I'd agree with this.

One thing I also do myself, is some advance planning but try to keep enough flexibility in my touring days as well. If I've got some great tailwinds I may not want stop at original planned location. With headwinds or extreme heat, it might end up being a shorter day than originally planned. I'd also do this if traveling with someone where we're less certain of what might be done.

As an example, when I cycled from Brownsville to Dallas, in advance I'd looked up what towns had motels and created a google map with those marked on it: http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UT...11c276e818304d
(There might be a few missed but gives the idea).

When I knew there was a larger gap like that of the King Ranch, I planned accordingly. In my case it wasn't too hard since I flew into Brownsville mid-day and so the first day was a half day to ride to one side of the gap, and start of the next day rode across it.

On further days I didn't have one specific place picked out, but instead each morning had a few likely options and would pick from them as the day unfolded. Overall, I had (what turned out to be) two extra days in my schedule by time I got to Dallas which worked well since a rain storm was coming so I rode a bit longer to avoid it.

You've got a year to figure things out and adjust and train. Why does everything need to be such a black and white stark choice now?