Sennadog. .. .I used Rainbow Air at Long Beach back in 1999 (they still advertise in Flyer) for exactly the reasons you have in mind and was welcomed and well looked after (2 days getting used to SOCAL and the ATC chatter and the usual check-outs) and then they let me have a C172 for over a week.. .. .Did the aforementioned trip to Las Vegas and not a bumpy bit all the way! Plenty of sun and sandy desert though - take lots of water with you if you go. The thrill of flying at 10000' in a lil' ol' Cessna is great in itself, and then you have LV to look forward to! Watch out for hot and high scenarios and on the way back, why not visit Palm Springs (now that's what I call hot <img border="0" title="" alt="[Cool]" src="cool.gif" /> ). JDI.. .. .HTH