It can be magical but it also can be a real pain in the butt...literally. You have to remember less traffic flow equals less money spent to keep the road up. This can give you a very unpleasant ride as a result.

I plan all my trips myself. I'm always looking to go from point A to point B and the points are normal touring routes by a long shot. Last year I got strangely lucky and was riding part of one of the trans route US20 in PA and most of NY. That was by happen stance and not anything else. Half the fun of the trip is the planning of the trip. Finding your own route and rerouting it to be your needs...hilly versus flat, major cities versus avoiding them, certain attractions versus others. By planning your own route you get the full chance to plan YOUR ride not someone elses. Then when you go out and do the ride its YOUR ride because no one else is doing the same route.

Come up with your own challenges. Right now I'm a county hunter. When I plan trips I'm trying to pluck off counties in different states. Most routes only cover a few places...why not make your own route to cover the places that the traditional routes miss. What do you want to see/do. Your the one who counts not anybody else...your the one doing the riding...not anyone else...your the one forming the memories of YOUR ride, not anyone else. What tickles YOUR fancy...not anyone else.

Nothing says you have to stick with highway...nothing says you have to stick to town/county roads. Give both a try and see what YOU like. The biggest thing you have to remember and the way I look at things when I plan a route...highway lead you somewhere, county roads may do nothing but lead into a circle. The better pavement is going to be on heavier travelled roads. I like pavement since I'm riding a true road bike...Specialized Allez Comp. I don't use 700x35 tires, I use 700x25 tires so I'm looking for better pavement conditions. If I was on a mountain bike/mountain bike tires I would be riding on the trails not the roads for sure. I've been seeing some real nice shots taken from some bikepacking trips on youtube and the off road trips have much nicer scenry than the on road trips by far.