One of the primary reasons for getting my pilot's license was to be able to fly for work. I have a lot of clients in California and Utah. My hope was to be able to shorten my trips by flying rather than driving or going commercial.
This last week I was able to take my first trip to visit a client. My client's office is in San Diego, CA. The trip driving would have taken about 5 hours and commercial airlines would have taken about 3.5 hours considering security and travel from the airport. I was able to complete the trip in about 2.5 hours including driving time to a from the airport. It was also alot simpler because I was able to carry all my tools that I needed on the plane rather than checking them into security.
I took off from HND (Henderson, NV) at 2:00pm on Thursday. It was rather hot outside, but the plane performed really well even with the high density altitude. I opened up my flight plan and got flight following by the time I reached Jean, NV. I got my money's worth from the ride with all the thermals going over the mountainous desert terrain through the NV and CA deserts. It was an amazing change, though, when I went through the Palm Springs/Palm Desert Area. What a beautiful part of California that I have never seen before. It was quite a sight. I landed at RNM (Ramona,CA) at 4pm and my client picked me up and we went right to work.
The next morning, I departed at 8am and landed at HND at 10am. It was a nice flight coming into Vegas in the morning. The air was very smooth and the desert looked amazing in the morning sunlight. I got back with a huge smile on my face.