Atlantic coast bicycle route this summer?

[Westinghouse]

Here I am at 73 thinking about cycling the Atlantic coast this summer. Is it the quest for activity and adventure, or sheer madness? Maybe it is the sheer boredom of retirement and living alone in a condominium. One thing is sure. Temperatures are rising. Summer will be hotter than hell. There would be many places to eat, drink and get cooled in the AC. I would most likely start from southeast coastal Florida. Free (stealth) camping is the plan. I have done this coast route four times, and only once in its entirety from  Key West, Florida to Bangor Maine. Parts of highway 17 can be stressful, much traffic, narrow side lanes or none.  Who else cycled this route, and what were your experiences?

[BikeFreak]

I did it 20 years ago (N->S) and stopped midways due to the heat and I could not keep up my planned mileage. It started to get really hot S of Washington DC. So if you start soon going S->N it should be perfect for temperature management.

[Westinghouse]

I did it 20 years ago (N->S) and stopped midways due to the heat and I could not keep up my planned mileage. It started to get really hot S of Washington DC. So if you start soon going S->N it should be perfect for temperature management.

Summer heat in the south is the worst for long distance touring in the US. I did it one time from Florida to Los Angeles. I swore I would not try that again. I was drinking 2 1/2 to 3 gallons of various liquids daily. Woke up mornings feeling dehydrated. In San Angelo, Texas they said the area west of there was called the other side of hell.

[BikeliciousBabe]

'Posed to be 85 degrees this Thursday here in Philly, and we had a super warm winter with only 0.30" of snow. I suspect it will even be warm and humid in the NE this summer. I rode for a week in VT last June and it was relatively warm and humid up there.

[Westinghouse]

In March 1988 I came to Florida from France where I had been with the French Foreign Legion. I hung around my home town of Stuart, FL until July. It was hot, 93F--95F. I figured I could visit friends in Pennsylvania around Kutztown and Stony Run. There, I thought, it would be a bit less hot. I was wrong. It was 103F. It was blistering by day, and sweltering at night. Mosquitoes everywhere.

[Westinghouse]

I am thinking Florida to DC and then great American rail trail to Pittsburgh.  Or maybe FL to Philadelphia and the Schuylkill river trail west.