Y'All,
I have found that reliance on ATC to get the most economic route out of
the LA Basin is a lost cause. Personally, I like to go tower en route in
smaller bites as direct as I can. It avoids the larger program designed to
fly the little guy around the basin.

Once yoiu are on your wayjust keep asking for amendments. From
Bakersfield or Santa Barbara lthe tower enroute system is a piece of cake.

Supposedly, every facility has a specialist called an 'expediter' who can
get
you what you want. I used it once and all the way through the basin the ATC
guys kept asking me how I was able to get where I was. Seems that
they did not get my kind of hand-off into their space. It seemed to be an
arrival from an unexpected direction and at an unusually low altitude.

Gene Whitrt