Hello Everyone! We are going to be doing a trip from Omaha, NE to Tallahassee, FL next week and would like to know the best route to take and any suggestions on restaurants or must-see sites. When I map it on mapquest and other "trip planner" sites, it takes us from Omaha to Kansas City, then through St. Louis, Nashville, Birmingham then Tallahassee. My questions are:

Is there a better route to go than this?

Any known major construction along this route that will slow us down? From Omaha/Council Bluffs area we would take I-29S. In Kansas City we would get on I-435E to I-70 towards St. Louis. Then I-55N to I-64E. Next, I-57S to I-24E heading to Nashville. Then a string of other highways, namely, US-80E, US-82E, US-231S, US-84E, then US-27S. There are alot of road changes on this route so any alternate suggestions would be appreciated.

Any suggestions on how we should break this journey up? I was thinking of maybe spending a night in St. Louis and a night in Nashville.

Some background info: Traveling are 2 adults, an 8 year old, a 3-month old baby, and a small dog. Obviously, we'll need to stay at a dog friendly hotel, but I don't want to pay an extra fee for him (at least no more than $20). We'll be towing our 2nd vehicle, so parking should be free and plentiful.

We have a maximum of 3 days to get to Tallahassee so if we go to any restaurants or sites in the cities where we spend the night, they would have to be close to the hotel (we'll need to rest). We would prefer to stay in nicer areas that we can walk to places to see, restaurants, etc. so we can get a break from driving.

Thanks for any help that any of you can offer! This is a last minute trip so I definitely need it.

HT