Trip check out...
http://www.advrider.com/

and

http://www.Alaskaleather.com... the owners of this shop rode from Barrow AK (furthest point north you can drive/ride from... to tip of south America... on some GS1200s... so if ya got questions about being comfortable... she can answer it... and if you need anything she'll ship it to you... if it doesn't work.. ship it back and they'll refund your purchase... pretty cool IMO...

Can you see Russia from Barrow AK?

no... it's too far north... it'd be like trying to see Arizona from Okahoma City

(joke.)

yeah I know... so was I... it'd be more like trying to see it from Kansas City

Son of a bitch trip. If I had money right now Id buy your bike in a heartbeat and you could go shopping.

Have familiarity with the bikes you rode. Good and accurate impressions. For what you're looking for, the GS is probably the ticket. For long trips, two up, the bike delivers. The KTM is as you note. As is the Hyper. Try to score a Tiger demo. It might fall a little short of the GS as long distance steed, but what an engine, and what a lot of bike for the price.

have you ridden the 800?

the 800 is dependent on if Andrea learns to ride, if she doesnt want to ride then I may look into the 1200. The 800 is more for me riding alone.

Thanks sfarson, I will try to score tiger ride.

ahh ok...

you'll have to let me know how your 800 and tiger rides go...