Newps wrote:

Don't make this more difficult than it has to be. It doesn't matter
where you live, where the plane is kept, where you get gas. If you take
off and then at some point during the flight land at a point that is
more than 50 miles away that is a cross country.

You're trying to make it simple, but then you say "if you
take off" and then say "at some point during the flight" but
you don't tell me what you think a "flight" is or a "take
off."

Land every 5 miles if
you wish but once you land more than 50 miles from the original point it
becomes a cross country.

And here you refer to the "original point." A "take off"
can't reset the "original point of departure" Staying
overnight can't reset the OPOD. So what does?

Let me rephrase the first question again. I consider my
hangar airport to be my original point of departure for a
multi-day (1 week) XC "flight" in which I just happened to
land and stay at an airport near my home. I flew some time
in that local area more than 50 nm from the hangar airport,
but less than 50 nm from the airport where I tied down for
the week. I considered all that time to be one long flight
more than 50 nm from home, requiring the same skills for
flying there that it took to navigate there from my OPOD at
the hangar airport. Question 1 was: can I log it all as XC
time? If not, why not? Quite honestly, the flying I did
there required far more XC skill than flying 51 nm from my
hangar airport.

I'll rephrase question 2, also. I'm flying from my home to
Oshkosh and fly 300 miles, then land. The next day I want
to fly another 300 miles towards my goal, but weather forces
me to land 25 farther along. I consider the second day to
be part of a single long XC flight to Oshkosh. Should I
(can I) log the 25 mile stretch as XC time? If on day 3 I
have to turn back to the day 2 airport because a front
prevents my continued progess towards Oshkosh, can I (should
I) log that as XC time?

The answer depends on my OPOD, and my question is basically
what is it legal to call an OPOD and what is it not. In
case 1 I had reached a destination (near my home) but hadn't
fulfilled the purpose of the flight or reached my "true
destination" (visiting other airports near my home. In case
2 I was still trying to reach my destination (Oshkosh).

What factors can I use to decide if I should "reset" my
OPOD. We all agree just landing doesn't reset it, and the
FAA says a new day doesn't reset it. Does anything reset
it, or is it entirely up to me? Where do those here think
the reset should occur?

I personally keep different days flights as
seperate but you could count a 10 day trip, flying each day, as one long
cross country trip for logging purposes.

So you'd see it as accepatble to log all the time in both
cases as XC?