Traveling from St. Louis to La Crosse, Wisconsin (Springfield, Webster Groves: live, law)

[scocar]

We are driving up to La Crosse this weekend to visit family. We are leaving from Webster Groves and Map Quest, Rand McNally, and Google all give different preferred routes.

Route #1 - Going up 61 north into Iowa and then going through Iowa City.

Route #2 - The other one has us taking 67 through Illinois and then going up through Davenport.

Route #3 - Has us taking the River Road all the way up.

What is the boards suggestions?

[billiken]

My brother in law lives in Dubuque, IA which is somewhat similar, but less distance. The first time we drove, we took 67N. I would highly discourage this route--it was terrible. Pretty much all through IL, it felt like there was a small town every 10 miles where the speed limit would drop to 30mph w/ several stop signs. It took us freakin forever (I think maybe an extra hour longer than estimated?).

Once you get to Davenport, 61N is pretty much an open highway--but be careful, there seem to be plenty of cops patrolling. My husband's 1st speeding ticket was obtained between Davenport and Dubuque on 61N, and we were going 70 (not extremely fast IMO for a highway w/ 2 lanes in each direction...).

My recommendation? Take Hwy 55N to 155N to 74W (through Peoria to Davenport), then 61N from Davenport to Lacrosse. This is what we've taken since our 67N frustration. It's the 1st route that pops up on Google Maps if you type St Louis MO to La Crosse, WI.

Enjoy LaCrosse--our family almost moved there when I was a kid

[Fishtacos]

Another way not yet mentioned from Stl is 55 N to 39/51 to 90/94. This would go from stl to Rockford/Beloit to Madison WI to Lacrosse.

[Caesarstl]

Originally Posted by billiken

My brother in law lives in Dubuque, IA which is somewhat similar, but less distance. The first time we drove, we took 67N. I would highly discourage this route--it was terrible. Pretty much all through IL, it felt like there was a small town every 10 miles where the speed limit would drop to 30mph w/ several stop signs. It took us freakin forever (I think maybe an extra hour longer than estimated?).

Once you get to Davenport, 61N is pretty much an open highway--but be careful, there seem to be plenty of cops patrolling. My husband's 1st speeding ticket was obtained between Davenport and Dubuque on 61N, and we were going 70 (not extremely fast IMO for a highway w/ 2 lanes in each direction...).

My recommendation? Take Hwy 55N to 155N to 74W (through Peoria to Davenport), then 61N from Davenport to Lacrosse. This is what we've taken since our 67N frustration. It's the 1st route that pops up on Google Maps if you type St Louis MO to La Crosse, WI.

Enjoy LaCrosse--our family almost moved there when I was a kid

Originally Posted by Fishtacos

Another way not yet mentioned from Stl is 55 N to 39/51 to 90/94. This would go from stl to Rockford/Beloit to Madison WI to Lacrosse.

I would def take one of these.

[scocar]

I guess next time I should ask for advice sooner than the night before we leave. I didn't read any of the suggestions before embarking on the trip. My original plan was to take 367-N into Alton and then take the 67-N up through the western part of Illinois to Davenport, and then up though Dubuque. My GPS told us to take I-44, to I-55 and then go up through Springfield and Peoria, then over to Davenport. Rather than print out the directions I just went up through the 367-N and figured my GPS would reconfigure to my preferred route. Well that didn't happen. Once I got to Alton it just directed me on getting back the I-55 which took forever. So I ended up on that route and went up through Springfield and Peoria. Since it was mostly interstates I would probably take that route as my preferred route even though it's about 30 miles more driving than the other ones.

[billiken]

Originally Posted by scocar

I guess next time I should ask for advice sooner than the night before we leave. I didn't read any of the suggestions before embarking on the trip. My original plan was to take 367-N into Alton and then take the 67-N up through the western part of Illinois to Davenport, and then up though Dubuque. My GPS told us to take I-44, to I-55 and then go up through Springfield and Peoria, then over to Davenport. Rather than print out the directions I just went up through the 367-N and figured my GPS would reconfigure to my preferred route. Well that didn't happen. Once I got to Alton it just directed me on getting back the I-55 which took forever. So I ended up on that route and went up through Springfield and Peoria. Since it was mostly interstates I would probably take that route as my preferred route even though it's about 30 miles more driving than the other ones.

Very lucky! Our GPS was how we ended up on the awful 67N route in the first place...

Hope you enjoyed your trip!