The Roads Less Traveled series is a trip down America’s back roads - the US Highways, border to border, coast to coast. Each of these group flights includes virtual tourism and a narrated history of the area through which we fly. In order to get the ”cruisin’ down the highway” perspective, we fly low and follow the roads. We will use real-world weather until we can’t maintain VFR; ATC procedures and airspace are mostly ignored so we can focus on adventure, discovery, and fun, while still doing pilot stuff!
Every Wednesday at 7p PT/10p ET/0300z (0200z during DST)
Highways to date:
- Season1 - August-October 2022: US-1 northbound from Key West, FL to Fort Kent, ME in the V35 Bonanza
- Season 2 - October-December 2022: US-50 eastbound from Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, MD in the Cessna 337
- Season 3 - January-February 2023: US-95 southbound from Bonners Ferry, ID to Yuma, AZ in the Kodiak 100
- Season 4 - March-April 2023: US-90 eastbound from Van Horn, TX to Jacksonville, FL in the AT-6 Texan
- Season 5 - April-May 2023: US-41 northbound from Miami, FL to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in the Cessna 310
- Season 6 - June-July 2023: US-2 westbound from Houlton, ME to Everett, WA with a special portage through Canada in the DHC-2 Beaver
- Season 7 - Oct-Dec 2023: US-101 southbound from Olympia, WA to Los Angeles, CA in the Cessna 170
- Season 8 - Mar-Apr 2024: US-93 northbound from Wickenburg, AZ to Eureka, MT in the P-38 Lightning
For those more interested in realistic flying with full flight planning and ATC, I lead those on Friday evenings at 7p/10e.
Twitch Channel: Charlie Foxtrot’s Twitch Channel
Discord: https://discord.gg/WnfYttjb2s
YouTube (for VODs of past routes - through season 2 only - backlog will eventually be posted): https://youtube.com/@CharlieFoxtrot00
About the host: Charlie Foxtrot is a certificated commercial pilot in airplane single-engine land and multi-engine land class, along with an instrument rating - airplane. He loves history, geography, weather, sports, aviation, music, and movies. When he’s not working or flying, he performs music with one of several groups.
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Will you please also post the .pln flight plans files?
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I’ll have to try and join you for a flight sometime 
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I will work on that - they follow the highway pretty closely, so I have to figure out how granular to make them so they’re optimized for the sim.
That would be great! The next highway starts on January 4th. I’ll still be flying non-planned flights on Wednesdays and Fridays until then.
The Roads Less Traveled Season 1
US Highway 1 Northbound from Key West, FL to Fort Kent, ME
Aircraft: Carenado V35B Bonanza
Legs:
- Day 1 - 8/31/22 Key West, FL to Titusville, FL (with detour through Kennedy Space Center)
- Day 2 - 9/7/22 Titusville, FL to Baxley, GA
- Day 3 - 9/14/22 Baxley, GA to Cheraw, SC
- Day 4 - 9/21/22 Cheraw, SC to Fredericksburg, VA
- Day 5 - 9/28/22 Fredericksburg, VA to New Garden, PA
- Day 6 - 9/30/22 New Garden, PA to Groton, CT (with detour through New York City)
- Day 7 - 10/5/22 Groton, CT to Belfast, ME
- Day 8 - 10/12/22 Belfast, ME to Fort Kent, ME (with detour through Acadia NP)
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The VOD from leg 6 of our US-50 trip starts in Emporia, KS (KEMP) and includes a tour of the southern parts of Kansas City, plus some former and current military sites, before laying up outside St. Louis (KCPS).
Here is the simplified flight plan. Note that it mostly outlines the primary course, but may not include any of our “detours” and the intermediate airports do not necessarily reflect the airports we visit. The highway is the guide!
US-50 Leg 6.pln (3.4 KB)
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I’ve started posting some of the flight plans, as requested. Will finish populating the US-50 series as the evening progresses.
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Leg 7 of our US-50 trip begins with a tour of St. Louis (from KCPS), crosses the Mississippi River and continues on through Southern Illinois and Indiana, again discussing westward expansion as cultures collided in the Northwest Territory. The flight ends as the landscape shifts to the Ohio River Valley and we end just short of downtown Cincinnati (at I67).
Here is the simplified flight plan. Note that it mostly outlines the primary course, but may not include any of our “detours” and the intermediate airports do not necessarily reflect the airports we visit. The highway is the guide!
US-50 Leg 7.pln (2.6 KB)
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The US-50 trip continues on Leg 8, beginning in Cincinnati (I67), touring the Queen City and heading further into Ohio before beginning a climb into the Appalachians of West Virginia. Along the way we discuss the effect of industry on the people who live along the Ohio River and the importance of the railroad to both combatants of the US Civil War, ending the day with a soft-field mountain-strip landing in Romney, WV (WV06).
Here is the simplified flight plan. Note that it mostly outlines the primary course, but may not include any of our “detours” and the intermediate airports do not necessarily reflect the airports we visit. The highway is the guide!
US-50 Leg 8.pln (3.4 KB)
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The US-50 tour wraps up with Leg 9 as we make a harrowing soft and short-field departure from Romney, WV (WV06) and immediately begin to discover how the geography of the Appalachians played into several key Civil War battles. The strategic importance of this geography becomes more apparent as we enter Washington DC. There, we put eyes on the famous landmarks of the Capitol Mall before we cross the Chesapeake Bay and enter the Tidewater of the Delmarva peninsula and onward to the destination, the end of US 50 at Ocean City, Maryland (KOXB).
Here is the simplified flight plan. Note that it mostly outlines the primary course, but may not include any of our “detours” and the intermediate airports do not necessarily reflect the airports we visit. The highway is the guide!
US-50 Leg 9.pln (4.0 KB)
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The Roads Less Traveled Season 2
US Highway 50 Eastbound from West Sacramento, CA to Ocean City, MD
Aircraft: Carenado Cessna 337 Skymaster
Legs:
- Day 1 - 10/26/22 Sacramento, CA to Austin, NV
- Day 2 - 11/2/22 Austin, NV to Salida, UT
- Day 3 - 11/9/22 Salida, UT to Montrose, CO
- Day 4 - 11/16/22 Montrose, CO to Lamar, CO
- Day 5 - 11/23/22 Lamar, CO to Emporia, KS
- Day 6 - 11/30/22 Emporia, KS to St. Louis, MO
- Day 7 - 12/7/22 St. Louis, MO to Cincinnati, OH
- Day 8 - 12/14/22 Cincinnati, OH to Romney, WV
- Day 9 - 12/21/22 Romney, WV to Ocean City, MD
Hey, we had an absolute blast last night, so if you missed it, here ya go:
Now that the cat is out of the bag, the newest chapter is following US Highway 95 from the Canadian border southbound. It will eventually go through Las Vegas on the way to its southern terminus at the Mexican border just outside Yuma, AZ.
Since this chapter originated near Sandpoint, ID, the home of Quest Aircraft (owned by Daher since 2017), we have chosen to fly the Kodiak for this run. With the Kodiak’s extreme STOL capabilities, this chapter will have some extra focus on short-field landings on unimproved strips (bush flying!) along with the normal tour.
Check out the landing competition at the end of the flight between myself and Chunkyflyer - starting at about the 3:00:00 mark. It doesn’t get closer than that!
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Here is the simplified flight plan for US-95, Day 1.
US95-Day1.pln (5.9 KB)
The Roads Less Traveled Season 3
US Highway 95 Southbound from Bonners Ferry, ID, to Yuma, AZ
Wednesday nights at 7p/10e (02z +1) on Twitch
Aircraft: SWS Kodiak 100
Legs:
- Day 1 - 1/4/23 Bonners Ferry, ID to Pullman, WA
- Day 2 - 1/11/23 Pullman, WA to Homedale, ID
- Day 3 - 1/18/23 Homedale, ID to Lovelock, NV
- Day 4 - 1/25/23 Lovelock, NV to Beatty, NV (detour through Tonopah Test Range and Nellis Range)
- Day 5 - 2/1/23 Beatty, NV to North Las Vegas, NV (detour through Nevada Test Site and Area 51)
- Day 6 - 2/8/23 North Las Vegas, NV to Yuma, AZ
The Roads Less Traveled Season 4
US Highway 90 Eastbound from Van Horn, TX to Jacksonville, FL
Aircraft: Asobo T-6 Texan
Legs:
- Day 1 - 2/22/23 Van Horn, TX to Del Rio, TX
- Day 2 - 3/1/23 Del Rio, TX to Columbus, TX
- Day 3 - 3/8/23 Columbus, TX to New Iberia, LA
- Day 4 - 3/15/23 New Iberia, LA to Pensacola, FL
- Day 5 - 3/22/23 Pensacola, FL to Jacksonville, FL
The Roads Less Traveled Series 5
US Highway 41 Northbound from Miami, FL to Copper Harbor, MI
Aircraft: Blackbird Cessna 310R
Legs:
- Day 1 3/29/23 Miami, FL to Tampa, FL
- Day 2 4/5/23 Tampa, FL to Atlanta, GA
- Day 3 4/12/23 Atlanta, GA to Springfield, TN
- Day 4 4/19/23 Springfield, TN to Chicago, IL
- Day 5 4/26/23 Chicago, IL to Kenosha, WI
- Day 6 5/3/23 Kenosha, WI to Green Bay, WI
- Day 7 5/10/23 Green Bay, WI to Copper Harbor, MI
Links to Youtube VODs on my Discord
The Roads Less Traveled Series 6
US Highway 2 Westbound from Maine to Washington with a special “portage” through Canada.
Wednesday nights at 7p/10e/02z on Twitch
Aircraft: DHC-2 Beaver on floats
Legs completed to date:
- Day 1 5/23/23 Houlton, ME to Gorham, NH
- Day 2 5/30/23 Gorham, NH to Montreal, QC
- Day 3 6/7/23 Montreal, QC to Pembroke, ON
- Day 4 6/13/23 Pembroke, ON to Sault Ste Marie, ON
- Day 5 6/20/23 Sault Ste Marie, ON to Saxon, WI
- Day 6 6/27/23 Saxon, WI to Grand Rapids, MN
- Day 7 7/12/23 Grand Rapids, MN to Lakota, ND
- Day 8 7/19/23 Lakota, ND to Williston, ND
- Day 9 7/26/23 Williston, ND to Chester, MT
- Day 10 8/2/23 Chester, MT to Thompson Lakes, MT
- Day 11 8/9/23 Thompson Lakes, MT to Grand Coulee Dam, WA
- Day 12 8/15/23 Grand Coulee Dam, WA to Everett, WA
Links to YouTube VODs on my Discord.
Latest VOD from Season 6 - Duluth and a detour along the North Shore of Lake Superior.
