Guest Post - Explore Historic Dixie Highway in Style

Recently, I had the opportunity to Drive the Dixie and explore the historic route through a leisurely drive and classic car caravan. Happening once a year in the Chicago Southland, the Drive the Dixie event begins at the Blue Island lot kitty-corner to the campus of Moraine Valley Community College on Western Avenue. The beautiful car show complete with some classics at the starting city added something special to the entire atmosphere.



One of my favorite parts of the Drive process is that with a set registration window, you are guaranteed to see the vintage cars, but you don’t have a specific start time. Instead, you can progress through the route at your own pace finding new friends at each stop of your travel. Grabbing a cup of joe and donut for the road from the welcome station, we snagged our packet and continued to explore the engines and classics. We came equipped with a beautiful Ford Focus.

Along the way, you catch various stops, including a beautiful trip around the lake. Feel free to create stops where you need them or where you see something that strikes your fancy. Even better, if a spot is popular on the day of the Drive, you just might see a few different cars! The official Drive the Dixie route ends in Momence. It also means you have another opportunity for the little misters to get into car-exploring mischief!

As a mom of boys, this is the perfect spring into summer event. With a minimal registration fee in advance of $15.00 which includes your map and passport, it’s a relatively inexpensive morning out. We spent much of our time just exploring and taking pictures of the cars along the way. Reminiscent of scenes out of the movie Cars, we had fun trying to match the ones that we saw up to the movie. We can’t wait to see what new cars are arrive next year for the centennial celebration!

We had a great time exploring the Dixie Highway (which goes as far south as Florida)! For even more information about The Dixie Highway in Illinois, you can purchase the Images of America book edition with beautiful scenic pictures along the route.