negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee (highways)

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MikeMason
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee

Post by MikeMason »

From the title I thought you might have been offered gigs. Take Chicago! :wink:
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roweenie
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee

Post by roweenie »

Not a Chicago local (as you already know), but I do live close to a huge metropolitan area with horrific traffic - personally, if the route in question avoids many people, and gives me the opportunity to put on my cruise control and relax a little, I'll take it, even if it adds 2 hours to my trip.

hassle-free driving > frustrating driving

This one condition trumps any savings I might have realised by going the "quickest" or "cheapest" way.

roweenie "getting too old to deal with traffic"
"Even a broken clock is right twice a day".
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bisontuba
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee (highways)

Post by bisontuba »

Rent a car....they are having unbelievable deals these days...had to go to New Hampshire, and got a full size with unlimited miles for $48 total, tax included.
I used Enterprise.
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bort
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee (highways)

Post by bort »

Yep go around.

The lakes are great, very pretty. Same for the Western coast of the lower peninsula of Michigan. And the UP... super pretty.

Door county is really pretty too, but popular with the tourists.
WC8KCY
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee (highways)

Post by WC8KCY »

It's a no-brainer, bloke: Give yourself a break and take the slightly longer route. It's just 55 extra miles and even one traffic tie-up in Chicagoland will wipe out any time savings afforded by the shorter route.

Traffic volumes on I-94 heading north towards Milwaukee are such that, even in the wee hours of the morning, you won't be able to set your cruise control at the posted speed limit of 55 mph.

:arrow: Assuming you're taking US-151 in Wisconsin, note that the speed limits are often very aggressively enforced on that route, especially in the Rosendale vicinity--where they will cite you for going 66 in a 65 zone--and you'll be a target with out-of-state license plates.

The Wisconsin routes with letters instead of numbers are county trunk highways, not state highways. Many of them are best utilized as sparingly as possible...
WC8KCY
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee (highways)

Post by WC8KCY »

If only the SS Badger weren't so expensive--$248 for you and your car--you could just take the ferry from Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI and there'd be no traffic worries whatsoever...and I would be delighted to have you as my guest for supper at Blu Moon in Ludington.
Tom
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee (highways)

Post by Tom »

WC8KCY wrote:If only the SS Badger weren't so expensive--$248 for you and your car--you could just take the ferry from Ludington, MI to Manitowoc, WI and there'd be no traffic worries whatsoever...and I would be delighted to have you as my guest for supper at Blu Moon in Ludington.
I actually did that trip last summer. Yes, it was expensive, but was an interesting experience. The ride across the lake is about 4 hours from Ludington to Manitowoc on the SS Badger so it is a substantial time commitment itself. For those that don’t know, it’s an old car ferry steamer and moves slowly plus the loading/unloading process is pretty slow. I was enroute to North central Iowa from Michigan so it did save me from driving around the bottom of Lake Michigan and through Gary, IN and the Chicago area (or “over the top” across the UP). Ultimately I did save time taking the ferry but certainly could have driven the whole distance instead for less than $250 in gas.
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Tom
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Re: negotiating Chicago & Milwaukee (highways)

Post by Tom »

Well, I wouldn't do it again if that gives you a sense of how "worth it" the ferry was to me.

I certainly would not drive out of my way to do that either. It was basically directly in my path at that time or I wouldn't have even looked into it.
The Darling Of The Thirty-Cents-Sharp Low D♭'s.
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