Thank you all for your explanations and advice. I've decided to proceed with a home airport-destination-destination-home airport plan (about 180nm) and later fly more cross country flights depending on how comfortable I feel. It is definitely time consuming the first time around planning routes, identifying points along the routes, and I still have the weather and course to plan! But I'm sure the process will go faster and easier each time I plan one as I understand what to do. Thank you again