316.271 Horns and warning devices.
…
(3) The driver of a motor vehicle shall, WHEN REASONABLY NECESSARY TO ENSURE SAFE OPERATION, give audible warning with his or her horn, but SHALL NOT OTHERWISE USE SUCH HORN WHEN UPON A HIGHWAY.

(Capital letters mine, used where reasonably necessary for safe operation of this blog comment.)

In any interaction with motorists, I think I would take the legal offensive, or say nothing at all. Don’t bother defending your rights, point out that they are breaking the law by honking at you. Read them the number. Bonus if you can convince your local police department to put some unmarked cops on unmarked bikes to enforce that law.

Modern cars have extremely loud horns because modern cars have very good acoustical baffling in their passenger compartments. There is no ‘inside voice’ for car horns. It scares the crap out of me every time someone honks, even if they intend to be helpful.

You have a right to the lane. That said, when I’m riding my bike and I hear someone driving up behind me I usually pull to the side and wave them by. It’s almost always appreciated, especially on winding roads where there’s nowhere to pass safely.

There is no real answer in education or tolerance or any of that. The real answer is expensive and will take a long time to come to fruition. The truth is that our road networks have been built for cars, period. Especially in the newer communities your are expected to drive or walk. Bicycles are a third way, one which most of our transportation planners have never thought about seriously. That must and will change, but it’s gonna take a long time. And it’s gonna cost a lot of money, so that will make it take even longer.

I’m glad you’re putting your experiences out there. It’s great what you’re doing and it’s the only way to effect change over the long term. Family by family, we can and we will change our communities. Bicycling for transportation is here to stay; we have to keep reminding everyone that we belong and that we are the answer to a lot of vexing questions that plague out modern lives.

I guess our route is not entirely on the trail, but it is pretty close minus a few miles on roads to connect from one trail to the other. We took the Cady Way Trail to Cross Seminole Trail to Wekiva Trail.