I was coming back from Buffalo to Baltimore last night. I spent much of the
day on ADDS, checking weather. It was supposed to be good straight through.
Lots of green dots on the Java METAR display, and the TAFS were benign. Two
calls to FSS, one to the default 1800WXBRIEF, and one to the 866 number to
Leesburg, in part for weather and in part for ADIZ. When I got to the
airport, things were a little different. It looked hazy and overcast.

About 40 miles sourth of Buffalo, the weather deteriorated. It appeared
there was a line of low, showery clouds running from southwest to northeast,
generally following the terrain. The ridge tops were generally visible. I
started heading east, trying to find a slot to head south.

When I got about 20 miles north of Elmira, things got worse. There was now
light rain, and deep gray skies three-quarters of the way around me. There
was a path to the northeast that was relatively clear, so I always figured I
had an out. I called Elmira approach and got their weather. They were good
VFR, despite what I was seeing through the windows. I was low, and looking
through the valleys for routes to get to Elmira, which was the closest
airport which I knew would have weather, services and a place to RON if
necessary.

It was clear I could not fly straight to the airport, since straight ahead
was a ridge shrouded in black. I got flight following, and told ATC I had
to pick my way through the weather to remain VFR. No IFR traffic could
possibly be as low as I was, and I thought that as long as ATC was getting
my return, I should get a heads up on any other aircraft in the vicinity.

By picking up shades of gray, I was able to find a VFR route to Elimira. As
I crossed the last ridge north of the airport, the weather improved to just
haze, so I cancelled my landing and continued south. Elmira was kind enough
to give me a system code for flight following, and I kept that until just
north of Baltimore.

Reflecting back, the thing that helped the most was my Garmin 295. I really
don't think it would have been possible to navigate the way I did without
it. I think I was too low for VORs, and the weather would have made pilotage
very, very difficult. The terrain is uniform and without distinguishing
features. Even reading the chart in dim light, while trying to avoid ridge
tops, would have been a challenge.

The next upgrade will be another GPS, Anywhere Map or something like that
(Yes, I'm working in the instrument ticket). One will run off the AC bus,
and one will run off of freshly recharged Lithium batteries.