The One Disadvantage of Mountains and Winter

I have discovered the one disadvantage to the beautiful snowy winters in Utah.  I do not fly on commercial aircraft.  Why?  The TSA.  I will not be subjected to the back scatter x-ray machines until they have been tested independently and proven safe.  Because I will not go through the back scatter machines, this means that I would be subjected to the "sexual assault" method of detecting terrorists. Although one can still be selected for this method even if you go through the back scatter machine and do not set off any alarms.  I will not submit to this type of search.  If selected for such a search, I would decline and from what I have been able to ascertain from various blogs as well as news sources, this means that my luggage would be confiscated, no refund for my airline tickets and possibly subjected to arrest.  Thus, I do not fly via commercial aircraft.

This now presents a problem.  Skip can drive to northeastern Kansas in one day via the northern route. (north to Wyoming, through Nebraska and south into Kansas at 1,086 miles in 17 hours) Our daughter is due to have our first grandchild in December.  This pretty much cuts off the northern route as an option.  Because of his job, he would need to do a four-day weekend and fly into KCI.  My only option would be to drive the southern route alone. (south to Flagstaff, through the panhandle of Oklahoma and north through Kansas at 1,628 miles in 28 hours)  Because of health issues, I can only drive 6-8 hours per day so this would be a very long trip and costly due to hotel stays, rental car and pet boarding while I am gone.  In addition, Kansas does not currently have reciprocity with Utah so I would not be able to legally conceal carry my pistol, which is not a good thing on the long stretches of rural highways in Kansas.

If I were fabulously wealthy, I could fly private jet but since I am not, I will most likely be moral support via Skype and FaceTime rather than in person until May or June when it is safer to drive to Kansas via the northern route.  I really despise the TSA.