First long cross country and need opinion

Dang I didn’t get a chance to get my useless 2 cents in. Only thing I would have added was to consider bringing Gatorade along for extended trips at altitude.
 
Terry M - 3CK (Chicago) said:
WAIT - that’s your entire write up? That’s all the detail and emotion you’re planning to share? You can do better!
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It was fairly uneventful. I basically just cruised along. Stopped for fuel and then continued on to Winnemucca. There was very little turbulence and I had a 3kt tailwind for most of the trip. Im making the return trip on Monday
 
jd21476 said:
I am going to fly my first long cross country flight this Friday (or the longest I have done so far) and it will be VFR and solo. I am going to be flying from San Diego to Northern Nevada and returning the same route on Monday. I plan to file a flight plan and to use flight following along the route.

Please let me know if you see any flaws in my trip planning.

I will be flying my 1959 Piper Comanche 180, I am planning on cruising at 135 knots at 10,500.

For fuel, my plane holds 60 gallons and will burn about 9.5 per hour at cruise. Maybe a little less but I am calculating based on those numbers.

My route will be:

KSEE - VPLCP - KWJF - KMHV - KL361 - O26(stop for fuel) - KTMT -KWMC
Total distance is 516 miles and roughly 3.5 hours.

I can probably make the entire trip on one tank of fuel but I want to be conservative on my numbers and to have enough reserve at the end.
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sounds like an exciting first long-distance cross-country solo!

if it were me, I would break it up with at least one fuel stop each way.

A couple of reasons...

You’ll never regret being conservative with your fuel.
Picking out a stopover airport on your route will give you a chance to see your new place, stretch your legs and break up the amount of time you’re over 10,000 feet.
Having a planned stop means that you can know the details of the airport you’ll be stopping at. Runway heading, runway length, weather forecast and fuel prices.

Give yourself lots of extra time and enjoy the ride!
 
No, some of you may have seen my additional post. I went to the airplane on Monday to fly home and the starter broke on the plane. I had to leave it and fly home commercial.
 
jd21476 said:
No, some of you may have seen my additional post. I went to the airplane on Monday to fly home and the starter broke on the plane. I had to leave it and fly home commercial.
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Ahh yes I did see your other post just didn’t realize you are you ... lol. Hope your starter gets fixed soon. On a bright note, these starters are whole lot better than the one you have.
 
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