California trip

[sjalbrecht71]

We will be heading to California from Texas in June. The plan is to take I-10 to Los Angeles, heading north on 395 to stay the night in Bishop, then taking 50, 28 and 267 around Lake Tahoe, to get to 80 heading to Grass Valley.
The return trip would be the same way back, turning near Bishop towards 95 to Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon.
I don't think I see any issues beyond the elevation changes but does anyone have thoughts or gotchas on this route?

[NMDriver]

June on I-10 from west TX to Bishop will be in the upper 90's to 100+ range. Maybe in the LA basin it will be 80 but the OP is on I-10 and 395 in low altitude desert for most of his drive. BTW the hottest days of the year 105+ in my town, on I-10, are in June.

[time2roll]

Looks good to me. A bit longer but you could take 50 east on the way back over through South Lake Tahoe just to see something different.

Or head south to cross over through Yosemite...

[TyroneandGladys]

When we head west in the summer we leave at 4AM to beat the rush hour and beat the heat. Will stay the first night out either Palm Springs CA or Banning CA. Alternate for you would be take the I10 to I8 then the 86, @ El Centro, North to the I10. Adds less than 30 miles to your route but you bypass Phoenix.

[lanerd]

Sorry, double post. deleted by lanerd

[lanerd]

Sorry, keep hitting the wrong button. deleted by lanerd

[lanerd]

lhenry8113 wrote:
I do anything possible to avoid L.A. traffic. When you get near the L.A. area-- Exit off the #10, heading N. when you get to # 91 Frwy or 15 Frwy or 57 Frwy(same as 605 Frwy). to the 210 Frwy. Than head W to the #5 FRWY and on to Bishop. Lars

This makes no sense. The 5 does not go to Bishop!

Posted By: Garry&Gayle on 03/05/15 03:46pm

Take I-10 to Redlands then take the 210 to the I-15N then take 395N unless you just want to go to LA. Early June is not that hot 80s in the day

Now, this makes sense. The OP doesn't need to go through LA, unless he intends on stopping there (visiting, whatever). Other than that, his routing sounds good.

Also, there IS diesel at Kramer Junction (hwy 58 and 395). I think all the stations there, including the Pilot, has diesel and the price is reasonable. Diesel is available at Bishop for a about the same price. North of there, the price really escalates until you get to Carson City or maybe even Reno. Bridgeport has about the highest price in the entire nation including Alaska.

June is a nice time for this area, a little warm, but not bad... have a great trip!

Ron

[lhenry8113]

Deleted

[Garry_Gayle]

Take I-10 to Redlands then take the 210 to the I-215N which merges to the I-15 then take 395N unless you just want to go to LA. Early June is not that hot 80s in the day. Get your fuel in Ft. Independence or Bishop, several fuel stops just after getting on the 395

[NMDriver]

June will be hot on I-10 and up on 395 until you get some elevation around Tahoe. Watch your tires, especially on anything you are towing. You do not say if you are in a Motorhome, TT, 5er, etc. but as mentioned, fuel can be expensive and miles between stations. Some towns are only gas stations (Kramer Junction at 395/58 crossroad) and charge accordingly.

When you get off of I-15 onto 395 the first bit of road is a raceway during rush hour so try to go through later in the day. Have fun and watch your fuel gauge.

BTW: I-40 will be cooler on your return trip. You gain elevation after Kingman and do not loose much of it until you are dropping back down into TX.

[TucsonJim]

A little "gotcha" when we went up Hwy395 last year, and we were running low on fuel near Bridgeport CA. The lowest price I could find was $5.39 per gallon for diesel fuel. That was at least $.80 higher than any other location we visited in 28 states! I just checked GasBuddy.com, and they aren't reporting any fuel prices in Bridgeport right now. But be careful and fill up in a bigger town such as Bishop before heading north.