Flexibility is practically zero. I have a set time off and it's just enough to squeeze the ride in provided that I start near the Bay Area and keep the distance reasonable. I do plan on doing a northern route in the future, but that will have to wait until 2017.

Heat and humidity doesn't bother me as much as it bothers the average person, so I can see why people are so caught up on that.

I did consider E-W, but it will actually save me time if I start on the W.

My overall suggestion would be to start somewhere further north and end somewhere further north, from both a scenery and climate standpoint. Or do a north-south, or south-north route. (My own longest tours in North America have been north-south & south-north.) But since I still don't know what your motivations are and whether it's absolutely essential to you that you ride eastward to reach the Atlantic Ocean, it's less likely that I can give you suggestions which might be helpful for you.

I've been across Tennessee but only was in northern Mississippi and northern Alabama, not the central parts. But from what I saw, Tennessee was more scenic than northern MS/AL. But scenic may not be relevant to you, though you haven't said anything one way or another about that. If the end-point has to be in the SE, I'd aim for Savannah, which is perhaps the prettiest town in the South (along with Charleston, SC).

As for southern Colorado vs. northern NM, there are nice areas in both. Overall, I found southern CO more scenic, and northern NM more interesting from a cultural standpoint. But once again, both of those attributes may not be relevant to you, but I can't be sure unless you tell us.

dangitall, hyperbole doesn't seem to translate via the intertubes!

sure, it's op's ride, but op asked for advice without giving much information. well, i gave
advice. if he likes it, groovy, if not, that's equally groovy.

we know he wants to start within 6 hours drive (250 miles or so) of reno, assuming
that's home. nevada....cool ride.

we know he wants to end up near-ish to jacksonville airport. don't know why, and don't
know if 6 hour drive or couple hours on a train/bus will ruin the plan.

we also know he wants to do 3000 miles. no telling why either. maybe he's planning on
doing 30 centuries back-to-back.

the route he chose (other than the first 1/3) seems awfully dreary.

op asked "What do you guys think of this route?" and then said "I'm not 100% set on
the start and finish location if there are better options."

so there. what do i think? definitely, infinitely, better options for a 3000-mile ride.

West-East is what I'm looking for.

As for what I want, the main goal is safe roads: low traffic density or shoulders. Scenery is in the eye of the beholder. For example, I took a trip to ND once and people thought I was crazy, but I really enjoyed it there. It was different from what I was used to riding, and that was enough for me. I wouldn't want to live there, but it's beautiful in its own way. Same goes for KS. Most people think of it as boring, but I didn't feel that way about it. I've ben to MS and GA multiple times and I don't see anything boring about them.

So the priorities are: safe roads, low traffic density, avoiding major cities. I'm more of a cyclist than a tourist. It's mainly about the ride for me.

Pretty simple: time is limited. Starting in the Bay Area saves me a day of driving to San Diego or Oregon, for example. Tie is limited, so 3,000 miles keeps me at a comfortable mileage per day range. If I start getting up to 3,100/3,200 miles, it gets iffy.

Jacksonville airport isn't necessary. Any airport will do. Looking closer, it seems easy to finish near an airport on the east coast, so options are open. Originally I was shooting for VA beach, but mileage gets high on that route.

What are your better options? Throw them out there.

stinky sez skip the eastern half, enjoy the southwest.

y'all could even end up someplace where you could catch
an amtrak back. you got a twice-weekly run that stops
at some towns along hwy 90 in southwest texas. (check
first, some are no-baggage-car-open stops.

Hard to generalize but will do it anyways. In my experience, I've found more shoulders in northern US than south - and more in western US than east. Hence, when I pick a route going through the western US, I'm more inclined to pick a major US highway that stays away from largest cities and end up with either some shoulders or at least lower traffic. In addition, in west there are fewer roads to pick from.

When I tried using similar techniques further east (e.g. TN, MS, OH) then I more often ran into different combination:
- largest roads were fairly direct, but often didn't have good shoulders - and more traffic
- smaller roads had less traffic, but less likely to be as direct and still didn't have as many shoulders
So thinking from perspective of your preferences listed above, I'd either see if someone from southeastern states is familiar with these specific roads - or at least do some random sampling with google street view.

That was the whole point of this thread in the first place! I'm not sure why it went into the weird direction it did. I think I'll break it up state-by-state and go to the regional forums.

ACA routes ,Northern Tier - Louis and Clark has a few east coasters dipping their Tire in the surf at Sunset Beach Not far from Ft Clatsop where they spent winter in 1805.


Lewis and Clark National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) Lewis and Clark Expedition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

They spent the next year going back East to the Mississippi , again.. 1806

In case anyone is interested, I ended up doing a route that was very similar to the one I originally posted and I was very happy with it.

As expected, the first 1/3rd was great. As far as the New Mexico vs. Colorado debate goes, I ended up going through New Mexico and was happy with that decision. I've never ridden in southern Colorado, so I can't say that the New Mexico portion was better. However, I do know that the scenery in New Mexico was great and Day 10 from Chama, NM to Eagle Nest, NM was one of my favorite days of the entire ride.

The route through Texas was good with almost 100% of it having a shoulder. From Oklahoma to the Atlantic Ocean is where the routing gets tricky. It's difficult to find shoulders out there and it seemed like half of the shoulders that did exist were rendered useless by rumble strips. This is where you have to strike a balance between riding a straight line from town to town vs. adding mileage and riding on lower-traffic roads. I did a decent job at it. There were only two days where I was unhappy with the route and wished I had avoided the highway a little more.

Now that it's all said and done, I am very happy with the route and would recommend it to anybody who is looking for an alternative to Adventure Cycling's routes.

Petoji.net has all the details.

Ahh, a website is what you were after. Could've said that upfront.

Regardless, congrats on grinding out a hot & fast cross country tour.

What's the etymology of "petoji"?

From the "About" section of the site:

Petoji is a bicycle ride across America in 2015. The ride starts in Pescadero, CA and finishes in Jekyll Island, GA (Petoji = PEscadero TO Jekyll Island).

Congrats!

Very impressive --> 130 miles per day average. Nice work