Road Tripping Along the Great River Road, Volume 1 (eBook)

NOTE: This version is an eBook; you can choose your preferred format (including a PDF) after you purchase it. You can also purchase a print copy or ebook from one of these other retailers.

You’ve driven past the Mississippi River your whole life. You’ve crossed it on bridges, glimpsed it through trees, maybe watched it from a levee. But have you ever really explored it?

Dean Klinkenberg has. For nearly two decades, he’s been driving the back roads, walking the bluffs, and sitting at the counters of small-town diners from northern Minnesota to southern Illinois. He knows which overlooks will stop you in your tracks, which small-town museums punch way above their weight, and where locals actually go for a Friday fish fry. That knowledge — earned mile by mile, conversation by conversation — is what fills every page of this book.

Now in its third edition, Road Tripping the Great River Road organizes that expertise into 18 loop drives along the Upper Mississippi. Each loop is designed as a self-contained getaway — you start and end in the same place, with no backtracking and no logistics headaches — and each is rich enough to reward a longer stay. Drive one loop on a long weekend, string several together into a grand adventure, or work your way through all 18 over time. However you approach it, this guide will show you a river valley that most people never slow down enough to see.

Inside you’ll find:

• The hikes with the most dramatic river views — and the ones worth skipping
• Locally owned restaurants, inns, and B&Bs where your money stays in the community
• Honest museum recommendations from someone who’s actually been to them
• Festivals worth building a trip around, from the Saint Paul Winter Carnival to Oktoberfest in La Crosse
• Regional foods you won’t find anywhere else: wild rice and walleye, juicy lucys, gooey butter cake
• Deep dives into the history most travel books skim past — Native American heritage, the logging era, French colonial settlements, river town characters you won’t forget
• Practical tips for RV travelers, paddlers, and cyclists

This is not a book assembled from search results. It’s the work of a writer who has spent years falling in love with this stretch of America — and wants you to fall in love with it too.

The Mississippi River has been waiting long enough. It’s time to go.