The first thing to know is that my parents’ house is 5 miles east of Cobden, a town of 1100 people. The closest ‘real’ town is Anna (~8000 people; 10 miles/15 min south on Hwy 51). The closest large town is Carbondale (~25,000 people + 15,000 undergrads; 15 miles/25 min north). Southern Illinois University is located there.
So…you will need a car (or a very nice friend with a car). Sorry we’re in the boonies, but we think it’s worth the trouble!
Click & Print: New MAP (PDF), a hand-drawn map of the area immediately surrounding Owl Creek Vineyard. I recommend printing and bringing with you, as the small roads are often difficult to see on most maps.
Click & Print: New MAP (PDF), a hand-drawn map of the area immediately surrounding Owl Creek Vineyard. I recommend printing and bringing with you, as the small roads are often difficult to see on most maps.
Recommendations for getting here:
- Drive from Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Minnesota.
From IC, my experience is about 7 hours driving to Cobden with one stop (but I once got my only speeding ticket on IL Hwy 4). You can take a couple routes, depending on where you cross the Mississippi:
- From Iowa City, there is a route that crosses near St.Louis, which Google Maps says is the fastest way. It's less interstate, but I believe it is now all 4-lane roads between IC and St.Louis. It is the southern part of the "Avenue of the Saints", from St.Paul to St.Louis. (Also, the max speed limit in IA and MO is 70mph, whereas it is 65mph in IL, although I'm not sure what it is on Avenue of the Saints route.) Also, see the info on options from St.Louis to Owl Creek. This is how I would go from Iowa City to Owl Creek (6h 58m, according to Google).
- From St.Louis to Cobden, Google recommends various routes, including IL-3, but note that as of 5/5/11, a portion of this road is CLOSED due to flooding (click for info), south of Chester, IL.
- From St.Louis to Cobden, we always take I-64 east anyway (2-2.5 hours, we exit I-64 at Nashville, IL and take IL-127 south, then Route 13 east to Carbondale and Hwy 51 south, or continue on 127 to Alto Pass).
From Madison, it is almost exactly 500 miles, and takes about 7.5 hours with one stop. We take I-39 and I-57 through Bloomington and Champaign. BEWARE: near Rockford, you must exit TWICE in order to stay on I-39 (vs. taking I-90 to Chicago, which I accidentally did once…luckily Bernie was riding shotgun to keep me company).
- Fly to a nearby airport and rent a car. (Or maybe talk someone into picking you up, especially if you fly into St. Louis, as one of the driving routes from IC to Cobden is through STL). I'm not sure if you can rent a car at all the small airports.
Large airports:
Lambert-St.Louis International Airport (STL) is about 2.5 hours from Owl Creek.
The Nashville International Airport (BNA) is about 3.5 hours from Owl Creek.
Small airports:
The closest small airport is Williamson Country Regional (MWA), between Carbondale and Marion, about 40 minutes away from Owl Creek. The only flights are from STL, and I’m not sure if they’ll have flights on Memorial Day. Unless someone can pick you up at this little airport, it's likely better to rent a car and drive from STL, since you need a car to get around Cobden area anyway.
There is also a small airport in Paducah, KY (PAH), that is a little over an hour from Owl Creek. Thus, you don't save much drive time, compared to flying into St.Louis (~2.5 hour drive to Owl Creek). Whereas the MWA airport (above) is serviced only via STL, this airport has commercial flights only to/from Chicago O'Hare (ORD). Again, not sure if there will be flights Memorial Day.
Finally, Cape Girardeau, MO has a small airport (CGI). It's about an hour from Owl Creek and has flights to/from STL.
Lambert-St.Louis International Airport (STL) is about 2.5 hours from Owl Creek.
The Nashville International Airport (BNA) is about 3.5 hours from Owl Creek.
Small airports:
The closest small airport is Williamson Country Regional (MWA), between Carbondale and Marion, about 40 minutes away from Owl Creek. The only flights are from STL, and I’m not sure if they’ll have flights on Memorial Day. Unless someone can pick you up at this little airport, it's likely better to rent a car and drive from STL, since you need a car to get around Cobden area anyway.
There is also a small airport in Paducah, KY (PAH), that is a little over an hour from Owl Creek. Thus, you don't save much drive time, compared to flying into St.Louis (~2.5 hour drive to Owl Creek). Whereas the MWA airport (above) is serviced only via STL, this airport has commercial flights only to/from Chicago O'Hare (ORD). Again, not sure if there will be flights Memorial Day.
Finally, Cape Girardeau, MO has a small airport (CGI). It's about an hour from Owl Creek and has flights to/from STL.
- Ride the train from Chicago or New Orleans (or places in-between) to Carbondale and ask someone pick you up at the train station.
