Early Retirement Extreme Forums

Ok. I might try couchsurfing.

So, I decided my itinerary.
https://www.google.com/maps/dir/A%C3%A9 ... 741625!3e0
My ESTA has been aproved.
I will rent a car on Turo.
I will visit: Chicago, the badlands, the black hills, theodore roosevelt national park, Lake winnipeg, Northern minnesota, Isle Royale national park, and the michigan coast .
I'm very interested in meeting other forumites. I will arrive on the 14th of august and leave on the 7th of september, in chicago.
I'm very interested in meeting other forumites so how fast I go along this route is very flexible. I would also happily make some detour or take someone along for a part of the trip. I would also be quite happy about a place to pitch a tent in chicago on the 14th and 5th, 6th of september.
From chicago, I will fly to Iceland, spend about 3 weeks there, and then take a boat to the feroese.
I don't really have a plan for iceland yet. I think about going back to hornstrandhir, but I would very much like to explore some roads I haven't seen a picture from. I would be happy to meet forumite there too.
Same apply to the feroese, except I really have no plan. My SO wil join me with the ferry a few days after my arrival. I feel very attracted to the place so I'm especially curious about how it would be for me to live there. I will stay until I have to take the ferry in order to be home for samain.

You are driving all around me . Send a PM and I will let you know the small city I'll be living in during your trip. Unfortunately, I start my semi-ERE just after your trip, so will still be working full time and may not have enough time for a long road trip to meet up with you as your itinerary shows. Once my schedule comes out for that period of time, if I have enough days off together, I will certainly try. Maybe at Teddy Roosevelt National Park? It's one of my favorites and less than six car hours away.

Just a note on your itinerary. From Dubuque, IA until you near the black hills, you are basically going through the farm heartland. You will see mostly nothing but 100's of Km's of corn fields and small towns. I'm not discouraging your route, just so you are aware, those are VERY long drives unless you are interested in corn. Although it's kind of hard to avoid that area coming from Chicago.

I lived in Houghton, MI for two years. I think you will like it.

Since you are Swiss and you are driving through it anyway you should consider stopping in New Glarus, Wisconsin. It describes itself as the "America's Little Switzerland." There is a good brewery called New Glarus Brewing and a Swiss restaurant called the Glarner Stube. There is also a lot of cheese and meat available around that part of the state. You'll either think "this isn't anything like Switzerland" and get a good laugh out of it or feel right at home.

A couple of other thoughts:
- Consider driving hwy 240(?) through the Badlands even though it adds some time. It is a great drive.
- If you find yourself looking for something to do around South Dakota Spearfish is not a bad little town. I like the city campground. The drive up Spearfish Canyon is also nice. They also have a fish farm that is fun. None of this is worth going out of the way for though.
- C_L is right about the driving. It looks like you are taking small roads deliberately though. In this case Interstate 90 would be a little slower but would be slightly less lonely if you start feeling spooked. As best you can with Turo, get a well-maintained newer car with low miles. You don't want to have any mechanical trouble out there, though if you have a phone signal you will be able to get a tow and repairs.
- Custer State Park is supposed to be nice and is on your way to Wind Cave.

@cl that would be great to meet in Teddy Roosevelt national Park. I should be there around the 23rd.
@ gdp
Funny, i was planning New Glaris forest sp as my camping spot for the first night, and Custer state Park was included in my vision of visiting the black hills. Same goes for hwy240. It's just that thé number of waypoint is limites on Google maps. Are lonely roads dangerous?

+1 to taking the extra loop through Badlands NP. If you start at the eastern end, there's also a (very) small cold war museum right on the north side of route 90 (free IIRC). If you're interested is such things, you can go to the museum at opening (7am?) and sign up to take a tour of a nuclear missile silo. The silo is several miles away.

From there, head through the Badlands and then the extra loop will be a left turn as you come close to exiting the park. (does anyone remember what that's called? with prairie dog town and all the bison?) There's a small exhibition inside the park about halfway through the ride where we usually stop to eat a picnic lunch.

I like the scenic loops out of Mt Rushmore. You could probably do a little of that on your way north from Wind Cave instead of doing all highways. I also like Spearfish and think you might like the drive north through Spearfish more than through Sturgis. Not sure what you're interested in though. Everyone is different so take my recommendations with a grain of salt.

When will you be in Rapid City?

Probably around the 19th, but i might cut south of the city.

Lonely roads are not dangerous, I just sometimes start worrying excessively about the hassle and cost (time and money) of a breakdown when I am driving in a place where there are very few people or services. Some of the cities you are driving through may be dangerous in parts (Chicago, Gary, not sure about Michigan) but you are safe on the highway.

Consider looping around Chicago to avoid stopped traffic, though I'm not sure how realistic this is since you have to go to O'Hare.

New Glarus Woods state park is a good campsite. There are other nice state parks nearby if it is full. Try to reserve a spot ahead of time if it is for Friday or Saturday.

The only danger to be avoided while traveling along the west coast of Michigan would be expensive boutique shopping after drinking too much cherry wine. The U.P. is also safe if you have modicum of wilderness skills. Gary, Indiana is NOTHING like the song anymore. Very dangerous.

7Wannabe5 wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 11:50 am

Gary, Indiana is NOTHING like the song anymore. Very dangerous.

Yes, One other thing to mention wrt to this. Your route has you driving through the Rosebud and Pine Ridge reservations. Just so you are aware, portions of these are considered fairly dangerous from a crime standpoint. I had a nursing contract in a town there at one point, they insisted on providing law enforcement escort from housing to hospital.

Jean wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2019 9:35 am

@cl that would be great to meet in Teddy Roosevelt national Park. I should be there around the 23rd.

I wont have my schedule for that time frame for at least a few more weeks. If that doesn't work out, another potential meeting point could be Duluth, MN. It looks like you'll be there a bit later in the trip.

My hideout is about 2 hrs roughly due north of Duluth, not sure if I'll be up in the area around then, though. It's one of those summers where planning ahead is not a luxury I have.

Jean wrote: ↑

Tue Jun 18, 2019 5:45 pm

I will visit: Chicago, the badlands

But you repeat yourself.

You sure the random internet stranger whose car you're borrowing is cool with you taking it into Kanuckistan?

It looks like Turo wants the renter to get approval from the car owner once they make their booking: https://support.turo.com/hc/en-us/artic ... -worldwide.

It also looks like car owners can set a limit on the mileage that can be driven and/or add a fee for excess mileage.

I will be transparent with the owner. Canada isn't a must.
You make the US sound like a dangerous place.
Thank a lot for all the answer. That would be really interesting to see how people on this great forum are like in their natural environment.

In Michigan, I recommend driving on US31 through Petoskey and Charlevoix, rather than through Gaylord on I-75.

I enjoy driving on US12 through Gary, IN to US 41 north into Chicago. US 41 is Lake Shore Drive which is one of the most spectacular roads on the planet. Gary has some incredible industrial views as well.

Jean wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2019 11:30 am

You make the US sound like a dangerous place.

Not really. There are social/racial tensions in the US. In certain geographic areas these tensions are magnified. Someone just needs to be aware of these tensions when in those areas. Someone without the nuanced cultural experience could put themselves in a bad situation. If I were to make a top 10 list of areas throughout the entire country where this knowledge is important for safety, Gary IN and Pine Ridge SD would make the list. Hence the comments.

Violence tends to be localized to neighborhoods within cities and specific populations. Here's an example of shootings in Chicago:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/data/ct- ... story.html

There are absolutely areas you do not want to go, especially in later parts of the day.

So i'm now in Iowa. I was in New Glarus. The swissest thing about it was the tresse at the local bakery. They called it egg braid.