From Jacksonville to the West Coast

[steelhorserider]

Dear Like-minded People,

Me and a friend are going from American East Coast to the West Coast. There are a lot of questions to be asked, but I would like to focus on a couple of them.

Any advice on where in Jacksonville to buy a touring bike? (We are flying to Miami, so we could solve it there to)
Other advice on where to buy gear? - we plan to buy most things (carrier bags, spare tools etc) after arrival.

We are doing it april - july and have two different routes to choose from
1. along the southern coast, austin, touching the mexican coast, and towards LA
2. starting more or less the same, when reaching western Alabama starting going north-west against Colorado (are there any good roads in this area? I am asking since aca does not show any (http://www.adventurecycling.org/routes/RouteNetwork.pdf)) After reaching the southern parts of Colorado and Rocky Mountains, passing Grand Canyon and through Nevada towards LA.
The two routes are pretty much equally long.

Opinions? (regarding temperature, most interesting route, road quality on the two alternatives, etc.)

We have got tent and portable kitchen with us.

Any other advice are most welcome,
Thank you

 

[steelhorserider]

We plan to spend between 500 and 800 dollars on the bike. Specific features on the bike and brands, models we should look at?

 

[Gravity Aided]

It can be miserably hot and humid in the Southern U.S. during the summer, but this moderates near the coast. Replaced by humidity. Prevailing winds blow west to east, so you'll be fighting some headwinds.
(Mind the weather. Get a portable weather radio.
Tornados and hail occur in the South,
Midwest and Great Plains during those months.
I don't want to be off-putting, just read up on these
phenomena. If you haven't already.)