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