Weekend of 9/8 to 9/9 Chicago to Minneapolis, MN
 

Thinking of doing a little road trip up north to the Minneapolis, MN area .

Head out west Saturday morning (early), then follow the great river road along the Mississippi river up north. Spend the night in Minneapolis, then take a number of numbered and abc roads back on Sunday. Roads are probably a 5-7/10 on the technicality level, lots of sweepers, etc.

Round trip ~900-1000 miles.

Done with the route for day 1.

http://img713.imageshack.us/img713/2739/982012.jpg

I come up with ~540 miles door to door

Meet spot : Google Maps (mobil gas station)
Meet time : 6:40am,
Wheels roll 6:50am.

Lunch: Red Robin

Lodging: ~$100

I think you'll like the roads up here. Our club is always out driving around the river area along the Mississippi.

Looks like you'll be driving just past my town.

It's my birthday weekend. I was actually trying to get some Z guys together to take a road trip to New Ulm and do the Schell's Brewery tour.

I've been through that area a number of times in past years on the bike. In fact, so many that I got bored of it :) . All trips this year and most of last year were all south (southern IN, KY, WV, VA, TN, NC, etc..) The roads are that much better in terms of condition and design. But, sometimes one must return to their roots :)

Here's a short video I took of one of the segments with the cell phone.

map: IA-3 W/US-52 N to US-52 N/Great River Rd - Google Maps

video: VIDEO0007 - YouTube

Skip to ~9:30 to skip over some of the boring bits. This road has *LOTS* of elevation changes, mostly in 4th gear between 45-70 mph. Road repair is so so, further north in southeastern MN, roads are 10x better, somewhat less technical (more sweepers), and no traffic.

Been on this road countless times on the bike, but first time with the car, so didn't want to go too crazy.

Anyways, this clip should give an idea of what's out there.

Total expense was ~$250 for fuel/meals, not including lodging (points).

The return trip through WI wasn't as interesting. Although the roads are plenty technical, they are very inconsistent in terms of corner design. I think if I were do this again, i'd come back through MN/IA rather than WI.