On 4/9/2007 10:48:08 PM, "Travis Marlatte" wrote:

- Chicago Center: Lake 3094P. Chicago Center. Squawk 3143 and I'll look
it up.

The other two posters already addressed your clearance limit and altitude,
but regarding the above, let me just add that I will often pick up a
pre-filed IFR clearance in the air when departing a non-towered airport if
the weather is good VFR at both the departing airport and first 20 miles or
so en route.

In almost all cases, the controller will immediately respond to my request
with a squawk code before finding my clearance, as you experienced. This
tactic is pretty common, at least in the Northeast US and I presume that the
controller is doing this to immediately identify me on his/her scope.

This experience of yours is the classic example of how often theory (CRAFT in
that neat order) will differ from reality and the only way to become
comfortable with these numerous deviations from theory is to fly IFR often.

--
Peter