kylakemike

I am embarking on a short tour in a few weeks. I will likely start in Nacogdoches Texas and conclude in Key West Florida. I plan to head southeast and pick up the gulf coast as soon as possible. I would like to maintain a route along the coast as much as possible. This will be a self supported trip with camping, stealth and public, with occasional cheap hotel stays. I have no time limit and may stay several days in locales that I find particularly fun or interesting.

Any advice, route or otherwise, is greatly appreciated.

kylakemike

choteau

Try this link from Crazy Guy on a Bike website https://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/4746 The author knows his way around....

texbiker

You are going on a nice tour. I don't have any experience going that far or direction but this past weekend I heard about the East Coast Greenway. If you can get to Jacksonville FL the Greenway goes all the way to Key West. They have a trip planning app and more. You can read about it at this link. East Coast Greenway
You can see how other people have traveled along your route by searching crazyguyonabike.com: Bicycle Touring: A place for bicycle tourists and their journals.
Last year we drove from Houston to Key West. We saw a number of people biking from the mainland to Key West. It is about 100 miles.

kylakemike

Thanks so much for the replies. I appreciate the information and will continue the info search.

kylakemike

Cyclebum

Here's another that'll take you from central Fld to Key West. And another that'll take you from St Martinsville to St Augustine via NOLA. Has overnight spots with phone numbers summarized at the end.

MMACH 5

Check out pathlesspedaled.com

On there first trip across the US, they came through Mineola and then east to Florida. I can't find a map of their route, but they are both awesome about sharing their experiences and advice. They are also on facebook and occasionally post here in bikeforums.

kylakemike

Thanks so much to all. What an excellent community. Torn between biking down the west side of Florida versus headed to the east side and taking the Greenway trail. either way I am really looking forward to this trip.

bikenh

I will forewarn you, watch LA/MS roads. They are not in the best of shape by a long shot. A little trick I may have learnt from Ian, BS owner in Shreveport, stay on the less traveled highway and they will be in better shape. I just went from Monticello, FL to New Orleans-Broken Bow, OK in the past couple of weeks. I hit the AL/MS border and I knew I hit the border. The road US??98 or is it 90 between Mobile and Pascagoula, totally turned to crap right as I crossed the border into MS. I ended up breaking a spoke on a new wheel, before I ever made it into Pascagoula. Cyclebum likes to talk about TX using monster sized chip and seal...well, MS does as well. That stuff was absolutely horrible to ride on. I would have to say, in the 20+ states I've ridden in over the past month, MS and AL had the worst roads by a long shot. I quite easily came up with a new name for the capital of Lousyana...Bad Roads. Just as incredible as the change from AL to MS was the change from LA to TX. You definitely can tell how poor that part of the country is just by looking at how bad they upkeep the roads. I had to jokingly ask just how much money has been embezelled from the DOT fund in LA.

I would still have to say the funnest and most memorable part of the trip thus far has been the ride across the Pensacola Bay Bridge. I taped the ride across and I can't wait to go back and see just how many darn cars went by me while I was making the 11-12 minute crossing. The traffic was incredible but I never felt safer.

One of the prettier state house first peaks is coming in from the east into Tallahassee on US27...just wish the new statehouse building wasn't so darn big and sitting right behind the old state house building.

If you plan on going through Mobile make sure you know how to get around. It can be a bit tricky with the tunnels.

Be prepared, even though it sounds like you live in TX to start with, which should help, but still August is the hottest/most humid month around the Gulf Coast. Be prepared...I kinda was but still got caught WAY off guard. I'm still trying to recover from the beating from the heat and the direct sun beating down on me each day. I still remember the overnighter I pulled from Shreveport to Broken Bow. The overnight went great, had no trouble staying awake even though I was quite sleep deprived. Once the sun came up, around Ashdown, AR, I could feel the energy quickly start draining right out of my body. It's amazing how the heat/humidity/direct sunlight can just drain your energy without trying.

kylakemike

Thanks bikenh. All good points that I will take into consideration. I am starting in East Texas which is already blazing hot and humid. It does not affect me as much as it does some others. I will ride evening, night and early morning hours as well.

If the LA/MS roads are about like East Texas I should be used to the condition. These roads around Nacogdoches are horrible.

DropBarFan

I'm guessing west coast FL might be less developed than Atlantic coast so perhaps less traffic. OTOH I biked from Miami to Jupiter on the Atlantic coast on A1A. Lots of houses & condos but nonetheless a very relaxing & scenic ride. A1A has bike lane and/or wide shoulder for vast majority of that stretch & drivers were quite polite (speed limits slow anyway).

kylakemike

Much appreciated DropBarFan. I have decided to cross over the state to the east coast and follow that route south. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences.

DropBarFan

It'll be interesting to see which route to cross Florida. Up north it seems like there's more cross-state options. I had thought about riding cross-FL from Miami area but bikers say Rt 41 is busy & not great for bikes. FL rather unique with contrast of high coastal development & (AFAIK) often sparsely-populated interior parts.