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Hi all. Ok, so of course the Midwest isn't exactly known for twisty roads since we have a lack of elevation change in general. And I did find this thread in the 991 forums...
...but that thread doesn't have as much in it as you might expect, and I'm wondering if people care to share their favorite roads to drive their cars on here. I'm in the Chicago area and I realize I'll need to go a ways out to find much of anything, but there's one road in particular, not too far from St. Louis, that I'm wondering if anybody here has any experience with.
Anybody here in Missouri? Wondering how the drive is on MO 19 from Salem to Winona. It looks pretty good just looking at it on a map (and on Curvature) but would love to hear from somebody who's driven it if it's a good drive. It would take me quite a while to get there from the Chicago burbs so I just want to make sure it's not gravel or 25mph and loaded with police before thinking about a trip down there. TIA
Hi all. Ok, so of course the Midwest isn't exactly known for twisty roads since we have a lack of elevation change in general. And I did find this thread in the 991 forums...
...but that thread doesn't have as much in it as you might expect, and I'm wondering if people care to share their favorite roads to drive their cars on here. I'm in the Chicago area and I realize I'll need to go a ways out to find much of anything, but there's one road in particular, not too far from St. Louis, that I'm wondering if anybody here has any experience with.
Anybody here in Missouri? Wondering how the drive is on MO 19 from Salem to Winona. It looks pretty good just looking at it on a map (and on Curvature) but would love to hear from somebody who's driven it if it's a good drive. It would take me quite a while to get there from the Chicago burbs so I just want to make sure it's not gravel or 25mph and loaded with police before thinking about a trip down there. TIA
One of the many reasons I moved far away from Chicago... my advice, get a membership at Autobahn Country Club!
Some of the roads in the Ozarks are pretty good though, wouldn't want to drive them in the wintertime!
One way to check road conditions is using google maps, street view or satellite view will give you a pretty good look at the conditions
We are actually hoping to move in a few years for a number of reasons.
I'd rather drive 8 hours to a good road than spend $40k on a membership and $5,500 / year. I'm not so much interested in tracking as I am scenic & twisty drives "out in the wild".
Which isn't a dis to Autobahn. I've done XX there a few times and it's fun. Just not something I'm willing to spend that much $ on.
Anyway, looks like a regular 2-lane paved road for the most part, but just curious if it's actually fun to drive.
We are actually hoping to move in a few years for a number of reasons.
I'd rather drive 8 hours to a good road than spend $40k on a membership and $5,500 / year. I'm not so much interested in tracking as I am scenic & twisty drives "out in the wild".
Which isn't a dis to Autobahn. I've done XX there a few times and it's fun. Just not something I'm willing to spend that much $ on.
Anyway, looks like a regular 2-lane paved road for the most part, but just curious if it's actually fun to drive.
I hear ya, I'm the same way, but that road does look great, 55mph and pretty twisty, score of 11k is good
I've been thinking about setting up a small sort of "group drive". There's also a "996 Revival" group run by a local guy, he does occasional short afternoon group drives and has some OK routes.
I'm out in McHenry County and have a couple "loops" that take 1-3 hours depending on the route. I've loaded a couple of them in the Porsche Roads app, and have intent of recreating them in the Calimoto app since Porsche Roads seems to have changed a bit (and it's only for Apple devices). Of course none of these are like what you'd find "down south" (or rather, if they are, they only last a few minutes.) But it's something.
For a "simple" one - Illinois SR 2 is pretty. Runs along the Rock River. Pick it up just south of Rockford, take it all the way to Dixon. Just did this one this past Sunday. Again, certainly not a canyon road but it's scenic and winds a bit.
Maybe you, me, and @IL_Pete get together one of these fall weekends and compare notes?
I've been thinking about setting up a small sort of "group drive". There's also a "996 Revival" group run by a local guy, he does occasional short afternoon group drives and has some OK routes.
I'm out in McHenry County and have a couple "loops" that take 1-3 hours depending on the route. I've loaded a couple of them in the Porsche Roads app, and have intent of recreating them in the Calimoto app since Porsche Roads seems to have changed a bit (and it's only for Apple devices). Of course none of these are like what you'd find "down south" (or rather, if they are, they only last a few minutes.) But it's something.
For a "simple" one - Illinois SR 2 is pretty. Runs along the Rock River. Pick it up just south of Rockford, take it all the way to Dixon. Just did this one this past Sunday. Again, certainly not a canyon road but it's scenic and winds a bit.
Maybe you, me, and @IL_Pete get together one of these fall weekends and compare notes?
Cool, thanks, I'll take a look at that on a map. Would enjoy that...if my car ever gets here
Cool, thanks, I'll take a look at that on a map. Would enjoy that...if my car ever gets here
Lived in Chicagoland a couple of times (most recently in Naperville), grew up in Indianapolis and I miss the cold / seasons of the Midwest down here in Dallas.
If you're down for a longer drive, you might try Bloomington, IN (where IU is located). It's probably ~4ish hours to get there, depending on where you are in Chicago. There's some great roads down there generally, especially between Nashville, IN and Bloomington. There's also some decent hills, and the fall trees (once they change) are awesome.
Lived in Chicagoland a couple of times (most recently in Naperville), grew up in Indianapolis and I miss the cold / seasons of the Midwest down here in Dallas.
If you're down for a longer drive, you might try Bloomington, IN (where IU is located). It's probably ~4ish hours to get there, depending on where you are in Chicago. There's some great roads down there generally, especially between Nashville, IN and Bloomington. There's also some decent hills, and the fall trees (once they change) are awesome.
Cool, thanks for that...I'll take a look! I went to Purdue for a couple of years and we'd road trip to Bloomington, so yeah, that's not too bad of a drive at all.
Just came back from the Driftless area in SW Wisconsin last weekend. Endless winding roads...almost no traffic...very few cops except on the bigger roads. Get a DeLorme Atlas and start looking at the roads. Also, check out these websites: https://driftlesswisconsin.com/thing...sin-road-tourshttps://sites.google.com/site/lowerwisconsinriverroad
Best driving roads I have found that are close to Chicago. Some amazing ones in Northern Michigan but everything is 4-8 hours before the fun.
I haven't been to that area, but can confirm through a trusted source that the Driftless area is amazing. Runs up/down the MS river.
That's a bit of a hike though If we want to talk about distance drives.... not as far as Driftless but Kettle Moraine area in WI is beautiful too. Pick up Rt67 and you can follow it all the way to Road America.
Just came back from the Driftless area in SW Wisconsin last weekend. Endless winding roads...almost no traffic...very few cops except on the bigger roads. Get a DeLorme Atlas and start looking at the roads. Also, check out these websites: https://driftlesswisconsin.com/thing...sin-road-tourshttps://sites.google.com/site/lowerwisconsinriverroad
Best driving roads I have found that are close to Chicago. Some amazing ones in Northern Michigan but everything is 4-8 hours before the fun.
I see the OP is from Chicago, but was asking about roads south of St. Louis. I am from STL, picked up a BGTS on Oct 8, and have put about 900 miles on it on roads south of St. Louis since then. I am having an amazing time. If you are willing to drive south of St. Louis, here is what has worked for me:
It's only $15. I found them via Rennlist, actually, they were at one time a sponsor here. It's nice to have the physical map for the overview, I think. I always assume St. Louis is lacking in everything, but it turns out we have a ton of great roads just to the south.
2. Purchase the REVER App (I think like $50/year, they have periodic sales though). That has the Butler Motorcycle maps integrated into a trip planning app. To plan, you go to a.rever.com in a web browser. It has roads overlaid with butler ratings. You can draw your route, and see a real time trip-time as you build the route. So far, I have a 3.5 hour round trip out of St. Louis that I am very happy with (its the shortest path to G1 roads from St. Louis), and a 6.5-7 hour trip that is full of amazing roads, but I am still refining.
My experience with the roads is: Butler G1 roads (yellow, the best) are worth multi-hour drives to get to, in my opinion. Butler G2 roads (red, second best) are sometimes very good and sometimes barely distinguishable from G1. In my 6.5 hour drive, I recently cut out some father south G1s in favor of some G2s I really liked that were not quite so far away. G3 roads (orange, are good as connectors but rarely memorable).
3. Then, favorite your routes on a.rever.com, connect to car play, start the app on your phone, but then tap the Carplay screen and choose the heart. Start the directions from the screen, not the phone, and choose "follow route line", not "turn by turn" (in my experience, if you use turn by turn and get even a little off the route, it will get hopelessly confused). The directions won't appear on your screen unless you start them from the screen (I found this very confusing for a while).
4. There are some G2 roads west of St. Louis (notably highway 94) which I have tried and don't like as much. They are curvy, but they are more heavily trafficked, and they criss cross the katy trail bike path, which requires repeated caution just when you want to take turns fast. They might be nicer for someone looking for a wine-tour type experience, with some little quaint touristy towns (none of that down south).
5. Regarding Highway 19, I stopped at Echo Bluff State park on my long drive. It's between Salem and Eminence. It is a really nice place to eat a lunch, if you bring yours (the first right leads to a nice overlook with tables). I remember H19 being quite good in that area, but it wasn't one of the highways I remember thinking was a noted favorite.
If you end up coming south, feel free to PM me and I think I can share some of my routes with you on the app. I will say Chicago is a long way, so your mileage may vary. But I have experienced true joy on the G1 roads. I feel like I go 10-15 minutes without seeing any other cars, even coming the other way (I drive on weekdays because I have a flexible schedule). The roads all have 55mph speed limits, with lots of 30-35mph advisory turns, and I find the cornering really fun. I have been having a great time without going more than 8mph over the speed limit (but pretty much ignore the advisories). It's also beautiful country.
Most of the roads are weirdly well maintained (I really wonder why some of them even exist), but my favorite road close to St. Louis, Highway T, is the road that inspired me to add PPF on the rocker panels with some gravel coming out of driveways entering the roadway.
If you want to go even farther south, northwestern Arkansas is just littered with G1 roads. I am planning to head down there next spring. Also, you could take a look at the maps/drives referenced by PCA Palooza
That route is a great road leading you to some beautiful natural springs. In fact the Mark Twain National Forest in MO is full of amazing roads. If you decide to head this way hit me up and we will go on a long drive through the Ozarks, which will surprise you on the elevation and curves. Its truly a hidden gem.
10-19-2021, 01:39 PM
Midwest Twisty Roads Thread
If we want to talk about distance drives.... not as far as Driftless but Kettle Moraine area in WI is beautiful too. Pick up Rt67 and you can follow it all the way to Road America.
