chiroptile

Hey, all.. Planning a little tour this upcoming June. The idea is to leave New York City on around June 10th and take three weeks to make our way down to Athens, Ga.

https://www.idcide.com/i/mc2/ga/athens.gif

This is going to be an unsupported tour, and the bikes will pretty heavy. Initially, I thought of following the east coast greenway down to Durham, North Carolina, then using google maps to cut across on a southwesterly diagonal to reach our destination. After reading up a little more on the greenway and learning that it's a work in progress that will at times put you on the sidewalk, I decided to take a look at ACA's Atlantic Coast route.

I am now thinking that maybe we should take one of the spurs connecting NYC to the AC route, follow that down to Richmond, Va, then split off and follow the greenway to Durham..

https://www.greenway.org/pdf/VA.pdf
https://www.greenway.org/pdf/NC.pdf

Then do the diagonal google maps cut to Athens, ideally, maybe stopping off at a lakeside campsite in the Carolinas for a day or two.

I know that leaving the city, we have three options.. George Washington bridge, a train to Newark, and a ferry to Jersey, (the one that passes under the Verazzano bridge.) I happen to live minutes from the GWB, but I also read that the ferry option may be more cycle-friendly once we reach the other shore.. Does anybody have enough experience with both of these approaches to recommend one over the other? Since we're camping along the way, which route would be more conducive to pitching a tent as day 1 draws to a close?

Once we reach the AC route, we should be okay until Durham. Google maps works fine after that, but if anybody familiar with that region could point me in the right direction with their own route recommendations, I would really appreciate it. Something with easy traffic, and camping opportunities along the way if possible. Maybe taking the greenway further down south to fayetteville, then striking out west?

Thanks a lot, guys..