Thanks Pilot Dar - will check out that forum..
From what I'm gathering - flying over the rockies could be challenging. Since I'm doing this solo, I may opt to fly south on the east side of the mountains to salt lake down to alberquerque to houston.
evanB - thanks for the great resource and tip about the mountain course. I dont have any PIC time flying over or near mountains... i did most of my flying in Florida and Toronto, Canada