That's almost exactly what I'd do!
Before reading your post, I was thinking of finding a Lamborghini Diablo and driving to the nearest base that had Harriers. VTOL would come in handy and would be great for exploring this side of the world as long as you could find fuel. If I run out of fuel somewhere in South America, I could always walk back to Seattle. Of course this assumes I didn't die shortly after throttle-up.