Nagano to Towada-ko

We will drive from Nagano to Towada-ko but would like to stop along the way. We have 2 days to reach Towada from Nagano. Where should we stop along the way? We love onsens and would like to get to the out of the way places for ryokans.
Your advice is most appreciated. We will start our tour on Oct 21.

I would suggest logging on to Google Maps Japan and entering Nagano, Japan in the Search box. Right click on the red marker on the map (which should be in the middle of Nagano), then clicking on Directions from Here. Type Towadako into the destination box and a route will be presented to you.

I would then suggest click on various portions of the route and dragging it to other routes to see travel times and distances. You can also zoom into various parts of the map to see what is there. The initial route will be the fastest, most direct route. I would suggest dragging the route over to the west coast and travel up through Niigata and Akita.