If you look at the maneuvers and standards in the PTS - exactly that. Nothing unexpected. It was a fun experience and not what I expected. The DPE was a very bright guy, seriously into aviation and owns a few planes as well. Remembering to provide a thorough brief to the passenger was stressed to me by the DPE during the oral. He emphasized that he would become a clueless passenger when the practical test began, so I went over positive exchange of flight controls, mandatory use of seatbelts, emergency procedures, how to open the door, pilot in command, etc.

I think the greatest advice I can give is - be pilot in command. It's your airplane. Show some leadership, take control of the discussion and in flight give him tasks such as watching for traffic. Remember to LOOK and say "clear traffic left/right" before a manuver.

The oral was essentially a 2 hour friendly conversation about my cross country with some personal stories and examples from his experience. He had a paper and would check off boxes as we discussed my plan and how I made my various decisions. The flying portion was pretty enjoyable and felt more like a lesson. We conducted each manuver in the PTS but the emphasis was on safety. My flying was solid, but I have the feeling I could have botched a manuver several times and we'd fly until I got it right - as long as I was safe. I could be misguided but that was my impression. Great experience overall and learned quite a bit in those few hours.

Congratulations Joseph.
Great summary of your check ride. By the way, the reason the the test was a liesurely flight was that the DPE probably sensed that you were in command. I suspect he would have acted entirely differently if you came across as uncertain and trying to BS your way through. So, job we'll done. Enjoy the learning opportunity.

If you look at the maneuvers and standards in the PTS - exactly that. Nothing unexpected. It was a fun experience and not what I expected. The DPE was a very bright guy, seriously into aviation and owns a few planes as well. Remembering to provide a thorough brief to the passenger was stressed to me by the DPE during the oral. He emphasized that he would become a clueless passenger when the practical test began, so I went over positive exchange of flight controls, mandatory use of seatbelts, emergency procedures, how to open the door, pilot in command, etc.

I think the greatest advice I can give is - be pilot in command. It's your airplane. Show some leadership, take control of the discussion and in flight give him tasks such as watching for traffic. Remember to LOOK and say "clear traffic left/right" before a manuver.

The oral was essentially a 2 hour friendly conversation about my cross country with some personal stories and examples from his experience. He had a paper and would check off boxes as we discussed my plan and how I made my various decisions. The flying portion was pretty enjoyable and felt more like a lesson. We conducted each manuver in the PTS but the emphasis was on safety. My flying was solid, but I have the feeling I could have botched a manuver several times and we'd fly until I got it right - as long as I was safe. I could be misguided but that was my impression. Great experience overall and learned quite a bit in those few hours.

Congrats Joesph...the world just got a little smaller....what part of Pa?

York County PA. I had most of my flight instruction out of York airport - KTHV. It's a nice small town airport with many regulars and a decent airport diner. Flying around the Amish country landscape spoiled me. In TX everything is flat and brown.

If you think everything is brown in Texas, then you probably have not been to east Texas. And there are years when it rains, at least there used to be, and in those years there was a lot more green.

And as for flat, well the Rocky Mountains are in Texas, but you have to go way out to the western edge to get the southeast tip of the Rockies, to about 8700 feet.
The area around Austin and just west is called the hill country, no real mountains, but not just flat, and it is nice or would be if they had some rain.

The Amon Carter museum right in Ft. Worth is great for Russell and Remington, and there are two fine aviation museums in Dallas, one at Love Field and one at Addison.

Congratulations on being a new pilot.
And the great thing about all that C172 time is that almost every plane you fly next will be more exciting. Bonanzas are pretty nice, as are Mooneys.