[CysVet]

Does anyone have any favorite driving roads in the western suburbs? I'm in the Naperville area and haven't found anything all that exciting.

[xjet04]

I lived there for many years. It's painfully dull everywhere you look. I'm glad I moved to be closer to work.

[Rotherd31]

Take the ferry across Lake Michigan. Depending on which one you take, you'll end up in Ludington or Muskegon. The south one out of Milwaukee is faster. Or drive around the lake, whichever you prefer. M-22 starts in Manistee, Michigan. NW Michigan. Take it start to finish, 110 miles. Great road, great curves, great scenery! The last 20 miles along the bay headed into Traverse City is lacking curves, but the scenery is great! Leave TC by the same route and you'll have double the fun. One of many crappy views along M-22 pictured. We make this run 2-3 times a year and the Smokies once a year.

[wtwo3]

Closest fun roads are out by Galena. I have a route I take which maximizes the backroads, but the gist of it is this:

-Start in Savanna, IL
-Take scenic ridge road which eventually turns into Derinda rd
-Take a left on to Hanover rd
-Follow Hanover rd till you get to the town of Hanover, then get on to Blackjack rd going north all the way up to Galena.

I've done this route twice and it's a blast. Just unfortunate that it's a solid 2 hours away.

[reNT]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

Closest fun roads are out by Galena. I have a route I take which maximizes the backroads, but the gist of it is this:

-Start in Savanna, IL
-Take scenic ridge road which eventually turns into Derinda rd
-Take a left on to Hanover rd
-Follow Hanover rd till you get to the town of Hanover, then get on to Blackjack rd going north all the way up to Galena.

I've done this route twice and it's a blast. Just unfortunate that it's a solid 2 hours away.

Yep, the closest driving roads are over there. The blackjack rd especially is real fun, the only issue is that sections of it had been under construction the past couple years. I was driving it two months ago and the last 30% of it was all ripped up for construction, turned into a gravel road.

I know starved rock is another one that gets mentioned but it usually has way too much traffic and is too short for any kind of real fun. Way too small for our cars and not worth it, imo.

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by reNT

Yep, the closest driving roads are over there. The blackjack rd especially is real fun, the only issue is that sections of it had been under construction the past couple years. I was driving it two months ago and the last 30% of it was all ripped up for construction, turned into a gravel road.

I know starved rock is another one that gets mentioned but it usually has way too much traffic and is too short for any kind of real fun. Way too small for our cars and not worth it, imo.

Hmmm I wonder if it was a different section of blackjack road? I just went earlier this year and didn't encounter any construction.

Agreed on starved rock - it has a really great stretch of road but it's too slow, too much traffic, and way too short to justify making the trip out there.

Below is the route some buddies and I took back in June and it turned out to be a blast. The waypoints are just there as reference so that we stay on that specific route when plugging it into the GPS.