Roger Spears might know of a way around KC that I'm not aware of. I've taken 291 from Liberty to Harrisonville and it's not too bad but that would take you to I-49 which crosses I-44 south of Carthage and on to OK City but tht's a round about way. If you did the 291 thing you could go east on route 2 out of Harrisonville into Kansas and pick up I-35 again. I've taken route 2, it becomes 68 in Kansas, to Topeka for the drag races. It's two lane but not congested at all.