southern tier: summer ok? Credit Card ok?

[jeek]

I'm considering a 3 week portion of the Southern Tier in June or July, Possibly Navasota Tx to Defuniak, FLa. Can you advise me on the temperatures I can expect, and Do you think it is possible to do this without camping gear?

[John Nettles]

The temps will be 90s & 100s (high 60s to maybe low 80s at night depending on where you are at) but it is the humidity that will be tough.  You don't say where you are from but the humidity will be high and combined with the heat, it can really zap your strength if you are not used to it.  Like anything else, your body will adjust, but the first week or two could be a little rough.

As far as camping equipment, I guess I am confused?  Do you mean sleeping outside but with no gear (the mosquitos could be a pain) but if hotels are what you are looking at, I can't answer that.  The ACA maps should provide an idea on that.

Hope you have a great ride!

Happy trails and may the wind be at your back!

TulsaJohn

[jeek]

Hi TulsaJohn, thanks for the insights. I am accustomed to low-humidity california but grew up in the high humidity Ohio and can deal with it. The high 90s may be too intense though. I think I will re-evaluate my choice of routes.

I am thinking of hotels, no camping. I want to cut my payload weight to a practical minimum.

This brings me to another question: is there a safe minimum of gear to bring to survive the possibility of needing to camp? For instance, a very minimal bug-proof shelter but no sleeping bag (considering the mild night temperatures)? or perhaps a very light sleeping bag? I am interested in how others have packed for credit card tours, where advance reservations aren't made.

[rmtaugher]

We did the Southern Tier last summer from St. Augustine to St. Francisville LA before heading up north on the Great Rivers South route.  We found the heat and humidity to be really tough (and we're from So FL), but we were riding in the midst of a really big heat wave.  We never found it a problem to get inexpensive hotels, especially using the ACA maps.  We found that many of the campgrounds were no longer in service, or had been taken over by clean-up crews from the hurricanes.  One idea for easy sleeping, with or without a tent, is to get a sleep-sack.  The humidity and heat were so high that we couldn't stand anything except a sheet at night.  Cotton is big no-no - it never dries.  Look on Magellan's website or REI.  Riders we met who had done the whole route rode really early and quit early.  We usually quit by 10:30 to noon every day and looked for air conditioning.