The trip started from "Sun and Fun" in Lakeland, Florida. The intention was that, following only the borders and coastline, Dave would fly West along the coast of Florida, Louisiana, and the Texas, New Mexico and Arizona /Mexican borders and on to the west coast. Joining the west coast at San Diego he would then head north along the coasts of California, Oregon and Washington and on to the Canadian border at Vancouver. Following the Canadian/USA border east the planned route then would take him through Washington, Montana, North Dakota and Minnesota and on to the Great Lakes. Following the Lakes on the American side his flight path was to have been Chicago, Detroit, Niagara through New York, Vermont and Maine joining the East coast at St Andrews, Maine. Heading south he then planned to follow the coastline of all the states of the eastern seaboard passing through Boston, New York, Philadelphia and Washington Dc, along the coast of North / South Carolina and Georgia and on to the start point at Florida.

In fact, Dave's route was curtailed somewhat by events - but it was still a worthwhile achievement, and it's worth a browse through these pages to see what an ordinary guy in a flexwing can do if he puts his mind to it.

This was a planned journey of approximately 10,000 miles, possibly more whenthe requirements of avoiding restricted airspace and bad weather are taken into account. Dave planned to fly mostly in the early morning and late evening to avoid the worst of the summer heat turbulence. The journey involves flying over some of the world's most inhospitable areas including the deserts of Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, the Rocky Mountains [twice], plus vast areas of forest in the North.

(In the event, Dave avoided the Rockies - but read on).

Apart from the standard aircraft instrumentation Dave carried a GPS [Global Positioning System] programmed with the latest U.S database and of course radio and a full set of aviation charts. On the back seat was be a rucksack containing lightweight camping equipment such as tent, sleeping bag, stove, food and water. He planned to stay at a local airfield motel once a week to clean up and wash clothes.