Tuesday, November 3, 2015

Las Vegas to Buckeye, AZ

Oy!  Yesterday was a day and a half!  The original plan had been to take 93 across the Hoover Dam, and then down diagonally across Arizona.  However, there were high wind warnings for high profile vehicles on the bridge.  So plan B became take CA95 down to Needles.  We don't like going through Laughlin.  Actually we hate the Laughlin to Kingman route, and we don't like the diagonal 93, either, but we really wanted to see the dam.  However, that was not to be due to wind.  We also don't like CA95 south of Needles.  The road surface is really awful.  We decided to take 95 to Needles, head east on 40, and then south on AZ95.  We have never driven that route before.
The stretch of 95 from the California border to Needles does not have an agricultural inspection station.  Useful information if you've got some oranges you want to hang onto.
The route took us along the Colorado River.  Lake Havasu reminded us a lot of Yuma, it was a horrible looking area.  It's slow driving, with many stop lights.  We did not make good time through there.  Note the giant American flag blowing in the wind.


South of Lake Havasu is an area of RV parks, park models and golf courses.  It was actually pleasant driving along the river.




You'd have to have a boat if you wintered there.


At Parker, we dropped due south on 95 until we hit Quartzsite, and headed east on 10.  It was still windy, and we were getting tired.  Originally we had planned to overnight in Gila Bend, but half way to Buckeye we realized that was not going to happen.
Things went from bad to worse.  In Buckeye there are many new roads.  GPS did not know how to find the Leaf Verde RV park.  We ended up at an intersection out in the corn fields with one GPS saying go left and the other go right.  Jim pulled the bus over in a wide spot in the road, and I walked a strip mall parking lot to see if we could make it through and out.  I was able to ascertain that there was no median to cross, but I didn't see the triangular traffic diverter at the lot exit.  With 20/20 hindsight, we can see that we should have taken the truck off the RV before proceeding any further.  As it was, we scuffed all the tires on the right side of the bus and truck making an illegal left turn back the way we came.  What was so annoying, was on the way back, one of the GPS was able to correctly name the proper turn.  Classic case of bad decision making while exhausted.
However, having said all of this, this is the least terrible way to get to Tucson from Las Vegas.  At Buckeye, the 85 Phoenix by pass takes you to 8, and then it's an easy drive.  There is no good way to get from Las Vegas to 10, they all suck in some form or another.  Next time we'll know that Gila Bend is too far to drive and will plan accordingly.

1 comment:

  1. The GPS is a great device, but we've been in your situation too many times before. I always say I'm going to be sure the route it wants to take us on is actually correct, but it seems I always forget and the driver gets aggravated at me ;-)
    Lake Havasu is actually a nice area, better than Yuma for sure.

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