Trying to Get to Alliance, Nebraska

Jo and I are planning on attempting a run at Alliance today.  We have an interesting conundrum, though.  If we leave early today, we'll be out of the threat of convective activity, but then we're going to have to deal with 35 - 45 knot winds on the surface at Alliance.  If we wait, we won't have to worry about the super strong surface winds, but we'll be dodging and weaving through storm cells in rain.  Neither one of those sounds like fun.  If we want to get there today, I'm seeing really two options: take a detour north through the heavier rain but away from convection, or take a longer detour south out of the rain and get to Alliance later and hopefully after the winds die down.  I'm thinking we're going to end up taking a little field trip south.  Did I mention it's headwinds all the way there?  At some levels up to 50 knots?  Boo.

I'm going to keep watching the weather.  Maybe something will change and make my life easy.  We have to let the hotel know by noon what we're doing, so we're in a bit of a crunch to make a decision.  I'm positive we can make it today; I just hate taking detours all over creation.  Oh well, maybe we'll find a really colorful place to stop for fuel.