Niagara Falls-Toledo,OH: I glimpsed the Falls out the window of the PA-32 as I left KIAG and turned to 211 degrees, bound for Dunkirk. This route took me across Lake Erie and through some Canadian airspace. At Dunkirk, I turned to follow the shoreline to Erie Intl. (KERI), then on to Cleveland.

The rolling hills gave way to fields, with occasional cities. It was monotonous, green on the left, blue on the right, without even clouds. I did see several radio antennas, plus a cooling tower for a nuclear plant on the lakeshore. I was making good time, with a ground speed near 170 knots. Before long, the Cleveland skyline was visible.

The program generated a Cessna 172 in front of me, above and descending. I watched as the distance ticked down to 1.9 miles as it crossed from right to left. I even got a glimpse of a flickering pixel, but could not make out the plane. On the other side of town, another C172 crossed from left to right, almost at my altitude, getting within 4.9 miles.

I started turning west toward Toledo, again taking me out over Lake Erie. The clouds had returned, and the sun made a nice reflection on the water. Under a gray cloud, it suddenly got turbulent. From the SPOT view, it was interesting to see the plane bounced around. After passing over some islands and a large river mouth, I was back over agricultural fields. Toledo Express (KTOL) came into view, and the landing was uneventful. I couldn’t believe I went so far in an hour and a half.

Toledo-South Bend,IN; The next flight I spawned at Toledo Express pointing the opposite way I needed to go, so I back-taxied before taking off to the west. Trimmed out at 2000 feet, I followed the highway to Indiana. Michigan was out my right window. The land was flat, a patchwork quilt of green, orange and yellow, mainly farms and small towns. At this height, I could see transmission line towers marching along. Eventually a hint of Lake Michigan appeared on the horizon. After a 45-minute flight, the red VASI lights were right in front of me, showing I was below glideslope. When the bottom light turned white, I cut the power and landed straight ahead. Straight out, straight in; that doesn’t happen very often.