John, I spent an idyllic year in San Diego about 40 years ago. Loved it! Then another 2 years in Ventura, right on the beach. Loved that, too. So you can imagine that it surprised the heck out of me to find out that despite having grown up in a city, and lived in several others in glorious and exotic locales, that I'm happiest in this very small town. That it boasts over 300 years of history, and looks out over beautiful water, is substantially in its favor. So is the fact that WalMart is 45 minutes away. There's a little sign at the local airport that says, "Why no, I'm not from here-- but I got here as fast as I could."
As for the instrument ticket, Prof Steingar, it's almost a necessity with this fairly fast airplane and with using it to actually go somewhere faraway and reliably get back. I love VFR flying, yes, even on a dark night, watching the sparkling towns spring into view many miles away. And seat-of-the-pants flying is the best kind there is.
But ya gotta do what ya gotta do, sometimes it's not all clear and a million, and being prepared to do it with as little flailing around as possible seems a reasonable sort of survival mechanism.
