I shake my head at some of the stuff on this thread.
How many posters actually hold an instrument rating?
Chickenhouse, to me "Flying Low" infers you are VMC below the cloudbase in sight of the ground but in order to stay VMC you need to fly lower than the legal minimum above ground level altitude.
For me (unless you're in controlled airspace) the let down starts the minute (assuming you are still IMC) you descend below the MSA (Minimum Safe Altitude) for the Airway you're on and/or when you leave the Airway to track across no mans land (in other words you no longer have a promulgated MSA, unless you have radar coverage) towards the destination airfield.
Flying away from published tracks (random routing) outside of controlled airspace is strictly forbidden here below FL150