first tour questions.
 

So a friend and me are planning on doing our first real bike tour. We will be leaving from Minneapolis and heading to Seattle. My question is I have a fuji del rey made in 85 that i planned on fixing up with new parts and making it my touring rig. Is this a bad idea or what? Im new to the whole touring thing so we plan on making a trip to duluth this fall kinda to act as a test ride on my bike.

Moving to Touring Forum.

As long as it is reliable you can tour on just about anything. More up to date components would mean more places to get replacements along the way but probably is not worth worrying about since you can just upgrade.

Issues you may have are heel or toe strike but most times those problems can be solved too with the right pannier / rack combination.

I'm out on the Tourist route, people pass thru riding all sorts of stuff.

I'd suggest overhauling the bike what ever you have , entirely.
so you begin with fresh grease in all the bearings, and new cables and housing

Schwalbe Marathon Plus tires are a good investment, very puncture resistant..

And make your rack fitting rigid. a rack that flexes will over time break.

You got the right idea. If you can ride the Fuji 50-60 miles/day in reasonable comfort, and can climb a long, 6% grade with it's relative high gearing, toting 30-40 pounds of gear, than it'll be fine for a long x-country. With reliable components of course.