ROCHELLE — On Tuesday morning, over 100 Chevrolet Corvettes stopped in Rochelle at the Petro Travel Plaza.
The Corvettes made up the North Central Corvette Caravan, combining the states of Illinois, Iowa, Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Colorado, Nebraska, as well as Central Canada. The journey continued the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday as Corvettes from all over the United States made their way to the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Kentucky to celebrate its 30th anniversary. The caravan also made stops in Rochelle in 2014 and 2019, Caravan Captain Ed Saari said. The journey is done every five years.
“Every five years the National Corvette Museum has an anniversary celebration and they ask 20 people from around the country to gather Corvettes and lead them to Bowling Green,” Saari said. “We start in Wisconsin. We make stops like this one along the way. Our next stop is Bloomington, Illinois where we'll be joined by Corvettes from Iowa, the Milwaukee area and Chicago. Then we go to Effingham, Illinois where we're joined by more Corvettes. We stay there overnight and the next morning we go to Bowling Green, where we'll be joined by 2,200 other Corvettes from all over. What we have here in Rochelle right now is small compared to what we'll have.”
Saari said the caravan takes a lot of planning with reservations and working with stakeholders and law enforcement at stops along the way on how the Corvette caravan will get in and out with traffic. He thanked the Petro Travel Plaza and the Rochelle Police Department and Illinois State Police for their help Tuesday.
The caravan included five different generations of Corvettes. Saari said the expedition draws attention at different stops along the way. Participants in the caravan enjoy driving their Corvettes above all else, Saari said.
“Corvettes are more like a family than any other brand,” Saari said. “If you have a Ford Mustang for instance, there are show-and-shine shows. But there's never an event where they gather people and go to the factory like we are. It's a family of people that love driving their cars. 90 percent of these people never go to a show and shine. They don't want to put their hood up and polish their car. We have people here that won't wash their cars for three days. 90 percent of the people that do this with us are couples that do these kinds of things. We have people all along the way who join us on the fly when we go by. It's fun to have everyone participate. It's a hobby and it's our passion. I just love the people and I love to drive my Corvette.”
