Best Driving Route to Madison, Wisconsin (Des Moines: pricing, distances, winter)

[nonexpat]

I google mapped it and saw several routes. They all take about 22-23 hours--very depressing since I hate driving long distances, but the airfare for four of us topped 2k. Yikes! Has anybody driven this way? What route do you recommend? I'm talking at Christmas, so I'm guessing blizzards could be a real problem since a couple of the routes took us through Nebraska and Iowa.

[Zoidberg]

Best recommendation: Pick out 3 geographically distinctive routes (say La Crosse, Des Moines, St. Louis), then the day before you leave, pick the one least getting (or likely to get) hammered by snow.

Have you tried pricing flights to Milwaukee? Still involves a drive but a far shorter one. Lots of competition (and thus seats) means it's likely you'll find a better deal, times four.

And before you answer.. have you tried pricing flights on a Tuesday mid-morning? They actually do swing by quite a bit over the course of the week, based on when you book, even months out.

[jiminnm]

I was prepared to recommend I-25 to Denver and I-80 across, or my favorite, I-25 into Wyoming and 2 lane through the Black Hills to I-90. Then, I saw you're traveling in December. Either of those could be dicey then.

I've driven to/from Michigan many times in winter and there's always a chance of bad weather anywhere between here and there. We always took I-40 to OKC and I-44 through OK and MO to St. Louis. We then take I-70, but you could catch I-55 north to I-39. That would skirt bad weather in Neb, KS and IA. An alternative is I-40 all the way across to I-55 at West Memphis. That would be a bit longer but be about as southern a route as you could take (it's our route to KY and TN).