The furthest I've ridden my older Ducati (a 907IE) in a day was about 450 miles, but I have the excuse that I'm at least 40 years older than Mr. Krupp. After reading his report, I almost think I'd like to ride it to Datona. Except that the one way distance is about 2500 miles in my case. I've done Daytona on my BMW - after reading the story, I think maybe I should try the Duc one of these years.
The key to covering distance on a sports bike, including any of the "Big 4" models, is the suggestion that you should tense one part of the body at a time and relax the rest. Also, it's an excellent idea to NOT twist the right wrist much at all. Traffic fines and points count can bring any trip to a halt!
Like any other Ducati owner, I've heard the tales of difficult maintenance, mostly from Honda riders who couldn't remove their fairing if they had to. At 60,000 miles, it's still going strong, if you don't count the steering head bearings I had to replace about 15,000 miles ago (yep, I did it myself). That's been about it..