First of all, it seems that everyone here has forgotten their manners --
CONGRATULATIONS, Paul! Welcome to the .0005% of the world that gets to fly!

Nah, not necessary. I got enough back-patting over at RAS. But thanks. :-)

As far as flight-planning goes, I'd recommend checking these out:

1. www.Aeroplanner.com has some really great on-line flight planning
stuff -- including the ability to print out sectionals with your course line
and 10-mile-ticks superimposed. They are fabulous on long trips, cuz
they're on notebook-sized paper and you just "flip" from one map to the
next. No "octopus arms" in the cockpit, fighting to fold a sectional!

Now that is cool- I had wondered if such software (that printed
sectionals with routes) was available and figured that it must be. This
I will have to check out.

2. Destination Direct ( www.destdirect.com/ ) is (IMHO) the best stand-alone
PC flight planner. I've used it for years, and was able to flight plan your
trip from Timmerman to Appleton in about five seconds, with fuel burn, ETA,
waypoints, etc.

snip

By the way, where did you train -- Timmerman? I trained in East Troy ten
years ago, and lived in Racine until '97.

Yep, Timmerman. I actually live just over the line into Racine county
right now, on 7 Mile Rd, which I'm sure you remember.

BTW, your establishment is definitely on my list of places to visit at
some point.