My own personal preference is, like others, to make as long a non-stop leg on the Mainland to Hawaii leg as possible. I find the 5-6 hour legs flying East Coast to West Coast and then West Coast to Hawaii too short to get any decent amount of rest/sleep. If the EWR-HNL flight isn't do-able, I will look for other options like connecting through IAD, ORD, ATL, and MSP but I won't go further West into the Mountain or Pacific time zones.