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.

How low were you? What about other VFR traffic that was =not= on flight
following, or was below their radar? What if ATC got busy (not
unexpected when there's weather like that) Flight following is no panacea.

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.

What would you have done if the Garmin quit? (damn, I thought I charged
those batteries!)

This is one of the reasons I practice flying low, on pilotage and dead
reckoning alone. Sometimes the safest thing is to land, but it gives me
a greater margin.

Jose
--
"Never trust anything that can think for itself, if you can't see where
it keeps its brain."
(chapter 10 of book 3 - Harry Potter).
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