Hi all! I'm currently planning a ride from southern New Jersey (Philadelphia suburbs) to Key West in summer 2010. I've been a road and mountain cyclist for 28 years now, since I was a teenager.
I've already mapped a route to Florida and plan to go like Steve G. did - motels, middle distances, moderate speeds, light load! Great trip journal, Steve!!! Good luck with the book version!
If anyone's interested in joining me on that kind of trip, in that time frame, let me know.
Here is the current route plan for this trip. If anyone has local knowledge about any parts of this route, please let me know! I'd especially appreciate any info on road conditions (continuously broken road edges anywhere? shoulder widths? lots of road debris along shoulders? construction next summer? traffic volume?) and whether there are grocery stores and motels in the various small towns listed below by state. Thanks!
If any bad stretches, I have alternate back roads plotted as well and plan to drive the main route, and parts of some alternates, this January to check things out and make notes.
Towns that have capitalized initials are marked as larger towns on my map, and will hopefully have at least one food store and one motel.
[all routes that are not heading south are given an ‘e’ast or ‘w’est suffix]
NJ - a back roads route to Cape May-Lewes ferry. I've already traveled this part many times.
DE - routes 9 & 1, 24/30, 26/30 (Lewes, angola, Millsboro, gumboro)
MD - routes 353, 350e, 354, 12 (Pittsville, powellville, Snow Hill, stockton)
VA (upper) - routes 679, 13, 605, 182w, 600, 183w, 13, 600, 13 (atlantic, accomac, quinby, kiptopeke, bay bridge-tunnel)
VA (lower) - route 13/Military Hy. (Virginia Beach to Suffolk via 191/Joliff Rd., 337w, 13)
NC - 13, 461, 561, 258, 903, 55, 403, 24, 242, 76w (winton, Scotland Neck, Tarboro, farmville, Snow Hill, la grange, seven springs, faison, Clinton, Roseboro, Elizabethtown, Bladenboro, Fair Bluff)
SC - 76w, 41, 51, 41, alt17, 63w, 68w, 363w, 321, 119 (Mullins, Johnsonville, Andrews, Moncks Corner, Summerville, Walterboro, Varnville/Hampton, Estill, garnett)
GA - 119, 84w, 301, 32e, 110, 17 (Springfield, Pembroke, Hinesville, Walthourville, Jesup, hortense, waverly, Woodbine, Kingsland)
FL - 17, A1A, 1 (along the coast) OR ...
17, A1Aw, 301, 119, 90e, 23, 224, 220, 17, 436, 426e, 551, 15, 192e, 441, 98/441, 27, 997, 1 (Yulee, callahan, bryceville, Green Cove Springs, Palatka, DeLand, Orlando, holopaw, Yeehaw Jct., Okeechobee, Pahokee, South Bay, Weston, Homestead, Key Largo ... Key West!)
Notice that I’m trying to avoid:
[1] coastal highways in the Carolinas and Georgia as it will be summer and crowded then
[2] four-lane roads as much as possible
[3] downtowns of large cities, except Virginia Beach which is unavoidable
The Cape May-Lewes ferry allows bikes and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel has a shuttle van to transport bicyclists, for the same toll as a car. You must call ahead for pick-up time and place.