<p>Anyone have any tips traveling from WI to Tuscaloosa? We drove down a few weeks ago to visit campus for the first time, and had snow in Chicago both ways. (Yikes! Quite an experience.) Even with the snow, we drove all the way back in 12 hours.</p>
<p>We took I65 through IN/KY/TN, but it was a parking lot all through IN. My husband was thinking about I57 next time.</p>
<p>It would be ideal to fly every time, but tickets/car rentals from Birmingham can add up, especially if we’ll be going down for Bama Bound and then to take her to school in Fall.</p>
<p>If you won’t be traveling again during bad weather, then won’t I-65 be ok?</p>
<p>I looked on my iPad maps and it looks like I-57 takes about the same amount of time. It is less traveled, so could be easier. However, bad weather might affect both interstates.</p>
<p>I haven’t driven in the winter, but in spring and summer the drive from Chicago to Tuscaloosa via I-65 drive wasn’t bad at all. I have never tried I-57.</p>
<p>These travel tips have helped us in the past.</p>
<p>-Travel on the weekend when you can. No rush hour traffic.
-Be flexible with your dates. If snow is anticipated, sometimes leaving a day earlier will make the trip much more enjoyable than traveling through snow.
-Set an alarm and leave early. We leave before the crack of dawn. There is no traffic, and we are traveling through familiar areas when it is dark. When you start to hit unfamiliar areas, it is light out.
-Avoid major cities like Chicago and Nashville during rush hour. Plan your trip so that you are not going through major cities during the worst times.
-Bring snacks and beverages in the car. If you are making great time, keep going. Wait to stop and eat until things slow down. Have a snack to hold you over. Try to pass a major city before stopping if it is near rush hour to avoid traffic. Eat along the route, away from metropolitan area.
-Print off directions. Sometimes your GPS will tell you to do stupid or confusing things. Having your route already planned out helps to know when to follow GPS, and when to deviate. Only program your GPS to the next major city that you will pass if it is old and slow. All you really need until you are close are the major roads, anyway.
-To bring a student to school, you will have a lot of things and need a car. When it is only one or two parents going down, or a student by themselves, calculate the costs associated with driving. Gas is quite expensive. Sometimes it is not that much more to fly, and you save all of that time.
-Consider stopping and taking a mini-vacation. Stay the night mid-way at a hotel near a city that you have never explored, or a weird attraction. There are not many caves to explore up North, but many along the way.</p>
<p>My son’s flight was cancelled early January so DH drove him back using I57 (he normally uses I65). It took him longer than normal but the road was snow covered so he can’t compare. Driving through Chicago is always a headache but DH only drives to drop them off at the beginning of the school year, and to pick up at the end in May otherwise S flies. A little more expensive, but much easier. There are students who do drive at winter and even spring breaks and I am sure your D can find a ride in the future if she wants. (Don’t forget that after this year you will not pay travel costs to visit to tour, and bama bound…also after their freshman year they sometimes do not come home for every break.)</p>
<p>Thank you for this thread. Son plans grad school up north, so we will be going the opposite way of y’all, but taking the same roads. Going to subscribe to this thread for more info as time goes.</p>
<p>I do like to use Triple A Trip Tik, and there is even an app for your phone. I used it to plan our Seattle trip where we stopped interesting places through the state of Washington, and got the Triple A agent to make me the little booklet. I’m a visual person, and this really helped me.</p>
<p>During everyday travel, like when I have to work in a little swamp town, I use my phone App. It is especially helpful when I’ve turned left when I should have turned right, so I can see how far I have to backtrack. </p>
<p>There is a Mapquest App and Google Maps App, but for some reason, the Triple A TripTik is dumbed down enough for me.</p>
<p>We live far north Chicago suburbs. The “trick” is to manage the part where you go through/around Chicago. On a weekday, travelling east/south, you need to hit the Chicago city limits by 6 a.m. to avoid a huge delay (6 a.m. does not guarantee no delay, but it’s a very good chance of minimizing your delay). If you can’t do that early, then you might as well until 9 a.m. </p>
<p>You should learn the “names” of the Chicago highways as they are called on the traffic radio stations so you can listen to live traffic info and adjust your route if need be. [A</a> guide to Chicagoland expressways](<a href=“http://www.wrx900.com/Chicagoland%20Expressway%20Guide.htm]A”>A guide to Chicagoland expressways)
WBBM does traffic on the 8s, WGN once every 15 minutes or so. </p>
<p>I’ve driven both routes. We usually take the I-65 route. If you were stuck in Indiana a few weeks ago, it was likely between Indy and Lafayette. That stretch always has the worst conditions on I-65 due to the open, flat landscape.</p>
<p>If you can travel a little west of the Milwaukee Metro area, you could drive 43 to 51 through Rockford to avoid Chicago completely. Then you kick over to 57 via 74. Finally hook up with 65 towards Nashville and finally BHam.</p>
<p>I’ve traveled from Chicago western suburbs on both 57 and 65. I prefer 65. 57 takes a bit longer (for me) and IL is V-E-R-Y boring to say the least. I LOVE once you get out of IL/IN, in either case. The further south you go, the easier and prettier it gets.</p>
<p>If you made it in 12 hours with snow in Chicago and I-65 in Indiana being a parking lot, you’re doing quite well. I’ve taken both 57 and 65. From where we are (far northern Chicago suburbs), 65 is quicker UNLESS there’s bad traffic on 65 and not on 57. That’s often hard to predict, but not always. When D and I drove down for OA a couple years ago, we knew there was a lot of construction on 65, including on the bridge into (I think) Kentucky. There was also construction on 57, but not as bad. So we took 57, even though 65 is our normal route. Ask on here or on the parents facebook group before you travel and you’ll usually get pretty good advice on the best route to take at that particular time.</p>
<p>Hi Poetmom, we are from Elm Grove, WI. My husband is convinced that the Chicago to I 65 route is quicker, it certainly is shorter in terms of mileage, but as others have said you have to time it properly. Last Aug, we left home at around 5 pm and stopped in Layfayette IN overnight, then had a comfortable day of driving the next day. Last January, we drove down in one 13-hour day via Rockford to I-57, and drove back with an overnight in Nashville. Luckily we had no weather issues at all. It really depends on your own preferences, personally I would never drive though Chicago if it could possibly be avoided but my husband is tougher than me and doesn’t mind it at all. </p>
<p>DS and his roommate had a very difficult drive a couple of weeks ago, they left 2 days later than they hoped because of the I 65 closure, and then they did it all in one long day, about 16 hours.</p>
<p>However you plan it, it is not easy but there are plenty of us from the Midwest doing the same thing, and as Beth’s mom said the Facebook group is a great resource (The University of Alabama Parents)</p>
<p>It sounds to me like you made outstanding time, given when you traveled. My daughter drove in those poor weather conditions two weeks ago as well, traveling from Kalamazoo, Michigan getting on I-65 in Indianapolis to Tuscaloosa. The normally 12-hour drive took her 17 hours, so yours doesn’t sound bad. </p>
<p>I will have to say that our plan was to find rides with others from the area for trips back for Thanksgiving, Christmas, Spring Break, etc. That did not go as planned and we ended up sending her back with a car at Thanksgiving so she can drive back on her own schedule. I don’t know if that is the best plan, but she is happy that she has her car back (and we got her younger brother a different car.)</p>
<p>I think if you can be flexible you will definitely find rides using the ride-share forums to save costs with flights. Good luck!!!</p>
<p>We live in the western suburbs and agree with the others if all goes smoothly I-65 is the way to go. I-57 is nice for a change. We stopped in Tupelo one time and had a great meal. If we have the time, we leave Chicago mid-afternoon to avoid the morning traffic headaches.</p>
<p>Great advice here – thanks! – will definitely check back when as we have to head down to Bama Bound this summer, then in fall to check her in.</p>
<p>We’re just west of Milwaukee, so going through Rockford/I-57 won’t be horrible. I do think I-65 is the fast route, but husband really doesn’t like how it bunches up in IN. </p>
<p>Driving in non-winter conditions will make all the difference, I think! We planned our last trip to leave on New Years, so traffic through Chicago was very light. We came back Saturday, so it wasn’t bad either. We do like to go through Chicago at the crack of dawn or later at night – this makes all the difference.</p>
<p>I always pack both a food cooler and a beverage cooler. We’re kind of health food junkies, so I pack crackers, hummus, peanut butter, fruit, carrots, juice, and lots of water. (And I also pack things like Fritos and jerky – our non-health food road trip snacks, so we don’t have to pay twice as much at a gas station.) We normally don’t even stop for food, unless someone has a die-hard craving for Chick-fil-A I think that’s what helped give us a 12-hour drive on the way up – we only had to stop 3 short times (2 for gas and 1 for Long John Silvers, which someone had a craving for.)</p>
<p>In any event, I think driving without the snow will make all the difference.</p>
<p>PoetMom - what part of I-65 in Indiana does your husband want to avoid? My super secret road I like to take sometimes is 45/52 to Route 1 in Illinois. You pick up I-74 east off Route 1 and take I-74 to Indy and then I-65 south from there. </p>
<p>If you are hungry along the way and feeling adventurous, there is a dive bar/restaurant called the Moon-Glo in Danville Illinois that you can stop at. They serve HUGE steaks for something like $14 but most of the time you cook it yourself on an open grill. Cheap, huge delicious burgers too but again, a hole-in-the-wall atmosphere kind of place. Here’s one review of the place. </p>
I think that’s what helped give us a 12-hour drive on the way up – we only had to stop 3 short times (2 for gas and 1 for Long John Silvers, which someone had a craving for.)</p>