When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Here in the northeastern portion of the aptly nicknamed Prairie State of Illinois, we're starved for curved forested roads and changing elevations. I've longingly read here and on the 991 forum of visits to TOTD and the Canyon drives in CA (the best part of The Smoking Tire videos). While we have some nice country roads within less than an hour's drive of our home, and I have some favorite routes, they're mostly straight and flat. Yesterday, my wife and I decided to try out Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive in Wisconsin, which actually is made up of many different roads with MANY turns, so many that my wife had to serve as navigator with the a sheet I had printed out with all the turns. The southern tip of the Scenic Drive, at Whitewater Lake, WI, is 79 miles northwest of where we live (we're only 25 miles from the IL-WI line), and the northern end of it is at a park in Elkhart Lake, WI (home of Road America), 115 miles miles away. To give you an idea of the many road changes and curves, the fast route all the way home was about 70 miles less than the route all the way up there. It was well worth it! There was minimal traffic on the way up. We did encounter a brief traffic delay coming back home leaving Elkhart Lake, because of the NASCAR Cup race which had just ended. We have plans to return in the fall, and again at a dry spell in winter. And, last night, after 300 miles in the Spyder, a little while after we got home, I was looking forward to taking it out again!
There are some reasonably fun roads hidden around the northern Illinois area, but the glaciers pretty much knocked northern Illinois flat a few years ago Getting up into the Kettle Moraine area or any of the Wisconsin Rustic Roads is always fun driving! Maybe we could get a little group drive going
I love that run from northern Illinois all the way to Elkhart Lake via the B-Roads and have done many miles on the weekends driving those. Usually head out around 4am, 2-3 Saturdays a month, in the late fall and winter (you'll have the roads to yourself). Catch 83 off of 50 heading west towards Lake Geneva from I-94. Then north to Oconomowoc. Find Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive and a then let fate help you find country roads that continue to make ones way north. There are too many options to list.
Great reason to get some cold weather tires. Heaters and defrosters work great in these.
Look me up in later in the year if anyone is interested.
Here's a pretty solid route that was shared with me, that I tried to put against Google Maps.
Please note, the road conditions have changed over time. Some are paved better than others these days! https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/ed...bI&usp=sharing
Takes you from Delafield to Elkhart Lake, primarily through back roads
If I was to do one edit, I would hit 83 a bit longer and then cross over at Q. So do the "Green" and skip the "Red"
A group drive sounds like a great idea. And I indeed do the winter wheel swap, on both my P-cars. The KMSD route and maps are in PDFs available on a website for it set up by the State of Wisconsin. Here's the link: https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/parks/kmscenicdrive. The directions are laid out in detail, turn by turn. There's a ton of them. The beauty of a group drive is that, hopefully, only the lead car needs to follow them!
I’m from Wisconsin, I know the road, It’s a beautiful route.. I’ve done a ton of driving, cycling and cross-country skiing in the kettle moraine. I miss it..carl
Try southwest Wisconsin. It is called the driftless area. The glaciers missed the area so it is hilly with a lot of great curvy hilly roads.
THIS!
The wife and I spent Memorial day weekend taking the long way to, from, and around LaCrosse, WI. Probably the best winding roads in the upper Midwest. Not California canyon runs, but about as good as it gets around here. Anything west of Madison is good and gets better the further west you go.
Here in the northeastern portion of the aptly nicknamed Prairie State of Illinois, we're starved for curved forested roads and changing elevations. I've longingly read here and on the 991 forum of visits to TOTD and the Canyon drives in CA (the best part of The Smoking Tire videos). While we have some nice country roads within less than an hour's drive of our home, and I have some favorite routes, they're mostly straight and flat. Yesterday, my wife and I decided to try out Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive in Wisconsin, which actually is made up of many different roads with MANY turns, so many that my wife had to serve as navigator with the a sheet I had printed out with all the turns. The southern tip of the Scenic Drive, at Whitewater Lake, WI, is 79 miles northwest of where we live (we're only 25 miles from the IL-WI line), and the northern end of it is at a park in Elkhart Lake, WI (home of Road America), 115 miles miles away. To give you an idea of the many road changes and curves, the fast route all the way home was about 70 miles less than the route all the way up there. It was well worth it! There was minimal traffic on the way up. We did encounter a brief traffic delay coming back home leaving Elkhart Lake, because of the NASCAR Cup race which had just ended. We have plans to return in the fall, and again at a dry spell in winter. And, last night, after 300 miles in the Spyder, a little while after we got home, I was looking forward to taking it out again!
southwestern WI is a Porsche drivers dream. It is called the driftless area, meaning the glaciers did not scrape the land flat in the area.
Last edited by tomingrassia; 08-07-2021 at 11:59 PM.
07-05-2021, 05:51 PM
Kettle Moraine Scenic Drive
Getting up into the Kettle Moraine area or any of the Wisconsin Rustic Roads is always fun driving! Maybe we could get a little group drive going 
