If you do alot of flying in the south or southeast, you pretty much have to get comfortable with the idea of dodging thunderstorms, or not flying for about half of the year.
This last thursday night I flew from Nashville down to Valdosta, GA and flew back up on Friday morning/afternoon. There were thunderstorms EVERYWHERE!!!! If anyone is in the region, you remember what the radar looked like. Well, the folks at Atlanta Approach, JAX Center and ATL Center were extremely helpful for the most part (considering how busy they were), and allowed me to deviate around any weather that I didn't feel I could handle. As long as I was at 8,000 I was able to stay clear of most of the low scud, and see any of the larger buildups. That kept me away from anything that could bend the wings. About 30 miles east of ATL, however, I had to descend to 5,000 in order to keep clear of their arrival corridor. That made life a little more difficult.
On my second leg, after a fuel stop in Calhoun, GA , I climbed to my filed altitude of 8,000 feet but found that I really couldn't dodge enough as I was in the clouds more than I was out. So, up to 10,000 I went!!! it was much better there....I could see the cells, and keep my distance. Smooth air, not too bad of a groundspeed, and with 50 Cent and the Beach Boys playing in the intercom, all was well in the world!!!
It does get more difficult when there clouds aren't broken at all, and the storms are embedded. I flew one time out to Memohis, and I was IMC for the entire trip (both ways...). On the trip out, I don't think I ever broke 70 knots GS. The eerie thing was that I could see and occasional lightning flash in the distance to the north, and center was getting pretty tired of me asking what they had on their radar picture. All of the convection was at least 30 miles north of my route, but when you're in the dark and can't tell the distance, it can keep you awake.
One thing that alot of pilots refuse to do (or have forgotten) is to take a few minutes and talk to flight service or flight watch. It's not as good as having weather radar on board, but if you tell them your exact location and route, they can point out all of the weather better than ATC can, and let you know what kind of deviations will work for you. You can make it your own personal weather radar!!!
My advice would be to always have an out....make sure you know where the good weather is, and that you're prepared to land at a moment's notice. Have enough fuel to deviate and still get to your destination...and an alternate!! That can be a challenge sometimes, especially if you like to stretch the legs of your aircraft. I like to take the Skyhawk on long trips, and I wouldn't feel comfortable in the plane that I fly all the time without knowing exactly how long that engine will run before I need to fill up again. You don't want to find that out when you've deviated 50 miles east of course, and then the 10 knot tailwind you planned for has become a 30 knot headwind.
Keep the charts out, keep your ears on the radio, and be safe!!! You never need to get someplace bad enough to go through a thunderstorm. You really don't....