[wtwo3]

Now that Illinois has opened up, and fresh off being cooped up in home for months, I decided to organize a little cruise with friends to western Illinois. This was the first time I had done anything like this, but it turned out to be an incredible experience. I did not know Illinois had roads like this.

Below is the route we took. Our "starting" point was at Marqutte Park in Savanna, IL - right on the Mississippi river front and about 2-2.5 hours west of Chicagoland. Using a few waypoints along the way (idrive 7 can supposedly accept up to 40 stops along the route), we made our way through some twisties to Galena for lunch, and then took a few more twisties to end in Elizabeth, Illinois before heading back home.

I will say the roads were shockingly good and totally unexpected for Illinois.

As for the cars, hardly an all-star caliber lineup, but I wasn't complaining:

2020 M340i (mine)
2019 440i GC
2016 428i
2012 328i
2013 Corvette (with various tunes/mods)

[wtwo3]

Early start to the day, awakening the beast

[wtwo3]

The "starting" point, Marquette Park in Savanna, IL. A very small town on the Mississippi river front and a great beginning to a really fun drive.

[wtwo3]

Stopped randomly along the route to snap a few pics. I wish we had stopped more to take more pics... but we were having so much fun carving up the roads we just didn't want to stop.

I have to say, I was truly impressed with the G20, with each corner I pushed harder, and it continued pulling through and building confidence. That being said, I was also pleasantly surprised with the F36. It did a pretty good job of keeping up with me.

1 hour worth of incredible roads with a combination of sweeping turns, sharp corners, and multiple elevation changes (who'd have thought you could say these things for anywhere in Illinois) went by in the blink of an eye.

[wtwo3]

Stopped in Galena for lunch at Durty Gurt's. They've got a pretty good selection of burgers, melts, and seafood.

[VipinLJ]

That looks like a lovely trip! I haven’t heard of any of those towns except for Galena. I need to google them and see how far away it is from where I’m at.

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by VipinLJ

That looks like a lovely trip! I haven’t heard of any of those towns except for Galena. I need to google them and see how far away it is from where I’m at.

It was incredible. The towns were just random stopping points to set us up for the path, nothing really to see in them besides Galena. You should definitely take the trip! I'll probably do a more relaxed drive there with the family at some point.

[mike@x-ph.com]

Thank you for sharing

[Game]

The curvy roads are definitely lacking in Illinois. Good to see there's some out there.