Southern Tier............

[bikeparts]

I might be taking the Southern Tier Trip this yr from East to West.My ? is, what is the Weather like from April to July? Is there enough places to get Water and food along the way?How is the Camping?Etc Thanks for your Feedback....................

[jsieber]

A great resource for information about the southern tier are the journals for that route on crazyguyonabike.com.
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/categories/?o=3Tzut&category_id=11&doctype=journal

You can also check out the ride registry on this site, http://www.adventurecycling.org/ride_registry/review_rides.cfm, and select Southern Tier.

I'm sure some other forum members can give their specific thoughts on your questions based on their personal experience with the route.
Have fun!

[Westinghouse]

If you are talking S-tier as in the ACA route, there is plenty of information on it. If you are talking S-tier as only the southern tier of states, that is another thing. I once went from east coastal Florida to El Paso. After getting through Louisiana I followed extreme gulf coastal roads in TX all the way to Brownsville on the border of Mexico. After that, I followed roads right next to the border going north. SE of EL Paso I had to branch away from the border to get to El Paso. I consider that the southern tier also. In my opinion, the S-tier is the southern tier of states no matter which roads you cycle on. I think that when others say S-tier they might mean mainly or only ACA'a mapped route.

Either way, the S-tier is a good ride. Services can get a bit far between in the western states, but there is nothing in that which some planning and foresight cannot take care of.

I can tell you this much. Every time I stayed over in Van Horn and ate in its restaurants, I left that town with a case of dysentery. Not only that, I have read journals of other cyclists who laid over there a while and ate in the restaurants. Others had the same experience, dysentery. My suggestion is cook your own if you lay over in Van Horn. Canned foods, beer, and container drinks are ok. Good luck if you go there and ignore this tip.

[Westinghouse]

There is something to be said about the radical change that highway 90 in northern Florida takes at the town on Milton in NW Florida. Across the top of the state 90 is really great for cycling, except when you go through Tallahassee which has far too much dense traffic to deal with on a road whose paved shoulders have suddenly disappeared for a long stretch. Generally speaking though, 90 might be considered something of a cyclist's dream road.
There is plenty of room, and its shoulders are extensive and wide and run a very long way. Traffic is quite moderate. Its surface is smooth--until you get to Milton. Here is a verbatim entry from one of my less detailed journals.

"I just kept on pedaling through the small towns, through road construction, on an old concrete slab and brick road built in 1921, resting at small stores and grinding over the hills. The wind came from the side much of the time. From Milton, Florida and west, 90 turned bad for cycling with grass debris all over the shoulder, disappearing shoulders, and large expansion cracks, and a rough surface---very different from the rest of 90 across N. Florida."
April 30, 2007.

[billy50]

April to mid-May are probably fine, but heat in the west and humidity in the east would make me choose another ride for June and July.  I did the S-tier last Mar-May and the weather was great. 

[Westinghouse]

I cycled the southern tier from east coastal Florida to El Paso in April and May of 2007. The trip took thirty days. Not every single day was spent cycling. I remember one day it was 91F in north Florida. That is hot from April and May. It was not that hot every day. It was cooler in El Paso.
I have my journal from that tour with me, so if you want to get some general information about wind, weather, road conditions, traffic, and such, I have it.