Hi
Last March I flew into Atlanta georgia with my bike. I rode south-west from there into Alabama, Mississippi and Louisanna, then across the coast ending in Jacksonville, Fl.
I researched the trip on Crazy Guy. There is a page on the site for posting questions and I got lots of good from from local cyclists.
A few things to consider
1 The drivers were far more courteous than I had expected and the people were really friendly. I avoided large cities as much as possible but all the places I went through seemed safe enough. I was almost always off the road before dark. I was warned not to cycle into New Orleans. I was told the bike paths are not safe for solo bikers and the roads too busy. (local cyclists told me this)
- Georgia in particular has rumble strips along the edge of the road. After four weeks my back rim had small cracks at EVERY spoke join. It was toast. Only Florida had nice broad shoulders and rumble strips. (FL is the most bike friendly place in the south) Quite often I would have to keep my eyes glued to an eight inch wide strip of pavement on the far side of the road.
3 I tried to use Warm Showers as much as possible but only found two people that were home and were able to take me in. There are lots of people listed on WS but most were away or I could not get in touch with them. I camped one night only as it was the coldest spring on record. Most camp grounds are RV parks and charge as much as a cheap motel. There are always two or three cheap motels out by the inter state, I paid between $30 and $50 a night. It is difficult to find motels in urban areas except larger towns. When your are stuck out by the interstate pray for a buffet, else its MacDoanlds.
4 The maps sold by the American cycling assoc. are really good and worth the money.
5 The two lane roads in LA are very narrow usually with no shoulder to go onto, just a deep ditch. I had twenty miles of the most hellish road on my life there. Most people going east to west tend to cross LA through the north.
Mike
