Last july 4th the wife and I took a trip from Vegas to Louisville Ky.
about 1450 miles each way, it was fun. took us about 9-10 hours of flying
time, I have a turbo arrow and flight plan at 150 KTAS, going into ABQ
for fuel I had a ground speed of around 180 kts on my decent from 12,500
ft, ATC told a 172 that there was a arrow off his left at almost twice his
speed...that felt good to hear
It was great to get out of the desert, in the midwest you can see forever
since its so flat and there are little towns and airports all over the
place. Allot different then this area.

on my planning, I planned 2 fuel stops, one at Albuquerque, Nm's double
eagle and one at Joplin, Mo, I chose airports with cross runways just
incase the winds were to become a problem so I could minimize the x-wind.

some tips on flying through this area, next month its going to get really
warm here, you may want to make sure you plan to fly over Nm, Az and Nv
early in the morning.after noon it can get pretty nasty turbulence wise.



Peter Gibbons wrote:

Received my instrument rating about a year ago, but I haven't managed
to rack up alot of flight hours since then (Im just shy of 200 hours).
I think I've just become bored with flying around the same area all
the time, and I'm really wanting to do something different and
challenging. Plus it would help me to build up the hours I need
before I start the commercial.

So I'm considering making a flight from my home base in Ft. Worth
(KFTW) out to San Diego. I've got a friend that lives out there so it
would be a good excuse to go - plus the fact I think the change of
scenery and the experience itself would definitely be worth it.

I'd be flying a 1978 C-172 that cruises at about 110 KIAS. So I'm
figuring about 10-11 hours travel time each way.

I'm looking to hear from others who have made trips like this and what
advice you might have and/or pitfalls to watch for. Any
recommendations on some cool places to stop or ideas on the best way
to break up the flight segments?