My planned route through Illinois consisted of about 150 miles on I-70, achievable in three hours or less even with a gas and/or rest stop. However, about two thirds of the way through I got tired of battling the legions of slow trucks and fast SUVs, and I noticed that the old highway, US 40, paralled I-70 almost the whole way. So I bailed off the interstate onto 40. This road is a National Historic Trail; it was actually the first interstate highway, built about 200 years ago to open up the growing western parts of the young U.S.

It's a gem! Outside the towns, you cruise along at only about 10 mph slower than on the interstate, and there are NO TRUCKS and very few other vehicles! Follow the historic trail signs and you go through the towns, which are museum pieces of tidy old homes and Civil War era downtown buildings with ornate trim and arcades. At one point the signs led to this covered bridge, on the old old highway...built even before the current two lane US 40. You make good time on the interstates, but you see the country on the side roads. You hear stories of people driving cross country in three or four days. WAY too fast. I've made it only to Indiana in nine days, and will eventually take almost three weeks to reach Maine. Better, but still too fast...six weeks...or six months!! would be ideal.