In article , FLAV8R wrote:

Good point, I am very familiar with Colorado being 50% flat.
What I meant was on one side you have mountains and on the
other side you have a sparse landscape without many lights.
Many people also think that New York state is one big city
of lights, when in actuality the majority (90%) of the state is
farm land and very rural with mountainous terrain that will
reach up and grab you if your not careful.

Last spring I took a friend from Denver to Sidney (Cabelas trip).
During the day, definitely rural and agriculture. Looked absolutely
empty except for the light traffic on I-76, she observed.

We came home in the evening (after dark). Jeanne was completely
amazed at the quantity of lights. Big city lights? No. But there
were no large patches of complete darkness. Gives an new perspective
on the number of people (homes, etc) in "rural America".

I think most states are primarily agricultural with relatively small
urban pockets -- well, not the LA Basin area, but that's another
issue entirely.

Going back to the original discussion of night flying. Out here in
the west, flying at night is the best time in the summer. Too hot
(let's hear it for Density Altitude!) during the day.

Personally, I love flying at night. Among other advantages, it's
much easier to see other aircraft -- gotta love those nav lights.
I do have a personal limitation, tho. I do not fly a route at
night that I haven't flown in day, VFR. Perhaps a bit more limiting,
but to me, the advantage is that I'm (slightly) more familiar with
the area and know where the "outs" are going to be.

And never, never, never, NEVER night flying over the mountains.
If I can't be on the east side of the Rockies by dusk, I park the
aircraft and find a place to sleep until the morning.