That would not be a good assumption, IMHO.
There are over 16 million people in SoCal, much to big a market to ignore.
I'm more than 50 miles east of Simi.
Around here, Rockler would be my last choice.
Lew
Chicagoland has its own set of named roads: the Kennedy, the Eisenhower (sometimes called the Ike, not surprisingly), the Stevenson, the Dan Ryan, the Edens, the Calumet, the Skyway, the Tri State, the East/West, the North/South, the Northwest, and the Borman (in Indiana, actually, but part of the Chicagoland landscape). They all have Interstate designations (some of which have changed over the years), but hardly anyone knows them.
In the process of following I-90 from Indiana to Rockford, you will have traversed the Indiana Toll Road, the Skyway, the Dan Ryan, and the Kennedy, until reaching the Northwest Tollway.
Taking I-94 from Indiana to Milwaukee involves the Borman, the Calumet, the Dan Ryan, the Kennedy, and the Edens until you hit the Tri-State.
Even a simple trip from Indiana to Iowa on I-80 gets you from the Indiana Toll Road, to the Borman, to the Tri-State until you're finally set free on I-80 near Hazel Crest.
Tollway, incidentally, describes most of the interstates around Chicago outside of Cook County. Although the Tri-State runs through the western edge of Cook County, and the tolls on the Skyway, the Northwest Tollway begin in Cook County, they are out near the edges. Nonetheless, it is impossible to pass through or even around Chicago on major expressways without paying the governor something--often several times.
When I grew up in Michigan, street and road names related to a physical feature. Dexter Ave. went to the town of Dexter; Oak Street was lined with Oak trees. But Florida has perfected the concept of naming streets, roads and subdivisions for things they aren't.
Highlands Lake Drive doesn't go to Highlands Lake; Quail Ridge is not on a ridge and has no quail Silver Lake is built around a green stormwater retention pond Bright Hill Ave. is not on a hill and is shaded and tree-lined Birch Street has oaks but no birch trees Commerce Ave. has the county and city government buildings; the commercial district is on Ridgewood Dr., which is flat and without trees Military Trail is not a trail and has no armed forces establishments Golf View Harbor has no golf course, no view and no harbor Delray Dunes is not in Delray and is not on the beach,
etc.
Oh, but they've done much, much worse. I moved to FL before the revolution, spent 13 years south and five years north the first time, then four years south and so far 3½ years north, so I've had some experience.
When I was a kid, it was pretty easy--streets that started at the beach with one name, kept that name all the way to US 27 (there is no habitable land west of US 27 until you get to the Gulf)...Hollywood Boulevard, Hallandale Beach Boulevard are two examples. Now Hollywood Blvd becomes Pines Blvd (not to me, however) west of State Road 7 (also known as US 441, 60th Avenue, and Seminole Drive) just because Pembroke Pines got big and developed both sides of the road out to 27. Hallandale Beach Blvd becomes Miramar Parkway for the same reason (actually, Hallandale Blvd never went to 27, but you get the idea).
The biggest bitch I have is when they came through and designated all of the major and semi major roads as state roads, complete with a three digit number. To all the people that have been living there for a while Stirling Road is Stirling Road, Griffin Road is Griffin Road, Commercial Blvd is Commercial Blvd, and so on. The problem is, the state's first move was to start marking all the exit and intersection signs solely with the road number. Try being an old timer trying to give directions to someone.
Eventually they managed to add the road names to the signs, so it's not so difficult. For whatever reason they did it, it works okay now because of the cell phone traffic info system (by the way, if cell phone usage while driving is so dangerous, why is there an entire government program predicated on cell phone use while driving?), except of course, those of us who have know idea what the three digit road number equivalents of the street names are.
Okay, the street name changes are bad enough, but at least two communities nearby decided that for some reason Dania and Hallandale hadn't been good enough for nearly a century. Somehow it was important to change their names to Dania Beach and Hallandale Beach. Aarghh!!!
But that's not the topper. In 2000 I was shocked to learn that venerable Dade County, so named for probably 150 years, had decided that despite the example of no less a major municipality than Chicago, that apparently wasn't good enough. They decided they needed to become Miami-Dade County (if you didn't know, Chicago is in Cook County). Please. No matter to me--I'll never call it that. It'll always be Dade County to me. But it sets my teeth on edge every time I hear it.
Don't get me started on Washington National Airport.
You're building a boat 50 miles east of Simi Valley?
Gotta be a labor of love.
John E.
Yeah ... tell me! I live in Detroit and my son lives outside St. Paul and Chicago sits in the way. It seems that every time I go out to see him, I find a new way to get lost!
Bill
Part of that is because they renumbered some of the interstates in Chicago a number of years ago. I-90 used to turn west onto the Eisenhower, north for a bit on the Tri-State, then west on what is now I-290 to to the North/South and north to the Northwest Tollway again. I can't remember now if I-94 then stayed on the Kennedy until the Tri-State or whether it always did go up the Edens.
Anyway, the above is now I-290, and I-90 goes out the Kennedy.
The East/West used to be IL 5, but was then designated I-88. I'm told that recently they gave it another name, but much like Washington National Airport, it's a name that will never cross my lips (and for the same reasons).
Shortest way (by about 20 miles) is I-94 to the Indiana Toll Road (I-90), which becomes the Skyway. That merges with the Dan Ryan until Hubbard's Cave (long underpass just after the Eisenhower interchange and just as you pass the Loop) which then becomes the Kennedy. Stay on it (watch out for the Edens junction--it's called The Junction) until the toll plaza where it becomes the Northwest Tollway. That's I-90 all the way (you pick up I-94 again in Madison, WI).
If time is less important, you want to save some money on tolls, and cut down a whole lot on traffic (but don't mind driving an extra 50 miles), just keep on I-94 until it merges with I-80 (the Borman), then stay on I-80 all the way until I-39 (probably 50 miles west of Joliet), and take that north to Rockford, where you pick up I-90 again.
I would do everything I could to avoid the Tri-State.
Years ago, in the '70s and '80s, if you went through Chicago between about 10 A.M. and 3 P.M. (and any darkness hours after about 7 P.M.) you could make pretty good time, missing drive time on each end. In later years, however, traffic has increased to the point that you're almost assured of getting into some slow crawl somewhere along the way, almost any time, day or night.
I try to time "Chicago" for after midnight. Then still get caught in construction traffic.
Unless I fly. ;-)
Bill
Welcome to Northern Illinois' two seasons--winter and construction.
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