If your goal is simply to rack up miles, a MR is IMHO a fairly expensive way to do it, particularly as a MSP hub captive (note my hometown). Like yourself, I am fairly new to this - I started to pay attention to my miles accounts only recently when a change in my job routine had me flying a bit more frequently, though not a ton by FT standards.

In the last year, I've managed to accrue miles at a rate greatly disproportionate to the number of miles I've flown through credit card and partner activities (lots of reimbursed business spending on a few credit cards). There are other opportunities that present themselves as well - (check out the Miles to Go thread on the NW forum for an example).

Certainly, fly to your heart's content. The more circuitous you can make the journey, the better. But I wouldn't go anywhere you didn't want to be just for the sake of RDMs. If you're chasing status however...