Question for Lake Michigan cruisers

[River Cruiser]

I'am helping a owner move his 47' Concorde aft cabin from the Mississippi to the Detroit river. He originally wanted help getting to Chicago, he's not comfortable doing the Mis & the IL rivers. Now he wants me to plan the whole trip so I'am looking for advice on the Lake Michigan leg. The planned departure date is the end of March to 1st week in April. It's about 5 days to Chicago from our starting point north of St. Louis, Mo. In the opinion of people with experience on the lake would we be better going up the west side or crossing over on the south end and cruising up the eastern shore. My thought is the wind would most likely be out NW or SW and taking the western side would have less rough water because of the shorter fetch. But having no experience in this area that is a guess. Thank you for sharing your experience with someone who is used to seeing a shore on both sides of the boat.