San Francisco to Saint Louis, the most efficient way

[mpinillos]

Hi!
First time post here! I am moving for grad school and will be driving my car (Toyota Camry) from San Francisco to Saint Louis.
We will be two people and will take turns driving. Unfortunately, I don't have the time nor the money to do a nice road trip and visit any attractions on the way. This is a strictly getting from point A to point B in the most efficient and fast way kind of trip.
I would greatly appreciate any advice on routes and places to stop for eating and resting.
Thank you so much in advance for your help!

[Midwest Michael]

Welcome to the RTA Forum!

The first thing to remember is that just because you have two drivers, it does not mean that you can switch off can cover significantly more miles in a day. Even being a passenger is draining, and you shouldn't plan on driving much more than about 600 miles in a day. Factoring just the bare minimum of stops, that's 10-12 hours behind the wheel each day, and the roughly the maximum that professional truck drivers are allowed to drive.

The shortest/fastest way is to take I-80 all the way across Nebraska, using NE-2 as a shortcut to I-29 down to Kansas City, and then across Missouri on I-70.

To do this safely, you'll need to plan to take 3 and a half days. If you start early on day 1, the places you should look to stop on a speed run would be Wendover, Nevada; Kimball, Nebraska; and Kansas City.