Florida criminalizes sleeping on public land.

[zerodish]

The arrests will be starting in October. Of course this is aimed at the homeless. Eventually it will be ruled unconstitutional like it has every where else it has been tried. I just left Florida after circumnavigating it. Not really any fun. You will encounter locked rest rooms no electrical outlets and outrageous prices. I recommend avoiding Florida until this blows over. 

[jamawani]

I recommend avoiding Florida. Period.

Florida has the highest rate of bicyclists killed per capita at 7.6 bicyclists killed per one million people, more than twice the rate in California. In Florida, bicyclists account for 4.9% of traffic fatalities, which has actually decreased slightly over time as all traffic deaths in Florida rose at a rate nearly twice the national average over the last decade.

https://bikeleague.org/new-fatality-data-for-2021-shows-increase-in-bicyclist-deaths/#:~:text=Florida%20has%20the%20highest%20rate,deaths%20than%20Florida%20in%202021.

Florida's population continues to grow rapidly with road improvement lagging significantly.
So more cars, often with older drivers, clogs roads which were once fairly quiet and safe.
Plus camping in the winter season - when cyclists are touring - is often hard to find, crowded, and expensive.

For a modified Southern Tier -
I strongly suggest starting in the Georgia Sea Islands and running across southern Georgia, Alabama & Mississippi.
Not that these states are much better than Florida in bicycling infrastructure.
But there are still plenty of empty back roads.

Pic - Spanish Oaks on Sapelo Island

[davidbonn]

Similar bans were passed this year in Oklahoma and Kentucky.  And similar bans were passed in recent years in Texas and Tennessee.

The June 2024 Supreme Court decision (city of Grants Pass v. Johnson) means these bans are probably constitutional and unlikely to be challenged in the near future.

Also similar bans are working through several other states and will likely adversely impact cyclists and hikers in the near future.  I honestly doubt at this point in time there will be any kind of carve out for cyclists or other outdoorspeople.  At least in the short term it is reasonable to expect they will be selectively enforced.

[rootchopper]

When I rode the Atlantic Coast route to Key West, I couldn't help but notice that most of the billboard ads were for personal injury attorneys.

[zerodish]

In 1985 I drove through Virginia pulling a small trailer. I exited 3 off ramps looking for gas and a hotel. Even back then I knew if an interstate sign says gas lodging next right the law requires these facilities to be open 24 hours. At the Third off ramp I pulled over and went to sleep. The police did not bother me. Nothing pisses me off more than some one who gets arrested because the government breaks the law. VDOT broke the law be failing to remove the signs. It is a basic principal of law you can not compel people to do the impossible. The supreme court ruling is in conflict with the constitution and territorial laws which the states do not have the authority to over rule. I have read all of the United States Code and the acts of congress before the United States Code and all of the territorial laws I could get my hands on concerning navigable waterways roads and rail roads. DeSantis is wrong and it is likely he knows he is wrong. I will not be punished because of the behavior of homeless drunks. Do not give up. 

[ray b]

Nocturnal enforcement would be unlikely - without a complaint.

Daytime enforcement will be the rule to keep folks from "moving in."

That said, never enjoyed riding flat, congested, and poorly maintained roads in heat and humdity, with few turns and hills limited to interstate overpasses....

OK - a few rural areas worth exploring, but they are becoming difficult to get to.

[beauharlan]

In the future, perhaps avoiding large and densely populated cities is the best option, right?

[Westinghouse]

Following that story. I live in Florida. People were tenting all up and down public roads and sidewalks. The law says off the sidewalks, into a shelter. The shelters, however, are not there to take in all these unsheltered people. The idea then is to provide space for homeless tent-cities. The space must be provided by the cities and counties. Some cities and counties said they would not pay for that. The state attorney told them they can be sued for refusing.

There were four vicious, savage, brutal murders in one small area of trees in southeast coastal Florida. The trees were concealment for homeless camps. They were and still are behind Wal Mart in Stuart, FL, and across from WM looking west. That was a drug and alcohol fueled mad-house. Buying and selling of illegal drugs. Violence--One beating put a man for months in the hospital with damage to internal organs and broken bones. Another man was found with his skull completely smashed in and multiple broken bones. Another man beaten slowly to death for an hour. I was very near there when that happened. A helpless paralyzed old man beat to a bloody pulp and had to go to hospital.  All these and many more happened in that one small area among the so-called homeless people.

Getting them out of the woods, off the sidewalks, away from unwanted public interference--and into open tent cities makes sense. It would be easier to keep an eye on them that way. You can name a person homeless. That does not mean he is a saint in white robes. A highly disproportionate number of the homeless population there were engaged in some kind of criminal activity. These types have nearly zero integrity. When the police evict them from the woods, they scatter garbage and trash all over the grounds during the exit. All these and many more happened in that one small area among the so-called homeless people.

Some others simply have no shelter and that is all there is to  it. They are not ex-convicts, addicts, alcoholics, felons or anything like that at all.  The have nowhere to live.

[Westinghouse]

In 1985 I drove through Virginia pulling a small trailer. I exited 3 off ramps looking for gas and a hotel. Even back then I knew if an interstate sign says gas lodging next right the law requires these facilities to be open 24 hours. At the Third off ramp I pulled over and went to sleep. The police did not bother me. Nothing pisses me off more than some one who gets arrested because the government breaks the law. VDOT broke the law be failing to remove the signs. It is a basic principal of law you can not compel people to do the impossible. The supreme court ruling is in conflict with the constitution and territorial laws which the states do not have the authority to over rule. I have read all of the United States Code and the acts of congress before the United States Code and all of the territorial laws I could get my hands on concerning navigable waterways roads and rail roads. DeSantis is wrong and it is likely he knows he is wrong. I will not be punished because of the behavior of homeless drunks. Do not give up.

These days, it is not necessary to have access to a law library to read state statutes of law. Anyone can google statutes. This I have done in Florida. This state picks and chooses which  laws to enforce, whom to enforce them for, and whom to enforce them against.  The enforcements are not even remotely uniform and equal. The differences between the ways rich people are regarded and the ways poor people are regarded are huge. Obvious, open, annoying, harmful, public violations of state and federal laws are ignored. And who are the offenders? By name I do not know, but they obviously are well-off financially. Petty, non-harmful behaviors are sometimes prosecuted seriously. The people prosecuted are most always poor. It is open and public.

[davidbonn]

These days, it is not necessary to have access to a law library to read state statutes of law. Anyone can google statutes.

Unfortunately I've never had very good luck debating a fine point of the law with a police officer in a campsite or along a road.  If they roust you out of a sound and well-earned sleep at 1am and tell you to move you won't be sleeping much that night, one way or the other. 

You might win a "moral" victory in court at some future date, but your night's sleep and possibly your trip is still going to get badly messed up.  And the costs and risks of going to court, even if you are one hundred percent in the right, are not zero and might be unacceptably large for you.

[Westinghouse]

These days, it is not necessary to have access to a law library to read state statutes of law. Anyone can google statutes.

Unfortunately I've never had very good luck debating a fine point of the law with a police officer in a campsite or along a road.  If they roust you out of a sound and well-earned sleep at 1am and tell you to move you won't be sleeping much that night, one way or the other. 

You might win a "moral" victory in court at some future date, but your night's sleep and possibly your trip is still going to get badly messed up.  And the costs and risks of going to court, even if you are one hundred percent in the right, are not zero and might be unacceptably large for you.

These people were semi-permanent, homeless and encamped within a small area. The only trip many of them experienced was in and out of jails and prisons.  Where they camped was exactly the type of concealment needed by the free-traveling, stealth-camping bicycle tourist. Many times I have found good sleep sites in patches of bushes and stands of trees just like  that place and in that place. A word of caution.
As for arguing a statute against a power monopolizer like police on the road side, in a camp. In all my worldwide cycling tours, there is no memory of that happening anywhere. You are out there adventuring. You are experiencing the world, all five senses engaged. You are traveling on your own steam. It is transcontinental, and everybody sees that. People respect that.

[John Nelson]

If they roust you out of a sound and well-earned sleep at 1am and tell you to move you won't be sleeping much that night, one way or the other.

The police did once roust me out of a sound sleep at 2am, but after talking with him a while, he agreed to let me finish out the night where I was.

[davidbonn]

I've had one time where I "won" the argument but I was still awake at sunrise before everything got resolved.  That was on USFS land and I had the CFR number that confirmed I was allowed to camp at that location.  The regulations at that time and place also required that I have a bucket and shovel with me, which I fortunately did have.

The one that worked out best I was actually "arrested" and ended up staying in an empty but remarkably comfortable jail for the night.  When I woke up the duty sargeant apologized to me and said I should never have been brought there.  He insisted on buying me breakfast to make things right.  So all in all it worked out okay.

In two other cases the officers made it crystal clear to me that if I did not move on immediately I would face arrest.  For something but for what exactly was never clear to me.

I've noticed that the really bad situation is if you are on state or federal land but the officers who are pestering you are local (municipal or county) officers and are unlikely to know the rules.  Also the law enforcement officers who are assigned to patrol out in the middle of nowhere in the wee hours of the morning are very unlikely to be the most qualified officers their department has on staff.

On a related note, one time I was drying wet gear out at a picnic area in a National Park.  An NPS ranger confronted me and very much got in my face about whatever he thought I was doing.  This ended up being rather humorous as he did not know that I was on the clock and working for the very same park he worked for at the time.  The look on his face when his boss introduced him to me later in the day was priceless.

[Westinghouse]

In reference to the murders, assaults, rapes and drug trafficking carried on by a certain small homeless population: They all live in a small wooded area in Stuart, Florida. One common denominator of them all is a social service agency named LAHIA--love and hope in action. LAHIA hand out free tents, three meals a day, clothing. They have shower rooms and laundry machines. This binds the bush dwellers to the area as long-term, permanent homeless. With the simply unsheltered people are also alcoholics, criminals, drug addicts, ex convicts registered sex offenders, predators and robbers and thieves.

Just today, another man was found shot dead very near LAHIA. It is being investigated. We are waiting to see whether or not this one,too, is connected with LAHIA.