Originally Posted by lighthorse
dohoco,
I do not know where you live but this is a route I rode three year ago.
I took US 98 from Pensacola to Santa Rosa Beach which was a good ride with reasonable roads and traffic. Then I turned left onto US 331 to De Funiak Springs and joined US 90. 90 is a great road for cycling and I followed it into Tallahassee. Crossing Tallahassee is easy if you do it early on a Sunday morning. Follow US 27 out of Tallahassee to Chiefland, Bronson, Williston, and Ocala. That part of the route is good riding. From Ocala I followed 27 Leesburg and then went east to Mount Dora, Sanford and Mimms.
The route from about Lady Lake to Mount Dora was not a good bicycle route. But then I was using AAA maps and had no local knowledge.
I rated my miles on route 90 to be the best leg of the route across the US. Tallahassee to Ocala was a close second. The leg from Lady Lake to Sanford was the most frustrating and least friendly leg of my entire trip. I got run off of the road 3 or 4 times and ended up walking for several miles.
If you don't have to go to Orlando I recommend you take route 40 east out of Ocala and end up on the east coast to end your ride.
Good Luck
Thanks for replying Lighthorse. My main concern was getting around Tallahassee, and going across the Northern part of Apalachicola National Forest still intrigues me, and stopping at Wakulla. Did you have good camping, or motel experience? I would end trip at Leesburg, but hopefully avoid your Lady Lake frustration, especially with their recent tornado damage. Maybe go down to Crystal River on Hwy 98 and go east on State Hwy 44.