A recommendation if you want real IMC time, even though it might not be
convenient...

Find a good CFII on the West coast, the LA area. Almost every morning
there is a nice marine layer and you can often fly many approaches down
to minimums. You also get the advantage of working the IFR system in
extremely dense airspace, with some of the most professional
controllers in the nation. Filing is simplified by the TEC (Tower
Enroute Clearance) arrangment, you can file from one tower controlled
airport to another, which greatly reduces wait times.

Try Van Nuys, Santa Barbara, Oxnard, Santa Monica, Oceanside, and you
can usually get an ILS into LAX or SAN, a real thrill if you haven't
done it before.

There is nothing to replace real IMC experience, be very careful about
poking into IMC alone with a fresh instrument rating... We know of an
associate pilot who with a one week old ticket filed IFR from Blythe,
CA to LAX, in a PA28, but since there was a two hour hold expected for
LAX, they gave him the LOC only approach into Hawthorne. 010OVC, and
2SM sounds like cake when you're studying chart minimums, but if you
never had to keep the plane upright at the same time, it is enough to
make you want to climb back out of that cloud layer to where you can
see a real horizon. Long (unsolicited) story short, that pilot (ahem!)
did break out where he should have and plopped her down on the numbers.
Shaking.



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