X-C to O.C.

My last cross country flight, that's one with an airport over 50 miles away, had been September 2008. My goal today was to complete another one. From Bay Bridge to Ocean City, MD is 69.2NM. A summer trip with a stop on the beach would probably have been better, but I'll consider this a dress rehearsal before the summer season. To avoid the Easton and Salisbury Class D airspace and little piece of Restricted, I decided to make my route a little longer and traveled via Ridgely airport. Another first for me was today's altitude. Following VFR protocol I had to be at an altitude that was an odd thousand plus five hundred while travelling east and above 3000ft AGL. That meant my cruise altitude to Ocean City was 5500ft. For various reasons, I never really got above 3500 ft in the Cessna. 5500 ft is less than half of the Skyhawk's service ceiling and hardly an altitude record but it was fun being up there. The return trip would have me at 4500 ft. There was hardly anyone at O.C. and I almost thought that I was on the wrong frequency. The wind was perfectly aligned with runway 20 at 6 knots. The view of the approach was stunning. It took about 54 minutes from engine start to shutdown. Certainly not a record but it takes 131 minutes by car according to Google Maps. After arriving I stopped inside the FBO for a break. They were extremely nice inside. After about 30 minutes I climbed back in the plane and started to head back to Bay Bridge. The trip back was equally as fun. The winds were still favoring runway 11 and I made my approach over a partially frozen Chester River and Chesapeake Bay.