Hi Nimbus,
"big sky theory" ? You lucky man. You should try flying round the north west of London, where thanks to our great country's aviation services (I laugh) you are funneled through a busy 8 mile gap between two control zones, below a ceiling of 2500'... with no radar services available to GA. Welcome to the small skies!!
OK on a reasonable VFR day (?) but try doing it IFR. Personally I don't do the lottery so doing this now and again makes up for my lack of gambling...
Still, GA don't pay for radar services (yet) in UK and I only pay 40% tax, so I shouldn't grumble.