A guided tour vs going off by yourself or with another person, will cost roughly $2,000 more for the guided tour, and that is the one where you carry everything which is the least expensive.

I just got off the Adventure Cycling site and something has changed, and it's not for the good. Evidently, ACA will no longer do the unsupported Southern, Northern or Central paved tier route they will only do Van supported Southern tier if you want a cross country paved tour, which means the price is $10,000, which means if you go off by yourself you could save over $5,000.

So, it may come down to costs for you as to which way is best for you. Inflation is driving up the cost of these adventures by a huge margin, so if you want to go the sooner the better, the longer you wait the more it will cost.