I brought up the predetermined route idea with west texas in mind, where the towns are pretty spread out, and there really isn't much to see. I suspect that if I do this tour, west texas going into new mexico are going to be the most boring and challenging in terms of planning and 'survival'. So with that, my intention is to simply find the fast ways to go from town to town, which I think is important, especially if I want to be getting responses from warmshowers.