Norpinist, BW, Joe, MSRider, defib, Pantah; thank you for reading and the nice comments! I am so glad y'all are enjoying the RR!
Pantah, you make some good points, but I've already been round and round with the whole "which bike to take" issue. I would rather learn how to pack and ride the thing in lieu of getting a smaller bike, because, as you said, I'm a pretty big boy! I love this motorcycle and plan on riding it for a long time. My preference is to not carry all that gear anyway; I don't care for camping all that much and, or I would rather base somewhere, although that wouldn't have been possible on this trip.
Now that I've said all that, please tell me how the 640 works out for you, in case I want to get one!
And defib, the next time I am out that way, I got the second beer!