VOR-DME writes:

MX knows quite a bit about aviation from a "theoretical" standpoint, but
because he does not actually practice any of it, he doesn't know how it
works. I would not add even 10nm to my route simply out of fear of making a
radio call. I will file, or just fly what works for me, and not go out of my
way unless I have to. Nine times out of ten they give you what you ask for,
exception being the busy Northeast.

If you have a problem with my recommendation of V66, then explain exactly what
is wrong with it. It seems to work for thousands of pilots, so why wouldn't it
work for you?

Yes, you can call Yuma Range Control or whoever and try to get permission to
pass through a dozen different restricted areas, and hope that neither they
nor you screw anything up that might result in a missile coming your way or a
letter from the FAA, but why bother? You'll save only three minutes out of a
ninety-minute flight. Sheesh. What's bad about being prudent and keeping
things simple?

There are no airways over these restricted areas. Why do you think that is?
Perhaps in part because so many of them are continuously active and extend far
above any altitude that you can fly (often 80,000 feet, and at least one has
an unlimited ceiling).

If you look at filed flight plans for the area, you'll see that V66 is
overwhelmingly favored for flights between the Valley of the Sun and the San
Diego area. J2 follows the same path between the restricted areas, and it is
very commonly used by jets, too.

So why do things the hard way, when you can do them the easy way? Just follow
V66 and you're good. It's not rocket science, and you don't have to be Chuck
Yeager or an ATP with 15,000 hours to understand it.

For what it's worth, I've flown that route thousands of times in simulation,
and probably 100 or so times in real life (as a passenger). I also happen to
know that entire region extremely well, both from the air and from the ground.
I therefore know whereof I speak. I would not presume to make recommendations
for other parts of the U.S. with which I'm not familiar, but that route
happens to be one that I know very well indeed.

I am a prudent pilot in simulation, just as I would be in real life. I have no
fear of radio calls; in fact, I fly IFR a great deal and prefer it if the
weather is less than perfect (although it's often quite favorable along V66).
I generally go around restricted areas, rather than try to get permission to
go through them, depending on their schedules, ceilings, distribution, etc. I
know one can sometimes get permission to pass through them, but I'm not in a
rush (people are more likely to die when they're in a rush), and complicating
a flight increases the likelihood of making a mistake. I've called Joshua
occasionally to try to take a shortcut through some of those pesky areas
around Edwards AFB and China Lake (which I was granted), but that was mostly
just curiosity. Slow and safe is best.