MADISON, WIS. ? In eight hours and 12 minutes, the Ford Windstar passed from Lawrence to Madison through a landscape flavored by Missouri fireworks stands, Madison County bridges and Wisconsin dairy farms.

We got out of town at 8:43 a.m. and the Journal-World shuttle to the Midwest Regional pulled into the shadow of Madison’s renovated Capitol at 4:55 p.m.

The route was a mix of 75 mph sprints up Interstate 80 and enraging stop-and-go driving on two-lane U.S. 151. The four J-W travelers made it with only four pit stops. Roads were good and traffic moderate.

On the way, fireworks stands in Eagleville, Mo., beckoned. Perhaps some of those “Battle of New Orleans,” “Saturn Missile Battery” and “Whistling Jupiter” treats can be part of a Jayhawks victory party.

In Iowa, near the birthplace of legendary cowboy actor John Wayne, the storied bridges of Madison County had to be bypassed. On to Cedar Rapids and misadventure due to navigator Chuck Woodling’s reluctance to consult a map.

Before crossing the Mississippi River at Dubuque, we passed a yellow single-engine airplane, its nose buried in the median of U.S. 151, firefighters pouring foam on the wreckage. While passing the crumpled aircraft, the van’s trip odometer read 1,111 miles.

Beautiful farms in Wisconsin’s dairy country, many with massive silos of native stone and red-painted barns, took our minds off that scene.

We pressed on, hungering for a taste at roadside cheese factories. We also encountered unexpectedly sunny weather moving north. Those delightful conditions ended after arriving in Madison, when brutal winds and snow descended in the night.