Originally Posted by TulsaJohn

Things to consider when developing a route (in no particular order): Review each state's bike map (if one exists) for possible routes. Determine what, if anything, special you want to see, i.e. Yellowstone, biggest ball of string, etc. Review each state's Dept of Transportation site for traffic counts (if traffic counts are high, use Google maps' streetview to see if road has a shoulder). Review weather patterns (temps, winds, etc.) via historical data on a site such as WeatherUnderground. Review Google Maps for bike paths and routes (you will need to use streetview to verify if they are an actual route, a path, a trail, etc.). Do a search on on Google maps for appropriate services, i.e. "campgrounds near Tulsa, OK" (not super accurate but a start). Ride your bike between breaks researching. If really anal about it (like me), search state county maps for non-highway routes. Remember that most towns between 200 and 1500 people probably do not have a full-sized grocery store and other services are limited.

Be forewarned, this can be an addictive hobby. I have literally hundreds of routes around the country.

This should get you started. If you are totally open about which route, you might consider buying an atlas and marking routes in color (red = bad route, green = good route) so you can go back and piece together a route if you decide you really do want to see the biggest frying pan on your way to seeing the biggest ball of string. Most routes will be small, i.e. under 50 miles, so you can piece together your own route.

Even though I highly recommend you seek your own path, there is nothing wrong about letting ACA (or others) do the work for you. A big benefit to NOT researchiin depthndepth is that you get surprises of what is ahead.