Hello all,
finally the time has come...tomorrow I´ll start to my personal "Iron Butt Tour 2008"
I will take the Monster 695 from Denmark through Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Lichtenstein to Italy.
On the way I will see Mr. Stoner hopefully take a another victory for Ducati, visit friends and family and ride a lot of the German Autobahn and small alpine back roads and passes.
At the end of the tour I will be in Sweden for a track-training weekend too.
I will post images and updates how it goes and if the machine and I get along on our first long trip.
This is the map showing the main stations of the tour :



A. Home - Copenhagen
B. Berlin - Friends and family
C. Sachsenring - MotoGP race
D. Munich - Studio and Ducati friends
E. Pfullendorf - Family and Goa party
F. Milan - Cappuchino and Hellboy 2
G. Bolzano - Train back to Hamburg

And here the google.maps link for the interactive crowd

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&geocode=3525121663973500874,52.521940,13.408360%3B12609846526760243062,50.789140,12.693860%3B9168339664603887026,48.096460,11.315420%3B13842209012721662646,47.935340,9.263860%3B2387574488429391286,45.454850,9.152420%3B2278416083970573190,46.293890,10.682310&saddr=kopenhagen&daddr=Karl-Liebknecht-Stra%C3%9Fe+%4052.521940,+13.408360+to:Am+Sachsenring+%4050.789140,+12.693860+to:A96+%4048.096460,+11.315420+to:L194n+%4047.935340,+9.263860+to:Piazza+Simone+Bolivar+%4045.454850,+9.152420+to:46.524855,10.535889+to:Bozen&mra=dme&mrcr=5&mrsp=6&sz=8&via=6&sll=46.528635,9.453735&sspn=2.834472,7.009277&ie=UTF8&ll=49.823809,15.007324&spn=10.637605,28.037109&t=h&z=6

The bike is ready to go, I´ve been through my equipment a couple of times and I´m burning to start...finally

That's awesome!  I'd love to ride through Europe, particularly scandinavia. 

Show us some pics of your bike loaded and ready to roll!

Post lots of pics and have fun! 

Look forward to the pictures

travel safe

Wow have fun cant wait to hear all about it!

Have a great time and take lots of pictures! [moto]

Good luck.  Looks like it will be a great trip.   
Please keep us posted.

Sounds like a great trip! Ride safe  [moto] and of course, we need pics

Well, I'm officially extremely jealous

Please be safe... We're looking forward to photos [moto]

Well done that man! Too few of us go on long trips!   Take plenty of photos - and notes! Desk jockeys like myself live for trip reports.  

Just got back from Copenhagen a few weeks ago.  I am jealous if the weather you guys have over there but dang it never gets dark!

Drove a little over 660 miles in Denmark while over there.  Beautiful country with little traffic.

Have a great and safe trip!

Hello everybody,
So here I am, 05.30 in the morning, sitting in Berlin and enjoying some sunrise.
First a picture of the Monster, fully loaded :

Day one was quite interesting...I started in Cph with nice dry conditions and arrived at he ferry around lunchtime.
Checking in on a ferry is still quite cool.. especially if you find the only two security belts for the bike taken by some Swedes.

But the sea was flat like a centerfolds babe ass and two hours later we hit land at the german coast.
The sun was hiding behind some gray shades and within an hour the sky turned into a soft wet spray.
Arriving in Berlin soaking wet I found out the Cortech saddle bag covers were finally gone...great
I really spent a huge amount of time mounting them but anyway...blown by the wind...from now on I pack the stuff into plastic bags first and thats it...lesson learned.
Oh..another noob mistake..found out my pockets on the trousers are not waterproof at all...
And SONY phones cant stand rain it seems...tried to dry it...no chance...there goes the 880i
So the next day I had to head to Neu-Koeln where people only live of cell phones, gold and shawarma it seems..
Anyway I needed a replacement to take a picture of this all time Berlin Special : Currywurst Rot-Weiss ... 6$ for the whole plate 

Today we will drive down to the Sachsenring...watching the qualifying of 125,250 and 800cc.
I hope Mr.Stoner will storm to the podium tomorrow with another blazing victory.
Hope I get some good pictures of the race...if not, I´ll photograph the video wall
Stay tuned for the upcoming reports

jattebra!

more pics!

To all you young blokes out there without kids and a wife, get out and travel, i am so envious.

Keep the pics coming!!!  That looks like one hell of a good time!

That puts things into perspective... I rode 3000 miles last year and I never left my own country! I've got to ride in Europe one of these days.