<br /><br />I'd say start south of Minneapolis and head south. Beautiful country and lots to see, and places to stop.<br /><br />Another friend of mine delivered a boat from Milw, to Florida by running down the Chicago river to the Miss, then south. He had a blast.<br /><br />Actually, you can buy an awfully nice paddleboat for two grand, then sell it when the trip is over. Oh wait, that would be a peddle boat. <br /><br /> http://www.greatriver.com/ <br /><br /><br /> http://www.greatriver.com/class.htm <br /><br /> http://www.hucks.com/index.htm <br /><br /><br />There are numerous tourboats operating out of most large cities on the river. Or were you planning on renting a houseboat?<br />Perhaps you want to travel the entire length. If so, then plan on spending the entire summer. Or do it on the cheap, buy an inflatable raft or two, and start floating. When you have had enough, get out and catch a plane home.<br /><br />I would love to run the upper third of the river in a small cabin cruiser, something like Pointer has, but don't think I will ever get the chance. A trip from La Crosse Wi, south to Dubuque IA would be spectacular.
<br /><br />The views and sites in the upper one third are awesome. I would imagine with the colors in full during october it would be even more spectactular. The run from Chester to Davenport was more like a muddy canal. I almost ran out of gas cuz there was no place on the river to fuel up until I hit Alton, which has a great marina. <br /><br />We camped on the shore most of the time and had an absolute blast. (You know us rugged outdoors men and our proud animals facing the wilderness with nothing but a flashlight and a Miller lite) But doing it first class on a river boat should be all that and a bag of chips. The post given would have been the ones I recommended in my research prior to taking my little adventure but if I dig up additional information I will be sure to sent it your way. If you would like some pic's I have a ton of those as well.<br /><br />BTW, the housboat rentals are incredible. You may want to look into it if you have a large group going with you. <br /><br />Adam, Congrats on your upcoming wedding.
Quite a long trip for just a week.<br />Don't know if any tour boats run the entire length.<br />Most I have seen are day trips, or overnighters.<br />I'm sure they are out there, but I would want to spend some time seeing things, not just 7 days cruising a 1000+ miles.<br /><br />Here's another site, which will give you an idea of the scenery and river towns on the Miss, along the WI border.<br /><br /> http://www.wigreatriverroad.org/ <br /><br /> http://www.wigreatriverroad.org/rivertowns/index.asp <br /><br /> http://www.wigreatriverroad.org/photos/index.htm <br /><br /> http://www.wigreatriverroad.org/maps/maps_boating.htm
