Touring - Route for Minneapolis to Lake Itasca State Park

I'm going to be doing a supported tour with America by Bicycle along the Mississippi river from New Orleans to Minneapolis but I'd actually like to ride the entire river and end up at Lake Itasca State Park where you can wade across the headwaters. The tour actually ends in Eagan which is a bit South of Minneapolis. My plan is to just go "credit card" touring with a minimum of gear so I'm asking for routing information. So any sources you might suggest of where I could find information for planning a bicycle route to get between these two points or if you've ever done the ride from Minneapolis to Itasca I would be interested in you advice.

Here's a link to a journal that you may find helpful or at least interesting.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/page/?o=RrzKj&page_id=81230&v=5K

This is a good book.. (http://www.mississippirivertrail.org/order.html)

This is a good book.. (http://www.mississippirivertrail.org/order.html)

Thanks! I got the book from Amazon and it is exactly what I wanted. I'll be doing the Minnesota part starting June 3 and probably sticking around to the 11th or 12th. Maybe I'll see you on the road!

OK, I've done the tour - managed the entire river and the Bicycling Guide to the Mississippi River was very useful. I pretty much followed the route in the book all the way from Red Wing to Lake Itasca only getting off route to get to the B&B or Hotel. The Minnesota part was very wet and in the 50's but the roads were nice. I thought the guide did a good job of avoiding urban roads while navigating through the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan area. There was some construction which caused me to re-route in various places but it was manageable. I think I'm glad I went up the river instead of down. Made it feel more like an adventure trying to find the source of the river. From Pelicans to Loons! I also used the book for routing from Venice, LA to New Orleans (I was on a supported tour from New Orleans to Red Wing). The book was useful but the ferry broke and I was left with no choice but to take a 26 mile stretch of road the book strongly advised against taking (there was no alternative with the ferry out). Unfortunately the book was right about that stretch of road too ... anyway, overall a very nice tour. My one comment - Mississippi has the nicest people but the meanest dogs!

I'm glad you did the tour and found the book helpful..tailwinds!