Best driving route from Tampa?

[rtloucks]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

I've done this trip many times when my mom lived in the Tampa area. I tried all sorts of different routes, just for fun. I think my favorite was 75/10/231/65/24/57/64/61/218/35.

Takes you via Tallahassee/ Montgomery/ Birmingham/ Nashville/ St. Louis /Hannibal/ Iowa City/ Owatonna.

This route avoids Atlanta. I really hate to drive through there. The 285 "by-pass" is just as bad as 75 thru town.

Drove this offer as well. Grew up in MN and lived in Tampa as well as Atlanta, just take 75 north to Atlanta, then up through Tennessee via Chattanooga then Nashville, up thru Indianapolis, Chicago, Madison WI and into MN. You can cut over thru Iowa but I hate those single lane highways... I always get stuck behind some a$#hole trucker, tractor or someone doing 45 in a 55 all the way. Its a solid 25.5 hours to Rochester, 27 to Minneapolis. If you don't take too long at stops. Thats where I would go so where in MN you end up will fluctuate in time.

[Ghengis]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

Drove this offer as well. Grew up in MN and lived in Tampa as well as Atlanta, just take 75 north to Atlanta, then up through Tennessee via Chattanooga then Nashville, up thru Indianapolis, Chicago, Madison WI and into MN. You can cut over thru Iowa but I hate those single lane highways... I always get stuck behind some a$#hole trucker, tractor or someone doing 45 in a 55 all the way. Its a solid 25.5 hours to Rochester, 27 to Minneapolis. If you don't take too long at stops. Thats where I would go so where in MN you end up will fluctuate in time.

Finally! this, stay on the tollway thru Chicago and it is a breeze. You can shoot thru the fast pass lanes at all the toll booths without stopping. Keep track of when you hit the first one and log-in to pay your $9.00 within 7 days on their web site.

Can't believe someone would drive thru Iowa.

Hold your nose in Wisconnie tho.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

Drove this offer as well. Grew up in MN and lived in Tampa as well as Atlanta, just take 75 north to Atlanta, then up through Tennessee via Chattanooga then Nashville, up thru Indianapolis, Chicago, Madison WI and into MN. You can cut over thru Iowa but I hate those single lane highways... I always get stuck behind some a$#hole trucker, tractor or someone doing 45 in a 55 all the way. Its a solid 25.5 hours to Rochester, 27 to Minneapolis. If you don't take too long at stops. Thats where I would go so where in MN you end up will fluctuate in time.

Driving thru Iowa only makes sense if you follow the route I specified above (i.e., thru Nashville, Paducah, St. Louis.) As for Iowa roads, it must've been awhile since you drove through there. It's all 4-lane (and no tolls and no Chicago traffic).

From St. Louis, it's 61 to just south of the IA border, where you keep heading due north on MO 27, which turns into IA 27, to Donnelson, IA where you continue due north by merging with US 218 and follow it north to US 18 at Charles City, then west to I-35 south of Mason City. Then straight up to the TCs. Don't let all these various route numbers fool you. It's ALL the same road and it's ALL 4 lane divided highway. No "a$#hole truckers, tractors or someone doing 45 in a 55". And no tolls and no Chicago traffic.

PS: if you want to keep going the route you favor, you can avoid all the tolls (except for the 10 mile stretch from Rockford to Beloit) by heading out of Indy on 74 (instead of 65) to Bloomington, IL, then north on 39 to Madison, where you pick up 94.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by Ghengis

Finally! this, stay on the tollway thru Chicago and it is a breeze. You can shoot thru the fast pass lanes at all the toll booths without stopping. Keep track of when you hit the first one and log-in to pay your $9.00 within 7 days on their web site.

Can't believe someone would drive thru Iowa.

Hold your nose in Wisconnie tho.

Only if you time your travel through there when it is not rush hour. And rush hour in the Chicago area is many more hours longer than it is in Tampa or Minneapolis!

[rtloucks]

Originally Posted by Ben Around

Driving thru Iowa only makes sense if you follow the route I specified above (i.e., thru Nashville, Paducah, St. Louis.) As for Iowa roads, it must've been awhile since you drove through there. It's all 4-lane (and no tolls and no Chicago traffic).

From St. Louis, it's 61 to just south of the IA border, where you keep heading due north on MO 27, which turns into IA 27, to Donnelson, IA where you continue due north by merging with US 218 and follow it north to US 18 at Charles City, then west to I-35 south of Mason City. Then straight up to the TCs. Don't let all these various route numbers fool you. It's ALL the same road and it's ALL 4 lane divided highway. No "a$#hole truckers, tractors or someone doing 45 in a 55". And no tolls and no Chicago traffic.

PS: if you want to keep going the route you favor, you can avoid all the tolls (except for the 10 mile stretch from Rockford to Beloit) by heading out of Indy on 74 (instead of 65) to Bloomington, IL, then north on 39 to Madison, where you pick up 94.

Depends where you're going. Outside of Cedar Rapids area once you get into northern Iowa all the way thru Spring valley Mn and basically to Stewartsville MN ita all single lane. We just drove in in late October. If you get to an interstate then sure, but thats not the most direct route.

[davephan]

We've done that drive between the Twin Cities and south of Tampa many times. It's about a 1,600 mile drive, and takes about 24 hours of driving. It's tough to do the drive in two days, because that's two long days of driving. We've done it in two days, and three days of driving.

We've found the best way to drive from the Twin Cities to Florida is to use Google Maps or Apple Maps. You then are alerted to problems along your route in real time. We take I-94 / I-90 from the Twin Cities to Rockford, Illinois. Then take I-39 south to Bloomington, Illinois. Then I-74 to Champaign, Illinois . Then I-57 to I-24 to Chattanooga, Tennessee. Then I-75 all the way to Florida. Don't drive with paper maps, use the free GPS app on your smart cellphone.

If we do the drive in two days, we stop overnight at the half way point, which is in Nashville. Then to Florida, by the end of the second long day of driving. If we do the drive in three days, we stop in Metropolis, Illinois, which is the southern border of Illinois, home of Superman, at the Harriah's Casino Hotel, which is low priced for it's quality level. Then then second overnight stay is on the south side of Atlanta. Then the third day, we are in Florida.

There's one toll at the southern border of Illinois, which is less than $2. There are ways you could drive around the less than $2 toll, but it isn't worth taking the effort to do so. It's very important to take I-39 through Wisconsin and Illinois and totally avoid Chicago, which is always a mess. I didn't realize that the tolls are $9 to drive through that mess. Why would you want to take that horrible route and pay more in tolls? The roads around Chicago are always under construction. The drivers are horrible, and the traffic is always heavy. We used to do the Chicago route. Never again. The timing when you hit Atlanta is important, because the Atlanta rush hour traffic is absolutely horrible! It's the only major city in your route if you avoid Chicago. It's worth it to take the Atlanta bypass. We usually take the west Atlanta bypass. There isn't a good path to drive around the whole Atlanta metro area without adding another hour to the driving time. Be careful in southern Georgia! There are always tons of speed traps in southern Georgia!

We would consider driving the "Iowa" route to Florida, if the weather or driving conditions were bad taking our "normal" route. We always check the weather when driving between Minnesota and Florida, especially the winter driving. You have to be willing to re-schedule your trip a couple days sooner or later, so you aren't driving in a winter storm. Sometimes, it's best to fly over the bad winter weather and rent a car at the other end. We'd also consider flying one-way, and renting a car to drive back. The costs aren't that bad for renting a car for that one-way trip, if you have unlimited miles, and if you rent through Costco, which resells four major car rental companies, at lower prices.

[Ben Around]

Originally Posted by rtloucks

Depends where you're going. Outside of Cedar Rapids area once you get into northern Iowa all the way thru Spring valley Mn and basically to Stewartsville MN ita all single lane. We just drove in in late October. If you get to an interstate then sure, but thats not the most direct route.

Don't go through Spring Valley. When you get to Waterloo via 380, pick up 218 to Charles City, then 18 to 35 at Clear Lake. It's ALL 4 lane.