Gurnee, IL to Lake Geneva

• park at the Wadsworth Community Park at Wadsworth&Northwoods
  • alternatively, park at the LCFPD dogsled park (which seems to be totally empty in the summer), and bike up Cashmore Rd
• Map #1
• Map #2 (do Show > Elevation Profile)
• Facilities:
  • north end of Des Plaines River trail (hand-operated water pump, outhouses)
  • Lake Andrea park (the ice rink building is really nice)
  • Bristol Woods
  • Bong State Recreational Area
• roads to avoid:
  • the H/C merger... C has a lot of Kenosha traffic at that point
  • State Line Rd, it has way too much semi traffic for having almost no shoulder

Tips for route-planning

• Roads that run very close to a larger road are GREAT. As are roads that T at the end. If you can find one of these that ALSO has nice wide shoulders, you've got a gem. (eg. Kilbourne)
• Google's Street-View is a VERY USEFUL tool. Use it to:
  • estimate the size and smoothness of shoulders
  • rule out gravel roads, and divided two-lane roads
  • estimate the amount of traffic on the road, via "random sampling"... view the road at different points, and find out how much traffic can be seen near the Google vehicle (strangely, there never seems to be cars in line behind it... I wonder how they do this, particularly at intersections?)
• Clase II routes:
  • Wisconsin
• bikely.com, fuck yeah!