Water Softener Location

I asked this question in another forum but there's not much traffic there so I didn't get many responses. I'll try here.

I want to install a water softener before we begin to remodel our three bathrooms. Before I get into the type and size of softener, I want to do the plumbing to the softener's future location. I have two options for placement of the softener in the basement of our home:

The first option is to install it near the middle of the basement in the furnace room. The advantage (?) is that I can direct the softener's backwash down the floor drain and into the septic system. I only need to run a single cold hard water line from the supply entry point (after the backyard hose bib) to the softener. From there, I can reconnect the soft water line into the plumbing system on the cold side of the hot water heater. I don't have to run a second line all the way back to where I started.

The other option is to install it where the water supply enters the house. It would involve far less plumbing but there is no floor drain there. The closest (only) floor drain is the one in the furnace room, 30' away. Since we plan to finish the floor with Pergo one day, I don't want to count on that as a route across the floor for overflow or backwashing. There is a plumbing stack coming down from the first floor laundry room, but dumping into that would require a check valve to prevent laundry waste water from entering the softener. I don't like that idea much. I could run the backwash line up and out of the basement but I'd have to deal with directing the backwash water to a dry creek that runs across our property. That, and preventing dirt and critters from getting into or clogging the backwash line. Then there's the issue of overflow across the to-be-finished floor. I'm also concerned about the long term ability of the softener's pump to push the backwash water that far up.

I'm not sure which is riskier, dumping the salinated backwash into the septic system or pumping it up 8' to get it out of the basement. We are a family of two adults so we don't use as much water and won't be backwashing the softener as often as a family of six would. We are on a well, if that matters.

Which is the preferred way to handle this? Are there pitfalls I'm not thinking of? Is there another way to do it?

Thanks,

Ray