Update ...

Tuesday had good weather so I flew my "Long Solo Cross Country".  I went to Bakersfield, Santa Maria, and back (160mile trip).  It was an eventful Journey.

Leaving Burbank I flew North past Valencia (and CalArts) and over the grapevine... while over the grapevine at 8500' (approx. 3000' AGL) I could see the Desert to my right, The Valleys to the Ocean on my left, and the HUGE Flat central CA valley in front... It was quite a site.  About 1/2 way over the grapevine LA Center called to inform me that my transponder (The thing that tells them my altitude and callsign) was malfunctioning... At their request I cycled it a few times before giving up.  This is not an immediate problem, but without a transponder, I can't fly into the LA area (LAX Airspace) including Burbank... My plan was to continue on to Bakersfield and Santa Maria with flight following (they can see me on radar... but they don't know my altitude - so they would have to ask me every once in while what altitude I am at)... Once at Santa Maria I would call the Co-op for instructions... (probably meet them 1/2 way in Camarillo, switch planes and fly back to BUR... no big deal).  By the time I formulated the plan, LA Center informed me that the transponder seemed to be operational again... and that was that (worked the rest of the flight).

Landed in Bakersfield without incident, turned around and took off for my next leg to Santa Maria.  Nothing exciting here... I flew over the mountains towards the coast... very few landmarks... not much to see, came into Santa Maria without incident.  At Santa Maria, I decided to taxi to parking and get some lunch for me and some fuel for the plane.  Before I was out of the plane, a fuel buzzard honed in and started refueling.  While eating I noticed a few clouds moving in... this was bad since I have pretty strong restrictions on flying near clouds (I have to keep a clearance of 2000' horizontal, 1000' above, 500' below the clouds).

I returned to parking, and got a new weather report for my route: "VFR conditions, few clouds at 8000' (I don't need to go that high this time since my planned altitude was 5500'), winds variable"  All in all, OK. 

Head out to the plane and get clearance for a left down wind departure (left turn to my course)... as I begin my turn... the clouds turn out to be much lower (4000') and overcast on the half of the sky I need to fly through!!! (can't do that)... I get permission to overfly the airport and then begin the improvisation... I can't climb to my altitude because I would have to fly through clouds... and I can't fly my planned course because  the mountains meet the clouds... so I fly at 1500' AGL and 1500' below the clouds towards the blue sky (west instead of south).. .finally the clouds are broken and there is a BIG hole in the clouds (through a valley basin)... my barnstorming moment has passed and I begin my climb out, and turn back on course... once above that layer of clouds I look dead ahead... more BIG fluffy clouds (cumulous).  Can't fly over these (they extent way past 13000'... must find spaces between the shafts of white... large enough for me to pass... I'm also getting concerned about flying over them (since they are cumulous, and have a tendency to grow straight up... I don't want to scrape above them... I want to be WAY above them... so I get clearance to climb to 9500' (about 2000' above the tops I want to pass over).  I now notice that the clouds are located only over mountain ranges... so I check my map for the valleys, and plan how I'm going to get to Burbank... indirectly.  Meanwhile... I still have to make it across one last mountain range (near Santa Barbara)... I see a canyon in the clouds certainly big enough for me, and head for it... this will take me even further west of my intended course.  As I near the canyon, SOCAL informs me that there is another aircraft - same altitude, same direction following me at about 1 mile... I do a little S turn to see him... obviously they are doing the same thing I'm doing (avoiding the clouds)... Turns out this guy will shadow me all the way to Burbank...

I fly back east through this valley and navigate another canyon of clouds (the last one before Simi Valley where I HAVE to start my decent from 9500'! I check the ATIS for Burbank... Clear skies, 20mi vis, winds calm... hmmm.  I make it to Simi valley and much to my chagrin... more clouds.  I decide to slow up, do most of my decent through Simi valley (down to 3500' - just enough to make it over the Simi pass into THE valley, and low enough to stay 500' below the clouds).

I call SOCAL with my intentions... they inform me there are now TWO planes behind me doing THE SAME THING!!!!  SOCAL catches on to the whole  weather thing, and transfers all of us to the same controller... once we are all on frequency we get briefed together...

...we are all clear to Burbank RNWY 15 and clear to descend below 3000', staying south of the 5... that should keep us away from the weather...

One of the planes was faster then me... so he passed off to my left, and I followed him the rest of the way to Burbank.  The ATIS was correct... over the airport it was clear and good visibility... the surrounding mountains were a different story!!!  Just goes to show you... there is more to weather then the reporting stations... If I was just a bit more experienced I would have filed an all important Pilot report on the weather for others... Inspiration for my instrument rating.

Once on the ground a big sigh of relief... A look at my watch revealed only a 15 min delay due to the weather... I guess I made the right decisions concerning my course!!!!

That was the last milestone until the checkride... now I do a bunch of flying to the practice area, and studying in preperation for my checkride next Wednesday... (scary music here)

Peter