So I noticed you mentioned that you want to go to El Paso, St Louis, or Memphis...
As I have no personal experience with those cities, I have heard they are not much better than Little Rock...
You should rethink where you would like to end up....there are much better places in the east than those....
Also, as others have said, know what you are doing before you dive headfirst into a long distance walk/bike trip.
Hitchhiking isint that bad, but I'd recommend having a road dawg with you if it is your first few times. Dont write off hitching.
Like
@Dameon said, might be better to just spange/work up a bus/plane ticket.