was trying desperately not to go the Rt. 47 way. Looking on the map though, Rt. 47 was a straight shot down and less going out of the way than any of the other obvious ways.

If you are not to the west of the city or closer than an hour then it probably wouldn't be worth it. We are about an hour west and find this way easier.

 

[Tam1067]

Last time, we drove, taking I-57 to avoid the 80/94 mess you'll definitely run into if you go that way. Do NOT try to take that as you'll surely spend an hour or more jammed up there.

I'm not sure where in the Chicago area you're coming from, but you if you can get to I-80, there's an interchange between I-80 and I-57 around the Halsted St. area (sorry I can't remember the specific mile #, but it's east of Harlem if that helps). I-57 is a decent trip.

We stopped in Chatanooga but wasted a lot of time crossing that city to get to our hotel which was not that convenient. You could keep going about an hour beyond there and stay in Dalton, GA which has quite a few hotels and is right off the interstate, so you wouldn't have the problem of navigating a fairly large city like Chatanooga. If you left early the next morning, you'd get into WDW that afternoon if all goes well.

 

[alicenwonder99]

This is all great advice as my DH and I are debating whether to drive or fly. How many hours would you all say it took you? I know from Chicago to Carbondale is about 5 hours and the maps all say about 12 from there. Of course this does not take into consideration stops and the like. What I'm wondering is if we make to Carbondale (S.IL) the first night leaving after work, could we make Florida the next day?

Well, it took us about 12-13 hours of driving each day. We have a large family and the minivan gets packed. I still have young children in car seats and they can't sit in them for too long without a break.

My best advice if you're driving: get a portable dvd player. If you have more than 3 kids, get a 2nd one. We didn't have one the first trip, but had 2 the second trip and it really kept the kids occupied. The kids were just angels on the last trip (devils on the first trip...lol). But I hate how my dh drives, and he got pulled over for speeding to prove it...lol. So, basically our whole trip was me saying, "slow down, you're going to kill us", and dh saying, "*(&*&*#(*"

Mary

 

[manning]

Becky2005 -- What kind of road is route 47? Is it 2 lane, 4 lane, 4 lane divided or combination of each?

 

[Becky2005]

Becky2005 -- What kind of road is route 47? Is it 2 lane, 4 lane, 4 lane divided or combination of each?

It's mostly a 2 lane in the cornfields. Not really, depending on which town you go through (which is kind of funny because we got re-routed on our way home due to ?? Police were basically made us turn down a road, it was dark and we were literally driving on roads through the cornfields. I had no clue where we were! Never thought we would have needed a town map less than an hour from our house! Even so, there was no signs to tell us what road we were on in the first place attempting to get BACK to Route 47! So, it's a running joke now about driving through cornfields. Ahhh...but that's what makes driving vacations so fun. You just never know what interesting things you will be finding - I never knew paved roads existed back there!).

I'm trying to think if it was 4 lanes at any point and can't recall, I think some parts might have been but not much. I know you go through some towns but the speed limit is usually around 55/mph (the speed limit does go down through some towns though) and 90% of the time we were the only car on the road. There are very few stoplights to deal with and that is only when coming into major towns.

 

[OhMari]

I drove I65 around Nashville TN at 6:00 a.m. in the morning. I thought the ride was pretty easy. Nashville does not technically have a bi-pass, but they are working on it. Do not, do not I repeat, go on the East Side of Nashville, major, major road construction. We picked up a 40 ft trailer in Huntsville and a mechanic told us to go on the East side of Nashville-I almost called him and wanted to chew his butt-we almost ended up on the way to Chattanoga. When we turned around by the airport this is where the construction started. We wasted almost an hour getting out of Nashville, in which it should have only taken 10-15 minutes if we would of went up the west side. So if you are coming from IL, stay on I65 W around Nashville and then catch 441 to Chattanoga.

 

[Jon99]

Coming from Mokena and if you want to take I-65 and avoid 80/90, take I-57 south to Kankakee,exit east on Rt 17 into Momence, right/quick left onto Rt 114 to Rt 41... Rt 41 is a 4 lane divided highway that runs along the Indiana/Illinois border and will take you right to Rt 74..

Rt 47 is two lane the whole way, from Dwight to Mahomet.. In that roughly 50 mile stretch, there is one stop light and 5 4-way stop signs, but also out of your way coming from Mokena..

 

[Cindy's Mom]

If you're a AAA member, contact them and get a Trip Tik
(or whatever they're called).

I am a AAA member, and have a AAA right here in the building where I work. I asked them the other day to chart it for me, she asked when I was going,,, I told her June, she said come back a week before youre trip. I said why....she said because we can get a better sense of the construction....I said WHATEVER, can't you just print in now so I can get a feel for where I am going. She said no....

I will go there tomorrow and tell her we changed our trip and please print my Triptik.

 

[manning]

I am a AAA member, and have a AAA right here in the building where I work. I asked them the other day to chart it for me, she asked when I was going,,, I told her June, she said come back a week before youre trip. I said why....she said because we can get a better sense of the construction....I said WHATEVER, can't you just print in now so I can get a feel for where I am going. She said no....

I will go there tomorrow and tell her we changed our trip and please print my Triptik.

You can get a Triptik from their web site and print it out if you want to. This will include the construction sites. Go to the www.AAA.com site and have your membership number at the ready. It may take a little bit to get the hang of it.

Also you can get contruction spots if you have Microsoft's streets and trips 2006 mapping program. You can request construction updates. Also DeLorme Street Atlas is good. However you can't get construction updates.