Arizona, lots of great routes... roads, not so much

[Desert_Captain]

Just returned from a 4 day trip from our home in Payson out to the Colorado River. We stayed in Lake Havasu City at the Havasu Falls RV park in anticipation of riding our bike up to the Bike Week festivities in Bullhead City. The direct route would have been to go north on 87 {aka the Beeline highway} up to Flagstaff and then west on I-40. Fortunately several folks from the Forum warned us off of that route due to the severe road conditions. We spoke with a number of folks who confirmed the carnage found on I-40 and I-17.

The Beeline north of Strawberry is shredded and the closer you get to Flagstaff the worse I-17 and I-40 get. The potholes are so bad and numerous that it makes avoiding them a daunting task to say the least. We elected total the longer ropute down 87 toPhoenix and took I-10 west to Quartzsite and the north on the 95 to and through Parker and on in to Lake Havasu.

Sadly, I-10 {both west and eastbound} was problematic often though usually for short stretches but 87 was fine from Payson to Phoenix. Sometimes I could move over to the left lane briefly to dodge the worst of the damaged pavement but given the heavy traffic always found I-10 this was far from a always workable solution. When we got homeI discovered that I had lost the wheel cover off of the passenger side dually, obviously swallowed by one of the many potholes that caught up with us.

Ironically when we rode the old original stretch of Route 66 between Topock and Oatman the road was in excellent shape with not a pothole to be found. :S I hope repairs can be made soon but given the shear size of the problem I'm not optimistic. Be careful out there folks.

[Desert_Captain]

The former Giant, now Speedway is the one on 260 about half a mile east from the 87. It is always packed on Friday - Sunday with folks coming and going to/from the Rim. If I need to dump I just wait until Tuesday morning {when it is usually deserted} and make the long {half a mile} drive from my driveway which is way too convenient. They always seem to have the best price on propane as well, paid $2.50 gallon recently. Nothing will be open until mid May up on the Rim so it gets even more business this time of year.

:C

[Cptnvideo]

Hmmm, I'm familiar with the dump at Speedway (old Giant station), but I didn't know about the one near Home Depot or the one on the south side of town.

[Desert_Captain]

There is a dump station on the outside of the Home Depot parking lot at the gas station but..,
It is poorly designed and on a steep slope and most rigs will drag if not get hung up altogether.


About a mile or two south on the 260 is a better gas station/triple hole dump station that is level… I use it often as it is one mile from my driveway. Local knowledge is a wonderful thing.

??

[Cptnvideo]

Good info, Cptn. We checked out Houston Mesa last summer and liked the horse side - more room for our 42 footer. We wouldn't need the dump station for the 1st 9 days or so. By then the Elks should have room.

[Desert_Captain]

I rode through the Houston Mesa CG today and it is open. Was surprised to see both the dump station and the showers posted as "Closed for the season" which makes no sense after the CG being closed for months. :h The Elks facility gets a lot of traffic year round and will be full for the upcoming Rodeo in mid May.

:C

[Cptnvideo]

Your grass sure is green.

We've stayed at the Elks Lodge before, probably stay there again. We sure like Payson, good assortment of eating places, nice mix of other businesses and the traffic isn't too bad. DW has a cousin in town.

[Desert_Captain]

Cptnvideo wrote:
Desert Captain, we'll be in Payson in early June, then we travel to Prescott for the big rodeo. Sure hope they have 87 around Strawberry fixed by late June.
Do they have a timetable for repairs?

Don't know what the timetable for all of these repairs will be. The local Phoenix stations have been covering the story and I will update any news I happen to see.

Where do you stay in Payson? Houston Mesa CG has been closed for upgrades/repairs last winter but they should be open soon if not already. I will make one of my biweekly pilgrimages to Home Depot soon and will check out HM for you.

The weather here is awesome as spring as sprung big time! My lawn looks like a golf course and the garden is going crazy... should be a great summer.

Here is a shot I took yesterday, the garden {20 X 20 with 7.5' high Elk fencing} is behind the coach. I've got Blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, cherries, apples and pears along with some tomatoes and all are roaring:




:B

[Cptnvideo]

Desert Captain, we'll be in Payson in early June, then we travel to Prescott for the big rodeo. Sure hope they have 87 around Strawberry fixed by late June.
Do they have a timetable for repairs?

[Cptnvideo]

A month ago, we pulled our 42' 5th wheel from Wickenburg (US60) to Vicksburg to Bouse for a few days of boondocking, then to near Kingman via Parker & Lake Havasu for nearly a month. Roads weren't bad at all.
Then a couple days ago, we drove from Kingman to Surprise on I-40, 93 & 60. Between I-40 and Wikieup, there were potholes but most could be avoided. 60 south of Wickenburg was a mess a couple months ago, but the potholes have been filled.

[paulj]

Flagstaff weather prediction is a low around freezing, and chance of rain or snow Thursday. I don't think that's optimal pothole patching conditions.

https://azdot.gov/adot-news/adot-crews-moving-quickly-address-pavement-damage-storms

https://azdot.gov/news/i-17-pavement-improvement-project-starts-again-south-flagstaff

https://azdot.gov/news/governor-hobbs-joins-adot-announcing-505-million-investment-road-repair

[NamMedevac_70]

Nevada major roads and highways are near excellent condition now for a long time. However the Reno city streets are now full of bad potholes in numerous locations on major streets with no sign of maintenance and the all too numerous manhole covers are worse than many deep potholes. Bad as kalifornia.

I loathe the city road managers/engineers and Washoe County/Reno has very high gas tax in Nevada like Vegas. Fill up your tanks in storey, churchill, Douglas or lyon counties if you can. Cheers to all good folks.

[discovery4us]

We used to look forward to getting out of California and onto the smoother roads of Arizona, Not the case now. I have driven down jeep trails that were smoother than I40 and we didn't see a single road crew trying to do any type of repair.

I sure hope those of you in Arizona are not paying high registration, road fees or gas taxes. Although looking at the fee scale on the fuel pumps it looks like you are.

Hard to take when you pay high fees, as we do in CA, only to see unmaintained roads.

[Desert_Captain]

Don't know for sure about Lake Mary Road but to get there we would have to have driven 87 north of Strawberry and it is reportedly trashed. Last winter really did a number on most of the roads especially the higher elevations though as noted I-10 was a PITA as well.

:E

[obgraham]

What about Lake Mary Road up through HappyJack? That wasn't bad last time through there.
I-40 was sure a mess east of Kingman. And 93 Wickenburg to I-40 this past month is the worst I've seen it.