Need Advice for a Road Trip: CT to WI

Parent Cafe
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<p>DS is starting his job in Madison, WI, and I will be renting a car and driving him there from our home in CT. He is reimbursed for his relocation expenses, although not of course for my tagging along. I figure that will only entail my meals and my flight home. (I’ll be dropping off the car in WI.) </p>

<p>None of our family cars is big enough for all his stuff (mainly musical instruments, amplifiers, speakers, and an overwhelming collection of vinyl records), so I’ve rented an SUV. </p>

<p>We’ll be leaving on a Monday morning; he can move into his apartment in WI on Friday. According to Google Maps, the entire drive time is around 17 hours.</p>

<p>We plan to stop first in Cleveland and visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. I’m then thinking of a stop in Chicago to see the Art Institute.</p>

<p>I’m really looking forward to spending this time with him, as he’s now going to be On His Own and not living at home anymore. Any advice and suggestions – about the bonding, the driving, the trip – are welcome.</p>

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<p>I drove from Hartford to the NW Chicago Suburbs in 1978 … and back in 1982. We did it in one take going out, and I stopped in the Finger Lakes (alone) coming back. Going out we did I-80 … coming back I did I-90.</p>

<p>It sounds like you have plenty of time for this trip so you can definitely see some of the sights!</p>

<p>If I were to do the northern route … which is theoretically a little longer … I would stop at Niagara Falls. Football fans and dyed-in-the-wool CCers would stop to see Notre Dame. You can see the Dome from the highway so it’s not too far out of your way. Chicago is a lot of fun – but driving an SUV full of <em>stuff</em> – I personally would stay in Rosemont (at the Marriott Suites on River Road …) and take the train into the city.</p>

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<p>It would not add too much to your trip to head in to Milwaukee - the art museum is world famous, and the spectacle of its white wing/sails slowly opening up is a wonder to behold. Lunch on one of the hip east side/north side neighborhoods is always fun too. The city retains a great deal of its Old World feel, with many buildings and neighborhoods still reatining their 1800’s/early 1900’s feel.</p>

<p>You can take 94 straight into Madison from Milwaukee - it’s a little over an hour.</p>

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<p>Ahhhh, have some great memories driving with my son from NJ, to Chicago two summers ago, and it is a great bonding time for you.
Lingering memory- sun setting in hilly Western Pa, and Bruce Springsteen’s “Youngstown” blaring. Son knows words to all of the Bosses songs, which was quite enlightening to me. </p>

<p>You’ll have great weather.
I read a sweet, little book entitled- Breakfast With Buddha, which is about a road trip from NYC to North Dakota as I recall.
Little late for you to get that now, but afterwards you may enjoy that book! Actually, with Kindle you could have that right now :)</p>

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<p>Vinyl records, really? I like your son.</p>

<p>Picking up on the interest in rock and roll, have you considered driving by Michael Jackson’s boyhood home in Gary, Indiana? (2300 Jackson St.- 23rd & Jackson St.)?</p>

<p>I don’t think you can go inside, but maybe it’s worth the drive to see the original small home curbside and imagine the whole family living there and practicing, all before their first hit. There’s a new granite memorial plaque in the back yard. </p>

<p>As you drive, keep your eyes open around Gary and Hammond, Indiana to see evidences of the steel industry that employed their father. Some factories are active; others are abandoned and rusting right in the air with huge empty parking lots. It tells quite a story, if a sad one. </p>

<p>It’d be something unusual for him to tell his friends he saw. Perhaps one day the little house will become a tourist destination. </p>

<p>The throughways you’re using already take you right through Gary and Hammond, both southeast of Chicago. Gary also has a beautiful, large park on the lake, if you’re looking for a picnic stop. I lived in Hammond for 3 years, so I liked these locations, but have no sense of how they can be accessed from the super-highway. Googlemaps would give a better idea.</p>

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<p>I checked wiki to pin down which park I was pointing you towards near Gary. I think I’m remembering Marquette Park, which is actually in Miller, IN…Importantly, it’s surrounded by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, that runs beautifully along Lake Michigan with views to Chicago.</p>

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<p>I helped DS drive his car and stuff from Chicago to San Jose two summers ago. For him, it was the destination, not the trip, that mattered. I cajoled him into making one stop (Cheyenne, WY) to be touristy; otherwise it was just meals, gas, hotels, etc. He was anxious about both starting the job and finding an apartment (he started out in a residence hotel) so just wanted to get there. I drove more the first day, then it was even time until we hit California; he insisted on doing all the driving in his new home state.</p>

<p>Are you going to be flying right back after you help your son move in? Will he have a car? Depending on those answers, you might want to take an extra day in Madison to help him learn his way around and where to find practical places like grocery, drugstore, housewares, etc. </p>

<p>If that’s all covered already, then other stops really depends on his interests. I know from experience that Cleveland to Chicago is not destination rich. If he’s an amusement park fan, you could stop at Cedar Point in Sandusky, and/or Six Flags north of Chicago. If he likes natural wonders, you could spend a day at the Delaware Water Gap. If he enjoys museums, there are tons of other options in Chicago beyond the Art Institute, which I agree is a must see. If he enjoys quiet relaxation, then you could detour for a day into SW Michigan and hit one of the beautiful beaches or the Warren Dunes.</p>

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<p>This all depends on your comfort level, but S and I found on a cross-country drive that we didn’t care at all about hotel amenities; AAA-approved roadside motels were good enough. So we didn’t book ahead, but saw how far we got each day and called ahead a hundred miles, or sometimes just drove into town. A few nights it was a nuisance, but in all I liked not being boxed in to reach location X by hour Y. My H hates to do it this way, so I guess it’s personal.</p>

<p>Sometimes there are motel coupons in roadside magazines at the Interstate welcome centers (at least in the Northeast) with good values. If all you want is a bed, shower, and donuts-to-run, you can even save enough that way to start each day with a big breakfast elsewhere in town, and skip lunch (or just do a snack lunch). </p>

<p>We had great bonding for a week - laughing, radio, renaming the GPS. On the road, we were equals and it was great fun. But in the last hour, as we approached the destination, I could sense a shift and had to remind myself he was pulling into his new life. So I regressed to Quiet Mom.</p>

<p>He also insisted on stopping at a car wash before we pulled into his town. Apparently, caked road dust and dead bugs all over the windshield didn’t match the way he wanted to present himself!</p>

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<p>Last summer I had a trip with my S, Midwest to San Diego, though I left the trip in AZ to visit family. It is precious time. We visited friends along the way, and hiked in Utah. </p>

<p>What time of year is this trip? Things along the way change depending on the season. I used to drive my son to Pitt or back, and found little along the way to delight the senses. Know that going through Chicago can be time consuming, depending on construction and time of day. But yes, a night downtown, to see the museums, and walk the city can be wonderful. There are old Chicago threads to check out. Chicago is 2 1/2 to 3 hours from Madison</p>

<p>There is a place in Indiana, not too far from I80, that features Amish culture. It was good to get off the interstate around that point. <a href=“Homepage | Visit LaGrange County”>Homepage | Visit LaGrange County; Touristy place, but at least a diversion. </p>

<p>If he is a brass/woodwind instrumentalist, there are many music shops in Indiana as well, just off the interstate. </p>

<p>The art museum in Milwaukee is lovely, and less intense to access than downtown Chicago. Driving through downtown Chicago is a little much for my nervous system, but perhaps being from the E Coast, you’d not be bothered.</p>

<p>But Madison has plenty, between the lakeside university, museums, and summertime festivals. The most famous attraction for those from out of town is the Farmers Market, on Saturdays and to a smaller extent, on Wednesdays.</p>

<p>Bonding? What I enjoyed was hearing what was on his I pod, as it was an exposure to what he cared about that I had not had for several years. Lots of humor, some of it raunchy monologues, which helped us laugh together. It sometimes was an effort to get the Ipod/radio turned off so we could talk. And he appreciated better quality meals, with me willing to pay.</p>

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<p>If you’ve become attached to good coffee, as I have, when travelling I buy a box or two of VIA from Starbucks. They’ve figured out how to make instant coffee better than anybody. If you get caught somewhere with metallic-tasting or hours-old coffee, just ask for boiling water and use VIA instead of all that acid-metal. They’re packed to fit in a purse or long wallet!</p>

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<p>I 80 through Ohio has Starbucks in the roadside oasis, though not in Indiana or Illinois, unless something has changed.</p>

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<p>Also, with a packed car, be sure to park within sight of the front door of hotels, not in the back away from cameras. Not that the front desk clerk will necessarily be watching, but thieves are more likely to target vehicles out of view or in back corners. </p>

<p>I understand the flexibility of not planning ahead, but I do like to read up on hotels ahead of time (on TripAdvisor and Yelp) to make sure there aren’t major issues like bad part of town, history of breakins, dirty, bugs, etc. If you’re not completely sure where you might stop, pick a few options a couple of hours apart and then you can just call ahead when you make up your mind.</p>

<p>There are two rest stops on the Indiana toll road that sell South Bend Chocolates - recommend picking up some treats. But don’t get gas at the first one westbound - get your gas in Ohio in the Toledo area; there are no rest stops for the last 40 miles to the Indiana border, and the first couple of rest stops in Indiana jack up the prices.</p>

<p>Finally, if you have an EZ Pass, it will work on all toll roads on your route. <a href=“https://www.e-zpassny.com/en/about/facilities.shtml[/url]”>https://www.e-zpassny.com/en/about/facilities.shtml&lt;/a&gt;. It might be worth getting one just for the convenience of open road tolling, plus you save quite a bit in Illinois using I-Pass instead of cash.</p>

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<p>You could stay in downtown Evanston and take the CTA to downtown Chicago or anywhere in Chicago.</p>

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<p>These are all very useful ideas. Thanks. Keep 'em coming!!</p>

<p>P3T: Yes, vinyl records. He is an unusual child.</p>

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<p>How much do you want to see Chicago?</p>

<p>Downtown Chicago is absolutely lovely, and well worth spending a few days visiting.</p>

<p>However, I’ve spent much of my life viewing Chicago as a giant obstacle to get PAST on the way from Wisconsin to everywhere east of Illinois. So since you have a lot of time to make this trip, here are a few alternate routes that are much less congested, and scenic:</p>

<p>Get off of I-80 and head up the west coast of lower Michigan. Cross the bridge into Northern Michigan, and hug Lake Michigan, crossing into Wisconsin and down to Milwaukee and cut over to Madison. It is a national scenic route, and beautiful, but will add a day (or two) of driving.</p>

<p>Or, head northwest from Connecticut to Syracuse, Buffalo, cross into Canada, (bringing your passports), cross back into the US north of Detroit and drive up the west coast of lower Michigan to the bridge, and on around the lake.</p>

<p>Personally, we have a choice, when driving from Maryland to Wisconsin, of either driving north and taking I-80, or taking I-70 (a more southerly route) straight across to I-74, to Bloomington Illinois, and then I-39 straight north to Madison. It is a longer route, but doesn’t take us much more time, and is much less stressful driving compared to every inch of I-80 from South Bend to the Wisconsin border. I know you are coming from the north, and I -70 is too far south for you, but if Chicago isn’t a must visit, then try an alternate that will take you far south and west of the city to get around it. Being cut off to the east by Lake Michigan, and with I-80/94 funnelling every semi and car from every state to the north and west of Chicago to the east coast, I-80/94 near Chicago is as congested as I-95 from NY to DC. </p>

<p>(Not looking for an argument, just giving the OP an alternate way to think of the trip.)</p>

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<p>When are you going? My nephew won’t drive that route without stopping at [Cedar</a> Point Amusement Park, The Roller Coaster Capital of the World!](<a href=“http://www.cedarpoint.com/]Cedar”>http://www.cedarpoint.com/) for the roller coasters.</p>

<p>I like having the AAA guides because if they indicate one hotel at an exit, there probably are two more there that aren’t listed. One reliable chain that you can find along this route is [La</a> Quinta Inns & Suites Official Site - Hotels, Reservations, Hotel Deals](<a href=“http://www.lq.com%5DLa”>http://www.lq.com) I don’t know if you have those in CT.</p>