My girlfriend and I did this the first 2 weeks of September... just getting done writing up something on the trip. I'm not sure how much fits in one forum message, so I'm going to split this up into one post per day, generally. Introduction As a teenager in Minnesota, we lived on a county road in Monticello that was part of the Great River Road route. Many times I rode by the Great River Road sign and thought about following that road all the way down to the end of the river. Recently there was plenty of slack at my client for me to take two weeks off, and my girlfriend, Melanie, was also able to get two weeks of vacation approved. We turned our attention to planning. Preparation My 2005 Concours had just had an oil and filter change and other 12,000 mile maintenance, and new tires, so was itself ready to go. We borrowed a lightweight tent and self-inflating mattress from a friend, and went out to buy an air mattress, two sleeping bags, and several compression sacks. Melanie bought a rain suit, waterproof boots, and seat beads. I bought the biggest tank bag I could find, a Tourmaster Tri-bag. We also bought cargo nets, straps to secure on the outside of the hard cases, and a handlebar mount for Melanie
