I am a bit of a rara avis in the US: I don't drive. This has prevented me from taking some of the US based trips that I would like, and I'm wondering if anyone has any options that I hadn't known of.

Where I'd like to go: Rome City, Indiana, for the Gene Stratton Porter/Limberlost site; Mankato, Minnesota, for the Maud Hart Lovelace sites (Betsy-Tacy books) and Chicago, which of course will be easy.

I'll be flying out of Philadelphia, and figured I'd fly into Minneapolis, get to Mankato...how? and then take a train from Minneapolis to Chicago, stay a bit, and then go Chicago to...where? for Rome City...,again, how?

Even day tours would work, although I prefer to travel independently. My budget is not unlimited (quite the reverse) but I thought that there might be a possibility of hiring a driver for a day from somewhere to get to Rome City?

Thanks for any help you can give; I've traveled independently through India, for instance, but this has me a bit stumped.

That's a toughie all right. How about this:

Take a bus or Amtrak from Chicago to South Bend, IN (where Notre Dame is, so I'm thinking there has to be half-decent transportiation).

Then hire a driver from a limo service, or a student (contact ND student employment office about posting an ad) to get you to Rome City. You might even be able to take a taxi for not too much.

Mpls-Mankato..a bus?

If you go to
www.Greyhound.com
and then type "Minneapolis" as your departure city, Mankato as your arrival city, and then click on the [Search Schedules] Button; you'll find that there are four to five buses between the two cities, each ride is direct and takes about three hours.

To find out if Greyhound even stops at a specific city, go to the above URL and click on its [Station Locator] Link at the page bottom (it's not easy to see, but it's there).

Thanks, everyone!

There's a Land/Air bus out of MSP to Mankato as well, I've found. It looks like that part would be doable pretty easily; now it's the Indiana bit that I have to try to figure out. I will check out the possibilities of South Bend, thank you capxxx. It looks like it's under two hours away each way, so...might be a good choice. I can also fly out of South Bend back to PHL, so maybe that will be my route: PHL to MSP, MSP to Chicago, South Bend to PHL.

This could be 2014's trip--or maybe Romania. Or Puerto Rico, or Nicaragua. I'm letting my geography class decide.

Hmmmn, Mankato or Romania. Or Puerto Rico, or Nicaragua....

Amy, it's zero outside right now. Puerto Rico or Nicaragua here I come

Ha ha! Yesterday, as I was shoveling, an elderly Puerto Rican gentleman came past. "You like the snow?" he asked. "It is pretty," I replied. Then he said, with a twinkle in his eye, "It's 90 degrees in Puerto Rico right now."

Of course, I'll be traveling in July, so...90 degrees won't sound nearly as appealing.

you can book the bus from MSP airport to Mankato. It will take you to the bus office . You will have to do lots of walking or maybe cab to get around in mankato. Not good for public transport

Look at ft Wayne as a center for your Indiana travel. It is a lot closer to your destination, and you may be able to fly there from Chicago.

Have a look at Rome2Rio. It suggests that you can go from Chicago to Rome City, IN, by a combination of train and taxi for about $100. You can't assume that all of their information is correct, but it gives you a place to begin looking. Good luck!

http://www.rome2rio.com/s/