Denver, CO to Travese City MI

[xinys]

Going from Denver, to Traverse City, MI, I-80 seems to be most direct route...any better route ???advice for going thru south of Chicago on I-80 ???

[kknowlton]

x2 on the northern route. You wouldn't have to take it all the way across, just work your way up from I-80, probably through Nebraska & the Dakotas, or possibly through western Nebraska, the Black Hills & TRNP in ND. If time isn't a factor, at least, this could be a good alternative.

[2gypsies1]

Why not taken the northern route along Hwy 2 into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Spend some time at Mackinac Island and go a little south to Traverse City? It would be a beautiful drive rather than the southern route.

[GizmosMom]

My first thought was as WE-C-USA suggests. Really pretty drive through Wisconsin and the UP of Michigan.

If that doesn't work I would definitely take IH-70 east then onward as Thom suggests. We recently drove that way to and from Western Michigan. On our way back we traveled south on IH-65 and then took the Roselawn, Indiana to Kankakee, IL cut-off. We enjoyed that road more than Highway 24.

We also dislike Chicago traffic and avoid it whenever possible. There seemed to be so many, many trucks on the Interstates in May when we travled. If we had more time we probably would have taken more of the state highways.

[WE-C-USA]

A lot depends on the time you have for the trip. If time allows you could go across Wisconsin and enter the Michigan UP. Then on to Traverse City. Only a couple hundred miles longer and more scenic.

[Thom02099]

xinys wrote:
Going from Denver, to Traverse City, MI, I-80 seems to be most direct route...any better route ???advice for going thru south of Chicago on I-80 ???

"Better" is always subjective, depending on your point of view. While more direct, I-80 as noted can be quite boring and there's a lot of traffic to contend with. Guess it depends on whether time is of the essence, or if you can take your time getting there.

If the latter, consider taking US 36. Pick it up outside Denver off I-70 at Byers and take it all the way across eastern CO, KS, and MO. Many folks here have used that route either direction and it's a good alternative to the interstates, with a lot less traffic. Small towns are about 20-30 miles apart and for the most part don't really slow you down much. It's 2 lanes through CO and KS, but becomes 4 lanes in MO. Once you get to Hannibal MO, you could take I-72 in IL to I-57 north toward Chicago, but get off I-57 at Exit 283 for US 24 and take that over to I-65. Then take I-65 north to I-94 and on in to Michigan. You'd avoid most of the mess around Chicago. I've done this route before to visit relatives in NE Indiana and it's a good route all the way.

[rexlion]

It's not easy to avoid Chicago. But personally I would either time that part of the trip for evening/night when traffic is low, or find some 2-lane highways a bit farther south to go around on. I just hate that Chicago traffic.

[Campfire_Time]

Not really. It's probably the most direct route, and it's a really boring ride. Chicago is fine as long as you avoid peak times.