Sounds like you got to visit some cool places. My flight partner was a great pilot and we had a lot of fun during the cross country phase. We worked our Crew Resource Management to the fullest...just like I do now at American Eagle.
Our highlight was our 2 and a half day journey from West to East Coast. From Long Beach we went to ATP Phoenix, El Paso, ATP Dallas, Meridian Mississippi, then stopped at ATP Jacksonville.
CRAZY STORY...On our approach into Jacksonville...Here is what it looked like.
Click to Enlarge
Flight099.jpg
9/16/07
Well we were dipping in and out of clouds the whole time from about 90NM out. It was fun and good IFR practice. As we got a little closer to the airport, Approach Control took us off of the airway and started giving us vectors. The vectors had us heading straight towards more clouds. No big deal right? Well as we got right up on the cloud, my flight partner noticed that the cloud was
GROWING/EXPANDING quickly...
... and he said "I'm not going through that one." Right after that I noticed what he saw and I asked approach for a quick 20 degree turn to the right and he banked the plane and went around it. Thank goodness he noticed it because that would have been one bumpy cloud. That is the first time that I saw a cloud growing right before my eyes.
Well we landed in the morning and the weather got worse as the day progressed and we were stuck in Jacksonville for two extra days because of thunderstorms. Better safe than sorry though.
Again...good luck Steven. Take it easy.