On 1 Nov 2006 07:43:53 -0800, "Jay Honeck" wrote:

I still do. The fun of VFR flying, especially low level cross country
flying, is visual navigation. The damned GPS takes all the fun out of
it.

I have friends who think the same. To them, there's nothing more fun
than flying simply by following a road, or taking up a heading and
timing it with a clock.

I guess as a brain exercise this kind of thing is good, but as for it
being "fun" straining to see the next landmark emerging from the murk,
I don't get it. I'd much rather load my destination in my GPS, and
divert as desired to look at stuff en route, without the burden of
trying to figure out precisely where I am (and where I now must go) in
3-dimensional space.

Part of the problem is your being a flatlander. Pilotage in the Pacific
Northwest, where one navigates by islands, bays, rivers, and volcanos, is a lot
easier. To get to Seattle, all you really have to do is find Mount Rainier:

http://www.wanttaja.com/sunrise.JPG (It's the big bump on the right.) When you
get there, turn north-northwest and fly for ~60 miles.

Though in the case shown in the photo, you'd be back-tracking... :-)

Ron Wanttaja