Greetings from Webb City, MO.

Sandy and I have registered for the RV rally at Goshen IN in September. it's our first rally and we are excited. I will retire in a year and we are looking at going full time. We are trying to gather as much information as possible in the next 12 months or so.

We have started planning the trip to Goshen and will be pulling our 5er up and have not driven in that part of the country before. We are allowing 2 days for travel and trying to decide which route would be the best while pulling the trailer. We will take I-44 from Joplin to St Louis but then need to decide between I-55 North or take I-70 east. I would appreciate any wisdom that any of you might have to offer.

This forum has been a blessing and we appreciate all of you who share your experiences and knowledge. Thank you for the hospitality all of you extend to us and others. Hope to meet some of you at the rally.

Butch

If you are considering taking I70 then I57 north, there is a lot of construction on I57 and a couple of spots with significant delays on weekdays.  Google has changed their maps functionality recently and the "traffic" display is pretty good.  

Brian

Would recommend staying as far away from Chicago as you possibly can - the traffic and the roads can be, and, um.. adventure.

We recently went from St. Louis up to Goshen, and here's the route we took:

Of course, we weren't on much of a schedule and did that over about 10 days with lots of stops along the way. I'm sure there are efficient ways to get there. Our full post: http://www.technomadia.com/2014/05/from-a-castle-to-escapade/ 

Thank you for the info, we hope to be more leisurely in our travels in another year. We will stay as far away from Chicago as possible. Travel safe 

Thank you, for the info. we appreciate you taking the time to respond.

Assuming you don’t want the scenic (long) route and want to avoid I-80 on the west side south Chicago:

I-44 to I-255 south and down around St. Louis to I-70.  I-70 to Indianapolis – Around Indy on I-485 to US-31 and then up to US-20 east to US-33 SW into Goshen and to the fair grounds. (There is construction in St. Louis at the junction of I-44 / I-55 / I-64 so the longer way is recommend around St. Louis from the SW going NE to I-70.)

There is construction on US-31 but the last time I went through there, 2 months ago it wasn’t bad and the “new” US-31 on the north end takes around a lot, not all, of the little towns.

This is the simpler way. Going via Indy the construction up US-31 is less confusing than the more northern routes and much of the new I-31 is open.  Been both ways more than once (too many times) and this way is fine and not a big deal.  Just remember, this isn’t the wide open I-70 in MO, which is a nice road, IMO.

On a sort of related subject for those needing to transverse the St. Louis area east or west from I-64 to I-70:  The “new bridge” is open.  Just follow I-70 or west once you join up from I-64 from the SE.  Don’t bother with the St. Louis by passes.  This is a great route and St. Louis is a snap now.  Been that way too many times in the last 6 months and it is a huge improvement over I-255 up and over the top time and mileage wise as well.

All comments pulling rigs similar to the one in the sig. (I really shouldn’t know this much about this many roads, but I do based on this past year.)

Maybe this helps.

Thank you, we will be planning or travels via the souther route. All of your responses are very much appreciated.