Minnesota to LA

[Amy DePoint]

We are trekking across the midwest to LA. We will have a toddler and a cat or two in tow (pray for us ;) as we are moving. Many of my family members have taken the trip from Minnesota to LA and have warned us about going through Salt lake City and that we should just head south. I was looking through old threads here and someone warned that going Highway 40 (out of Oklahoma City) could be worse than heading west on 70 and going through Denver. But the Denver route seems to cross the same elevated and potentially dangerous areas that the Salt Lake City route does. So, the poster who seemed to be a veteran, has me wondering how the heck to go. Below is what I was thinking of doing. We are making a stop in SD to visit a relative but then heading south. Any and all advice is sincerely welcome! We don't have a time constraint. We want to make this as enjoyable as possible for everyone but also don't want to keep the cats in their version of hell (car rides and foreign places) more than needed! So want to pick the right route where delays due to weather are least likely. Thank you!
Here is the route I was thinking of going