A couple of related questions. You'll want to get your southern
California approach plates out to follow this.

1. The preferred tower-enroute IFR routing from VNY to SNA ends at SLI,
but SLI is not an IAF for any approach into SNA. What should you do if
you lose comm before ATC starts to vector you for an approach?

The second question begins with a background anecdote:

A few weeks ago I flew VNY-CMA. I filed /G, so I assumed (silly me)
that I'd get a GPS approach. The clearance was Canoga 8 departure, VNY,
direct. When ATC told me to fly direct COOGA I realized something was
amiss, as I suddenly had no clue where COOGA was. It wasn't until after
I landed that I figured out I was supposed to be flying the VOR
approach, and that I could have figured that out ahead of time because
VNY is an IAF for the VOR but not the GPS approach (which, oddly, is not
an overlay of the VOR approach, but is offset by six degrees).

Which brings me to my second question:

2. The Canoga 8 departure doesn't go to VNY. The lost comm procedure
says to intercept the LAX 323 radial, then "as assigned." But if I take
that literally, I'd be flying back to VNY along some more or less random
heading (depending on where I intercepted the LAX-323) but almost
certainly pointing in almost the exact wrong direction. Why isn't the
clearance "Canoga 8, COOGA, direct"? And what should I really do if I
lose comm after departure on this clearance?

Thanks,
rg