Driving from Chicago to NY ..any tips ?

i just got back from driving through new york, what part are you going to? in new york, if you're on i-90 (which you probably will be) you get a card at the toll booth when you first enter the state that tells you what the tolls will be, i think we paid something like 4 bucks in tolls when we got to syracuse. be careful though, there was a lot of radar, and i don't know if this is an urban myth or not, but your toll ticket has the time on it, get to the next toll booth a little too quickly, and you'll wish you had of taken some time at a rest area. the rest areas in ny are nice, name brand restaurants, starbucks, etc. careful of deer though, you'll see quite a few of them that other drivers unfortunately met.

 

you renting or driving your own car?
shld be a blast, why dont you drive early morning instead? something like 6am

 

Cleveland OH to the NYC is exactly 10hrs
Cleveland to Chicago is 5hrs

 

Considering you live in Illinois - yes. Doesn't it make more sense to follow as many potential laws that may exist on your trip instead of hoping you don't get pulled over?

Illinois requires a front plate as does Ohio. Indiana does not. Not sure about Pennsylvania and New York.

 

You could fly roundtrip on Southwest for $450. Saves time, for sure. Not sure what you're driving but it's 1,700 miles round trip but at 28 mpg x $4/gallon thats $242 in gas alone, plus your time and wear and tear. I'd spring for the plane ticket......

 

I don't think you need the plate as long as the state you're registered in doesn't require it. A sister state isn't going to ticket you for following your home state's laws.

 

Get a good radar detector. Mine has saved me many times, not that I speed, but I do go with the flow of traffic. Sometimes traffic is flowing very fast and out of state cars can be big targets to fill the state money buckets.

 

I've driven Chicago to Philadelphia often.

Watch out for state troopers in Ohio, they are very aggressive in their ticketing-- especially out of state cars like JohnnyS mentioned. Pennsylvania is not so bad, and Indiana you can set the cruise at 80+ and forget it.

Road conditions in PA are often among the worst. You will be bumped, jostled, jiggled, and rattled. But the scenery in PA is the best-- just flat farmland in Indiana and Ohio.

Tolls will be at least $30, more likely closer to $40.

I-80 is a MAJOR trucking artery, so there will be lots of 18 wheelers clogging the roads from about 8AM to 6PM. My record time for the Chi-Phi drive was 10.5 hrs leaving Chicago around 3PM (solo, pretty much only stopping to refuel and pick up food to eat while driving).

 

I wouldn't bother. I live in Illinois and was only stopped once for no front plate; the cop said it was a pet peeve of his and he gave me a warning.

Other states that require a front plate can't give you a ticket if you're from-out-of-state. At any rate, if you do get a ticket in Illinois it's not a moving violation. The law really isn't enforced that often.

 

ohio is flat with different colored bridges. pa has the better scenery. oh is known for tough troopers. i was busted in pa for speeding though. they have a lot of trees to hide behind. you'll be using i80 for most of the trip.

 

I drive Boston -> Chicago and back at least 2-3 times a year. My tips would be...

Avoid I-90 if you can. It's an ugly road, goes through a lot of big towns, TONS of tolls, and clogged with commuter traffic around the big cities. You'll want to go I-80 most of the way. Not a bad road at all, you'll be cruising with cruise control most of the time. I regularly drive Boston -> Indianapolis, Boston->Cleveland, Boston->Cincinnati, Boston->Chicago. I do these in a single shot - 11 to 18 hours depending on where I am going. I sort of like the different food choices once you get further west... we don't have white castle here or steak and shake or any of that stuff.

IMO, so long as you have a cell phone and cash (I'd have maybe $200, in 20's 10's and 1's (one's for tolls)) you will be good to go.

If you don't have satellite radio, think about picking one up - it's great to keep the same stations and not have commercials. I drive it at night a lot too... something to bear in mind is that on a 900 mile drive you *WILL* pass probably 10 or more cops who are waiting for speeders. You are pretty safe going up to 10mph over the limit in most places, but I'd say Ohio is an exception, keep it to 5mph over. I've been in herds of cars doing 10 over in OH and some of them have been nailed. 5mph over you will be fine in OH. In NYC, 10 over you will be the slowest on the road In IL 10 over is pretty much OK too, as it is in PA.

I-80 through PA is a pretty decent road... don't forget to look for the "highest point east of the rockies" or whatever it says sign - it's a sight to behold, really breahtaking (tongue in cheek).

Most of all enjoy it - it's really nice to be out on the open road away from email and just getting to see some of America.

 

i-90 was an ugly road, and you're stuck with whatever stores there are at each rest stop, but for the most part i didn't think it was too bad. the tolls were only when you got off at an exit, and if you're only going to get off at your exit, you should be fine. i drove on it over this past weekend, memorial day weekend, and i kept it at cruise about 5 miles over, pretty much the only time i had to take the car off of cruise was when i passed someone up. but then again, i only drove on it to syracuse, so i didn't get very far into the state.

 

i will say this though, my dad got a gps unit before we left, and although we were on quite a few freeways than you'll probably be on, when we got to the towns and cities, the thing worked like a charm. it can even list restaurants, gas stations, tourist attractions, etc. within a set distance of where you are. however, and this is mainly because he got it for free and definitely wasn't a top of the line model, it listed a restaurant that was right by our house, that's been closed for at least 10 years, so it's not the most accurate when it comes to things like that, but otherwise, it got us around great and was a lot easier than staring at a map for 20 minutes trying to figure out where you're going. especially if you travel a lot, i think it's worth investing a couple hundred into getting one.

 

All good advice so far !! Stay on I-80 and you should be fine.

Back in the day, I flew out to Steamboat Springs, Colo and drove back with my brother in his '87 jeep cherokee pioneer. All was going fine, until the differential seized in Princeton, IL. We were stuck in that town for 3 days, while my brothers jeep got fixed at Faber Motors (a chevy dealership). The dealer at first tried to sell my brother a chevy blazer, but he insisted that his jeep be fixed instead. The dealer ended up putting a tractor rear end (Jeep had a Dana 44 rear end) diff in the jeep which lowered the final drive gear ratio significantly. Driving at 60 mph in 5 gear, the rpm's were probably at 5500 But it got us back to Connecticut

Now you ask, "How does a differential just seize??" . Well, somewhere along the way, a coat hanger got picked up by the drive-shaft and basically cut into the seal where it enters the differential. All the gear oil simply sloshed out, and that is never a good thing. I was driving about 70 mph, when my brother heard a whining noise. He turned down the radio and asked me what it was, I replied that it was probably just the tires (Nokia Hakkapeleeta snows) and kept driving. About two minutes later the vehicle started to buck back and forth. The bucking action got much worse as I slowed down. Eventually, I pulled over and brought the jeep to a stop, put the tranny (5 speed manual) into neutral, cranked the e-brake, left the engine running, popped the hood and got out to look. Well, the engine was purring like a kitten, running as smooth as ever. So, my brother and I walked around the vehicle and discovered the differential was smoking . I then ran to the next exit and called AAA for a tow .

 

Yeah it really depends where you're coming from and going to.

When I go Boston to Cleveland, I have 2 options... the "north" route which is I-90 all the way along the coast of the great lakes, then south west. Or the "south" route which is I-80. I only did I-90 once. I think I paid over $100 in tolls from Boston to Ohio - crazy! Plus the scenery was stuff that looked like oil refineries, shipping depots and lots of industrial stuff, and tons of traffic every time I got to a major city.

I-80 is like a dream come true compared to I-90. I pay around $5 in tolls and I think it's only a small toll around the OH/PA border, and a small toll entering NY and I think that's it. Also, driving through the mountains in PA is just beautiful scenery, lots of rolling hills and farmland and you have great sunrises and sunsets. I have talked to several truckers about it and they all roll their eyes when you mention I-90 because of the crazy tolls

You are dead right on the GPS recommendation - even just for peace of mind.... to be able to just take an exit and be able to get where you want is great. Or even to be able to take an exit, and find a Walmart and stretch your legs for 1/2 hour and buying soda there vs. at some gas station convenience store and paying 10x the price.

I love long road trips - so relaxing.

 

Not sure if an EZ Pass is needed or accepted the whole distance. On a long trip with tolls its great and can save a lot of time.

 

yeah, the gps was great, got us to hotels, restaurants, bars, i found a club with it in cleveland, and it showed us that our car's speedometer was off by about 1 mph, . the unfortunate part is i won't use it while i'm home, considering i can get virtually anywhere i need without directions, but you never know when it'll come in handy. yeah, the tolls to us weren't that bad, i think in total we spent maybe 15 the entire trip, including something like 4 or 5 to get to syracuse, and various other tolls. i'm glad we don't have them a whole lot here in the midwest, and none in missouri that i know of, but if you've ever driven on our highways, the lack of funding shows.

 

i often make the commute from chicago to central nj so somewhat similar...

1) take i-80 and be careful in Ohio
2) traffic can get a bit hairy near the state college, pa exit on I-80
3) buy a car charger for your cell phone
4) mp3... LOTS of them
5) drink alot of water rather tahn soda or energy drinks
6) fruit

 

Hi Dave !!! I think that EZ Pass is only good in the Tri-state area, and eastern Pennsylvania. Last time I drove I-80, there weren't any tolls through Ohio, or most of PA. (But that was over a decade ago, so things might have changed since then) , $40 in small bills should be more than enough for tolls.