Mid August trip to Mayo Clinic from Knoxville tn to Rochester Minnisota

[Clayman]

Need to take wife to mayo clinic in Rochester Mn and stay for about 7 days. I hate to fly, though it seems a better way to go. But i have not given up on driving. Just wondered if any one had done this drive. Looks like about 900 +/- miles.

At one time, under another name, I used this site for several trips out west and got some really good tips.

Thanks, Clay

[AZBuck]

Yes, you could make the drive from Knoxville to Rochester in just under 900 miles, if you went through Chicago. But to my mind, that's just adding injury to insult. This is going to be a two day drive each way no matter which way you go, so you might as well add 40 miles to it and make that a more pleasant experience. What you would do is use the 'direct' route for the southern portion of the drive (I-75 to Lexington, I-64 to Louisville, and I-65 to Indianapolis), then leave it there to take I-74 west to Normal, I-39 north from there to Madison, and I-90 west from there to (near) Rochester. Halfway would be around Champaign-Urbana, a college town (U. of Illinois) that should be relatively quiet with good accommodations in the summer.

You won't have time for any major sight-seeing if you only take two days, and there's really not a good alternative to this route (other than going through Chicago) that can be done comfortably in two days, but you will have time to take time out a few times each day to enjoy state and local parks that you'll be passing near to, such as White Hall State Historic Site, Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge, Starved Rock State Park, and Mirror Lake State Park.

AZBuck

[Midwest Michael]

I would certainly agree with Buck that you should look at using I-74 to avoid Chicago, and you should look at Champaign or Bloomington, IL to make your overnight.

Also note that Buck's suggestion through Louisville is different than some online mapping programs which route you around Cincinnati. Both are perfectly fine, and there isn't a big difference either way, but I also typically go through Louisville.

If you have some time for a little exploration, one variation on the route that I've done before is to change the route across Kentucky. You could use US-27 past Cumberland Falls, then take the Cumberland Parkway to I-65 and then up. That would also take you past Mammoth Cave and close to Lincoln's Birthplace near Hodgenville, KY.