Shouldn't he have some way of getting it though? (well, E.g. 30
minutes down the road rather than 2 hours) ?

Here's my specific example. I file IFR flight plan from Temple TPL to
San Antonio SAT. I take off VFR and head toward SAT. I'm in Gray
approach control's airspace when I take off, but 20 minutes later I'm
no longer in Gray's airspace. I decide I'd like to get my IFR
clearance so I call Houston Center. Should ZHU have a strip on me?
And if not, can they somehow pull it up, to give me a clearance using
that flight plan info?

I *think* the answers to those last two are no and no. But it seems
strange because it's all ZHU airspace, some of which is delegated to
Gray.

--
Cheers,
John Clonts
Temple, Texas
N7NZ