Coast to coast trip suggestions?

Hi,

I'm going in two weeks for fly&tour&camp vacations. I planned to fly
from San Diego to Florida and back, using different routes both ways.

At first I wanted to go counterclockwise, but then after reading
different comments decided to go in other direction, going through
Grand Canyon and surroundings in April, and going back over flatlands
later. It's also suggested in "Americas Weather" to go that way.

I created page with map and planned route on my web site:
http://vyx.net/~philz/coast2coast

Of course, I plan to adjust it on the way depending on weather and
last minute ideas ;-)

I'll go together with my girlfriend, and we plan to camp near airports
- used AOPA airport directory to find out where they are. Still, I
don't know what should I expect from "camping on field". It would be
probably wise to call all of those airports just after arriving to USA
(I'm from Poland).

I hope to have great time, and see quite a lot of US National Parks.
Still, maybye you have some suggestions what could/should be included
in such trip?

Or general comments, after all I'm quite a "fresh" pilot - one of
outcomes of this trip should be getting enough experience and
crosscountry time to be able to start IFR training, maybye next year.

Thanks,
--
Filip Zawadiak
PP-ASEL 67hr, and counting
http://vyx.net/~philz

What type of equipment? I would have different suggestions if you're flying
a Cub or a 171 than if you're flying a turbonormalized Bonanza.


"Filip Zawadiak" wrote in message
om...
Hi,

I'm going in two weeks for fly&tour&camp vacations. I planned to fly
from San Diego to Florida and back, using different routes both ways.

At first I wanted to go counterclockwise, but then after reading
different comments decided to go in other direction, going through
Grand Canyon and surroundings in April, and going back over flatlands
later. It's also suggested in "Americas Weather" to go that way.

I created page with map and planned route on my web site:
http://vyx.net/~philz/coast2coast

Of course, I plan to adjust it on the way depending on weather and
last minute ideas ;-)

I'll go together with my girlfriend, and we plan to camp near airports
- used AOPA airport directory to find out where they are. Still, I
don't know what should I expect from "camping on field". It would be
probably wise to call all of those airports just after arriving to USA
(I'm from Poland).

I hope to have great time, and see quite a lot of US National Parks.
Still, maybye you have some suggestions what could/should be included
in such trip?

Or general comments, after all I'm quite a "fresh" pilot - one of
outcomes of this trip should be getting enough experience and
crosscountry time to be able to start IFR training, maybye next year.

Thanks,
--
Filip Zawadiak
PP-ASEL 67hr, and counting
http://vyx.net/~philz

"Tom Sixkiller" wrote in message ...
What type of equipment? I would have different suggestions if you're flying
a Cub or a 171 than if you're flying a turbonormalized Bonanza.

Right, kind of important... :-)

I plan to fly in Cessna 172, and have 4 weeks for whole trip. At least
before rebooking return flight to home...

Thanks,
--
Filip Zawadiak
PP-ASEL 67hr, and counting
http://vyx.net/~philz

If you are going to camp, stay away from medium/bigcity airports. Call
ahead to check.
If it has airline service, you will not be allowed to camp due to
security issues.

Filip Zawadiak wrote:
Or general comments, after all I'm quite a "fresh" pilot - one of
outcomes of this trip should be getting enough experience and
crosscountry time to be able to start IFR training, maybye next year.

jsmith wrote in message ...
If you are going to camp, stay away from medium/bigcity airports. Call
ahead to check.
If it has airline service, you will not be allowed to camp due to
security issues.

I agree that larger airports would probably not be desirable for
camping, but I don't think there is a general ban on camping at
airports with airline service. Some smaller airports with airline
service do allow camping.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

John Galban wrote:

I agree that larger airports would probably not be desirable for
camping, but I don't think there is a general ban on camping at
airports with airline service. Some smaller airports with airline
service do allow camping.

The County dickheads at Bryce Canyon BCE used the fact that they
have one commercial flight per day to justify imposing a general
ban on camping at airport. The real reason is that Ruby's Inn
wants to rent you a motel room and is in cahoots with the County.
You cant have the County "competing" with private enterprize, thus
saith the Republicans...

MikeM

It is a pity that you will only get to see about a tenth of what the USA is all
about.

Come next year in late July early August and we'll caravan you from San
Francisco to Oshkosh and back. Now THAT will let you see a lot of the
countryside.

Jim
Jim Weir (A&P/IA, CFI, & other good alphabet soup)
VP Eng RST Pres. Cyberchapter EAA Tech. Counselor
http://www.rst-engr.com

(Filip Zawadiak) wrote in message . com...
Hi,

I'm going in two weeks for fly&tour&camp vacations. I planned to fly
from San Diego to Florida and back, using different routes both ways.

At first I wanted to go counterclockwise, but then after reading
different comments decided to go in other direction, going through
Grand Canyon and surroundings in April, and going back over flatlands
later. It's also suggested in "Americas Weather" to go that way.

I created page with map and planned route on my web site:
http://vyx.net/~philz/coast2coast

Of course, I plan to adjust it on the way depending on weather and
last minute ideas ;-)

I'll go together with my girlfriend, and we plan to camp near airports
- used AOPA airport directory to find out where they are. Still, I
don't know what should I expect from "camping on field". It would be
probably wise to call all of those airports just after arriving to USA
(I'm from Poland).

I hope to have great time, and see quite a lot of US National Parks.
Still, maybye you have some suggestions what could/should be included
in such trip?

Or general comments, after all I'm quite a "fresh" pilot - one of
outcomes of this trip should be getting enough experience and
crosscountry time to be able to start IFR training, maybye next year.

Thanks,

You may want to consider scheduling more time. Consider that even one
weather event that requires IFR could ground you for day(s). You don't
want to feel rushed; good luck!

In article ,
Filip Zawadiak wrote:
I created page with map and planned route on my web site:
http://vyx.net/~philz/coast2coast

I'm no Texas expert, but you sure are flying across a lot of nothing
there. You might see how it affects the trip length to angle south
and pick up the coast sooner (assuming counterclockwise). Plus then
you can visit the Johnson Space Center in Houston!

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

"Ben Jackson" wrote:
I'm no Texas expert,

Truly.