I am sending this out to all the locals in Cass Lake. I may need to drive from Wishbone Resort in Cass Lake to the airport in Minneapolis St. Paul and google gives two different routes. One of them is via I-35 thru Cloquet and the other is via US-169 around Mille Lacs. It shows the I-35 route as taking 4 less minutes but being 18 miles longer.

I will be doing this around noon on Saturday July 25th. Any suggestions on the best route?

I also just found a route thru Walker on Route 10 that leads down to I-94. Which route is fastest on a Saturday afternoon? I also have to go back to Cass Lake the same day.

Thanks guys!

Windy

I'd say 371 south to 10 to 94 to 494 around the airport.

I agree w/ boatfixer. I live west of the T/C metro area, and have found HWY 10 & 371 to be much quicker to Cass Lake.

Thanks guys for the quick reply. That is the shortest of the three routes by miles but is says it is the longest in time but only by a few minutes. Is that mostly highway going 55 or 65 or is it a lot of little towns you have to drive thru?

Thanks again for the help.

Windy

Windy this is the way I go to the Cities when I'm in the Cass Lake area except that I do not go on 371 all the way, I take a right on 34 in Walker to Akeley (8 miles) then go on hwy 64- 10- 94. I do not like going on 371 to the cities on a Sunday, but Saturday you should be ok and not see much traffic if going that way and back north on the same day. Hope this helps... Good Luck when you are up on Cass this year!

My advice is to make your way west over to HWY 64 like Quackaddict said. This is what I usually do from the Cass Lake area.
From Cass Lake take 371 south to Walker and then 34 west to Akeley and then 64 south to Motley, then 10 east to Clear Lake (south of St. Cloud). In Clear Lake go west to I-94. Then take 94 to the airport.
This is the route I would go assuming that road construction does not affect any of those roads.
371 south of Walker goes through a bunch of small towns and the Brainerd/Baxter area which slows you down considerably - even on Saturdays. Hwy 64 is usually a lonely open 2 lane country highway.

Thanks for all the great info, I knew I could count on FM'ers for the scoop!

Windy

I'm surprised you haven't posted on the Megan Fox issue.

+1...thanks for posting the proper general directions of N,W,E, and South! but that is the way to go though IMO.

From Cass Lake I would head over to Bena on 2, then South through Fed Dam, across to Remer on 200, then up 169...

I always take the 371,10,county 11 through Monticello cut-off to get to 94,to 494 to the airport route. I've tried taking 64, and it does miss a couple towns, but speed limit on that is 55 (if you follow that), while 371 is 4 lane and 65 up past Pequot lakes. Several years ago most of 371 was 2 lane, 55mph, through the heart of Brainerd, but now it bypasses most of Brainerd, is 4lane, 65mph til you get into north no-mans land. Ha
Why not try one way down and another way back? Allow 4 hours at least one way. It takes me 2hrs 40 minutes to Cass, and 1 1/2 hours to the airport. Somebody that lives in Illinois can probably make it in 3, ha. We went through downtown Chicago between 1-2 A.M. one year, following the speed limit, I'm sure we were getting passed about 80+.......WOW.

Windy,
Why don't you just have that person continue the flight to Bemidji instead of eating up a Saturday of your trip and $100 in gas...........I don't know how many times we've done it over the years, but the Bemidji airport is pretty sweet.

Thanks Commanche but it involves two children and they would have to fly the last leg by themselves and the airlines that fly into Bemidji do not allow them to go by themselves. Also, the last leg of the trip is about 75% of the cost of the flight! Midway to Twinkie City is dirt cheap on Southwest, the rest of the way on Northwest is mucho dinero!

Looking like we will not be able to get them up there anyway, change of plans at the last minute.

I have Brian booked for Monday July 20th for half a day and three trips the next week that we are still formulating. Maybe we can hook up for a half day in your boat or mine. Let me know.

Windy

I was gonna say the same thing but It's not fairly cheap as it used to be when I was flying back and forth to Bemidji and Minneapolis/St.Paul for school back in 04'. Northwest/Mesaba Airlines flys in Bemidji, I've not seen anyone else fly in.