On Aug 9, 10:45*pm, Chris Prince wrote:
I fly cross country here
in the meaty middle (cheesy middle? ) part of the US-- mostly Wisconsin,
often Minnesota, sometimes Iowa, Illinois, South Dakota, Michigan. I often
land off-field (in 50 cross country flights, or attempts, I've landed
off-field on 26 flights).

Something is wrong here. I and those in my club also fly in the soggy
corn-evaporation infested middle of the country, cross country on
every flight. We don't land out half the time. One or two landouts per
year, almost always at airports, is the norm. Unless you're planning
straight-out flights, or trying for absolute longest distance possible
triangles so you're landing out at 7 pm, something is very wrong
here. Wildly excessive aggressiveness? Inefficient thermaling? I
would advise fly with some other people, fly with an instructor, go to
a contest to see what everyone else is doing and get back to a more
normal landout ratio! Buying a newer glider is a great idea too, but
accepting this landout ratio and orienting the new glider purchase
around that doesn't seem like such a good plan

John Cochrane BB