Southeast - Touring! from Gulfport to Key west, Tips and Advice

Hi all,

I have this ambitious idea to do a touring trip from gulfport allll the way to key west (basically following the coastline as close as posible) around mid May this year.

I'm still in my early planning stages ( the idea was conceived i 4 nites ago) but I'm hoping to run it through some locals so far.

starting:
Ocean springs (be here for new orleans jazz fest)>
Dauphin islands>
Ferry to> Fort morgan>
Gulf breeze>
Grayton beach state park>
Apalachicola, FL>
......
Jacksonville, FL>
......
keywest!

Then train from back to NYP (homebase) !!
Basically I'm hoping to follow the coastline until Apalachicola, rough it over to Jacksonville, then take it easy all the way down the coastline to Keywest.

So i'm still fuzzy on a lot of details, but hopfully with your help I could nail out some issues, I have a few questions for those around the areas.


Is mid May a good time to tour?

I plan on couch surfing, but how is camping along highways? (especially around gulf breeze, apalachicola> Jacksonville>keywest, hopfully I could sneak a camp somewhere)

Must see destinations around these areas? (place to stop/ camp? / hot springs?)

ATnT coverage? (i'm geeky with my iphone, but yes i would have hard copy maps:innocent:)

If you have done something similar, I would love to hear your experience.

So thats it, this is all I have for now,

Thank you and thanks again in advance

- f (=*y*=)

Mid May does not leave you much time to plan, but I would suggest you spend as much time on your bike as possible between now and then and when you are not riding spend as much time at this web site. It will answer any questions that you might have.

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/

Thanks Kj, crazy guy is very helpful, I found a few tours that I could piece together to match my route spot on, its definitely a invaluable tool for bike touring.

thanks again.

p.s.
anyone wanna join? ;)