Inspired by BBTR (now in its fourth edition), this one-day road trip is the first C-body "event" (involving more than just a couple of cars) that I am co-organizing. The choice of Milwaukee was made obvious to me by @1978 NYB's reportage of the Pabst brewery.
@71Polara383, @sixpkrt, @70 Sport Suburban and I will ride through the farmlands of Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin to Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, WI. We hope that many folks (FCBOers and their friends) will join our little caravan. Anyone can join at any point along the way, as long as the car they will be driving that day is a C-body (EDIT: or in a support vehicle for a C-body).
The plan is the following (assuming good weather). It mostly avoids interstates, tries to skirt big agglomerations, and includes stops in 3 locales on the way to dinner in Oak Creek, WI. A map of the itinerary is attached below:
1. At 9:30am, @71Polara383 and I will depart from his shop in Rockford, IL (or from the McDonald's near the Rockford airport). I'll be driving Medina and Wyatt, the Servprolara.
2. From Rockford, we'll head out east on Route 20 and park at the Belvidere plant. It'd be great if more folks could meet us there with @sixpkrt, so that we can take some photos of the cars in front of the plant. Depending on how many cars already join the caravan at this stage, we will leave around 10:15.
3. We will then get back on Rt 20 eastbound (which, at that point, is a nice two-lane country road). Once we reach the small town of Marengo, we will turn left and go north on Rt 23 until it ends at Rt 14. We will continue north on Rt 14, driving through the town of Harvard (past Harmilda, the landmark fiberglass cow in the middle of town) and onto Big Foot Prairie, the next small community on Rt 14.
4. BFP straddles the IL/WI border. In BFP, we will stop at the Big Foot Inn (on the Illinois side) to get some coffee and light fare (lunch menu). The restaurant opens at 11am on Saturdays, so we'll have more time to chat and take photos. We will leave around 11:45am, which should give any late birds joining us from Chicagoland another opportunity to catch up with the caravan.
5. The Wisconsin state line is just north of the BF Inn. Rather than cross the line in BFP, though, we will turn right on State Line Road and remain in Illinois for just a few minutes longer. After about three miles on SLR, we'll turn left onto Swamp Angel Road (see the watery theme here? I hope this does not jinx the weather). Where SAR ends, we will turn right onto Linton Road. The LR ends in the town of Linn, at which point we can:
(i) either turn right onto Rt 120;
(ii) or continue straight onto Lake Shore Drive and drive alongside Lake Geneva (that way we could see the actual body of water, on our left), and then get back to 120 by making a right on W South Street after we enter Lake Geneva (the town, formerly named Lake Big Boot for a local Chief); WSS comes just after Big Foot Beach State Park.
6. From Lake Geneva, we then head to Milwaukee as follows: drive east on N. Bloomfield Road (which starts at the intersection of WSS and Rt 120), left when that road ends, right on Rt 50, left (at Slades Corner) onto Dyer Lake Road. Then, after getting onto Rt 36 just south of Burlington, we will take Rt 36 all the way to a few miles on I-43 and on I-94, and finally get off the highway to park near the Pabst Brewery on W. Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee.
7. Visit the brewery (there are 25' guided tours on the hour; they cost $10 a head at the old tasting room ("Best Place") and have a drink (whether a PBR or another brew from the beer menu at the taproom). Folks who are hungry can get a bite.
8. From Milwaukee, we will be heading south to Georgie Porgie's in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee and north of Racine, where we'll meet up with @70 Sport Suburban around 4pm. We'll take the scenic route: we'll start from Wisconsin Avenue and drive past the Pabst Mansion (as suggested by @1978 NYB), then briefly hop on to the highway and after a few miles on I-43 and I-794 we shall exit I-794 by making a left onto Oklahoma Ave. in Fernwood. Soon after, we'll make a right on to Rt 32 at Bay View Park. We can then follow Rt 32 (with a detour into Grant Park to see the lake from close up) on our way to the restaurant.
9. After parking, we can take (more!) pictures, enjoy the food, the company, and the tales. Manny says that there is a Saturday car meet wit lots of parking at GP, so we should be in good company.
10. After all has been eaten and drunk, each of us can then head home!
A second (unstructured) event is being organized by @sixpkrt on Sunday the 8th (i.e., the day after), more on this in another thread.
@71Polara383, @sixpkrt, @70 Sport Suburban and I will ride through the farmlands of Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin to Lake Michigan in Milwaukee, WI. We hope that many folks (FCBOers and their friends) will join our little caravan. Anyone can join at any point along the way, as long as the car they will be driving that day is a C-body (EDIT: or in a support vehicle for a C-body).
The plan is the following (assuming good weather). It mostly avoids interstates, tries to skirt big agglomerations, and includes stops in 3 locales on the way to dinner in Oak Creek, WI. A map of the itinerary is attached below:
1. At 9:30am, @71Polara383 and I will depart from his shop in Rockford, IL (or from the McDonald's near the Rockford airport). I'll be driving Medina and Wyatt, the Servprolara.
2. From Rockford, we'll head out east on Route 20 and park at the Belvidere plant. It'd be great if more folks could meet us there with @sixpkrt, so that we can take some photos of the cars in front of the plant. Depending on how many cars already join the caravan at this stage, we will leave around 10:15.
3. We will then get back on Rt 20 eastbound (which, at that point, is a nice two-lane country road). Once we reach the small town of Marengo, we will turn left and go north on Rt 23 until it ends at Rt 14. We will continue north on Rt 14, driving through the town of Harvard (past Harmilda, the landmark fiberglass cow in the middle of town) and onto Big Foot Prairie, the next small community on Rt 14.
4. BFP straddles the IL/WI border. In BFP, we will stop at the Big Foot Inn (on the Illinois side) to get some coffee and light fare (lunch menu). The restaurant opens at 11am on Saturdays, so we'll have more time to chat and take photos. We will leave around 11:45am, which should give any late birds joining us from Chicagoland another opportunity to catch up with the caravan.
5. The Wisconsin state line is just north of the BF Inn. Rather than cross the line in BFP, though, we will turn right on State Line Road and remain in Illinois for just a few minutes longer. After about three miles on SLR, we'll turn left onto Swamp Angel Road (see the watery theme here? I hope this does not jinx the weather). Where SAR ends, we will turn right onto Linton Road. The LR ends in the town of Linn, at which point we can:
(i) either turn right onto Rt 120;
(ii) or continue straight onto Lake Shore Drive and drive alongside Lake Geneva (that way we could see the actual body of water, on our left), and then get back to 120 by making a right on W South Street after we enter Lake Geneva (the town, formerly named Lake Big Boot for a local Chief); WSS comes just after Big Foot Beach State Park.
6. From Lake Geneva, we then head to Milwaukee as follows: drive east on N. Bloomfield Road (which starts at the intersection of WSS and Rt 120), left when that road ends, right on Rt 50, left (at Slades Corner) onto Dyer Lake Road. Then, after getting onto Rt 36 just south of Burlington, we will take Rt 36 all the way to a few miles on I-43 and on I-94, and finally get off the highway to park near the Pabst Brewery on W. Juneau Avenue in Milwaukee.
7. Visit the brewery (there are 25' guided tours on the hour; they cost $10 a head at the old tasting room ("Best Place") and have a drink (whether a PBR or another brew from the beer menu at the taproom). Folks who are hungry can get a bite.
8. From Milwaukee, we will be heading south to Georgie Porgie's in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee and north of Racine, where we'll meet up with @70 Sport Suburban around 4pm. We'll take the scenic route: we'll start from Wisconsin Avenue and drive past the Pabst Mansion (as suggested by @1978 NYB), then briefly hop on to the highway and after a few miles on I-43 and I-794 we shall exit I-794 by making a left onto Oklahoma Ave. in Fernwood. Soon after, we'll make a right on to Rt 32 at Bay View Park. We can then follow Rt 32 (with a detour into Grant Park to see the lake from close up) on our way to the restaurant.
9. After parking, we can take (more!) pictures, enjoy the food, the company, and the tales. Manny says that there is a Saturday car meet wit lots of parking at GP, so we should be in good company.
10. After all has been eaten and drunk, each of us can then head home!
A second (unstructured) event is being organized by @sixpkrt on Sunday the 8th (i.e., the day after), more on this in another thread.
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