Before I started flying I enjoyed long trips in my car or motor home. I guess I have enjoyed lots of motorized exploring in my life.

When I take a trip in the plane sometimes I just go up and fly randomly but if I am taking a long trip I try to pick out places that are likely to be interesting to me. These are places I have driven to or always wanted to drive to. I make waypoints of these and add them to my route.

One tool I use a lot when planning a trip is Google Earth. You can customize what shows on the map for example; you can “turn on” airports and roads. You can “turn off” the junk you don’t want to see. You can turn on pictures so you can see what others take pictures of (generally from the ground – very few from airplanes). You can see the elevation of things by running the mouse over the map. You can tip the map so you can see mountains in profile. You can plan routes and fly them in advance of the trip.

I “stumbled” on the uranium mine. Sometimes you don’t know what you saw from the air until you get home and look it up.

Steve