Palm springs to Bakersfield

[jgrimes]

Will be pulling my 37'5er between Palm Springs and Bakersfield. Would prefer to stay off the interstate. Anyone with experience taking route 62 to Yucca Valley, route 247 to Barstow and then route 58 into Bakersfield? Good road for towing? Low overpasses? Construction? Steep inclines? Got a better plan? Thanks.

[BizmarksMom]

Lucerne to Barstow is kind of twisty, but nothing that's a big deal. I've towed it several times without incident. I honestly don't remember if it was rough or not, so the road must not have been an issue.

Victorville to Barstow would be backtracking quite a bit, for no reason.

Come to think of it, I normally go through Victorville because I've been boondocking and need to stock up on supplies. The route through Victorville goes right past Walmart and a big grocery store. There's an RV park, too, that will let you dump tanks and fill up with fresh water and propane.

[CarnationSailor]

MarkTwain wrote:

CarnationSailor wrote:

MarkTwain wrote:

CarnationSailor wrote:

jgrimes wrote:
Will be pulling my 37'5er between Palm Springs and Bakersfield. Would prefer to stay off the interstate. Anyone with experience taking route 62 to Yucca Valley, route 247 to Barstow and then route 58 into Bakersfield? Good road for towing? Low overpasses? Construction? Steep inclines? Got a better plan? Thanks.

I prefer the route you have proposed rather than going thru Victorville because I've found 395 thru Victorville to be slow, and 395 from Victorville to 58 to be kind of rough in places. I've never encountered slow traffic between Lucerne and Barstow.

Going to Barstow from Victorville is a little faster but also longer in milage and time, so it is a trade off. The whole route from Palm Springs to Bakersfield is not one that you are going to set any speed records, especially when towing. Once you hit Hwy. 58 from 395 you can start to make up any loss time as the road is 4 lanes.

Did you mean to say, "Going to Barstow from Lucerne"?

I have never taken that route on 247. How is it for towing, road conditions etc.?

Towing, road conditions, etc. have already been discussed in this thread - they are good. My point is if the OP wants to go from Palm Springs to Bakersfield, why would he go from Victorville to Barstow as part of the route?

[MarkTwain]

CarnationSailor wrote:

MarkTwain wrote:

CarnationSailor wrote:

jgrimes wrote:
Will be pulling my 37'5er between Palm Springs and Bakersfield. Would prefer to stay off the interstate. Anyone with experience taking route 62 to Yucca Valley, route 247 to Barstow and then route 58 into Bakersfield? Good road for towing? Low overpasses? Construction? Steep inclines? Got a better plan? Thanks.

I prefer the route you have proposed rather than going thru Victorville because I've found 395 thru Victorville to be slow, and 395 from Victorville to 58 to be kind of rough in places. I've never encountered slow traffic between Lucerne and Barstow.

Going to Barstow from Victorville is a little faster but also longer in milage and time, so it is a trade off. The whole route from Palm Springs to Bakersfield is not one that you are going to set any speed records, especially when towing. Once you hit Hwy. 58 from 395 you can start to make up any loss time as the road is 4 lanes.

Did you mean to say, "Going to Barstow from Lucerne"?

I have never taken that route on 247. How is it for towing, road conditions etc.?

[CarnationSailor]

MarkTwain wrote:

CarnationSailor wrote:

jgrimes wrote:
Will be pulling my 37'5er between Palm Springs and Bakersfield. Would prefer to stay off the interstate. Anyone with experience taking route 62 to Yucca Valley, route 247 to Barstow and then route 58 into Bakersfield? Good road for towing? Low overpasses? Construction? Steep inclines? Got a better plan? Thanks.

I prefer the route you have proposed rather than going thru Victorville because I've found 395 thru Victorville to be slow, and 395 from Victorville to 58 to be kind of rough in places. I've never encountered slow traffic between Lucerne and Barstow.

Going to Barstow from Victorville is a little faster but also longer in milage and time, so it is a trade off. The whole route from Palm Springs to Bakersfield is not one that you are going to set any speed records, especially when towing. Once you hit Hwy. 58 from 395 you can start to make up any loss time as the road is 4 lanes.

Did you mean to say, "Going to Barstow from Lucerne"?

[MarkTwain]

CarnationSailor wrote:

jgrimes wrote:
Will be pulling my 37'5er between Palm Springs and Bakersfield. Would prefer to stay off the interstate. Anyone with experience taking route 62 to Yucca Valley, route 247 to Barstow and then route 58 into Bakersfield? Good road for towing? Low overpasses? Construction? Steep inclines? Got a better plan? Thanks.

I prefer the route you have proposed rather than going thru Victorville because I've found 395 thru Victorville to be slow, and 395 from Victorville to 58 to be kind of rough in places. I've never encountered slow traffic between Lucerne and Barstow.

Going to Barstow from Victorville is a little faster but also longer in milage and time, so it is a trade off. The whole route from Palm Springs to Bakersfield is not one that you are going to set any speed records, especially when towing. Once you hit Hwy. 58 from 395 you can start to make up any loss time as the road is 4 lanes.

[ppine]

None of those roads are difficult. If you have time, swing over to Shoshone and Amargosa.

[CarnationSailor]

jgrimes wrote:
Will be pulling my 37'5er between Palm Springs and Bakersfield. Would prefer to stay off the interstate. Anyone with experience taking route 62 to Yucca Valley, route 247 to Barstow and then route 58 into Bakersfield? Good road for towing? Low overpasses? Construction? Steep inclines? Got a better plan? Thanks.

I prefer the route you have proposed rather than going thru Victorville because I've found 395 thru Victorville to be slow, and 395 from Victorville to 58 to be kind of rough in places. I've never encountered slow traffic between Lucerne and Barstow.

[MarkTwain]

jgrimes wrote:
Will be pulling my 37'5er between Palm Springs and Bakersfield. Would prefer to stay off the interstate. Anyone with experience taking route 62 to Yucca Valley, route 247 to Barstow and then route 58 into Bakersfield? Good road for towing? Low overpasses? Construction? Steep inclines? Got a better plan? Thanks.

Great route except when you get to Victorville go west to 395 then Hwy. 58 then to Bakersfield. You don't need to go to Barstow and then save some time and miles. I stay at the "A Country" RV park. All pull throughs with full hook ups. From 58 turn south on exit 116 which is S Fairfax Rd.
Great road for RVing. You have a easy grade up to Tehachapi. Just keep your speed down on the down hill side. I try to keep it at 50-55 and I drop my 6 speed tranny into 5th gear all the way down. There is also a Pilot Truck fuel station just before you get into Tehachapi.

[jgrimes]

Thanks for the help. Just what I needed to know.

[sdbounderdiesel]

X2 on 395 North at Victorville/Hesperia to 58 West at Kramer Junction to Bakersfield. EZ Access fueling available at Loves on top of Tehachapi Summit.

[BizmarksMom]

247 is no problem. A lot of big toyhaulers use it to head out to Johnson Valley.
I prefer to pick up 395 in Victorville and take that to 58, because 247 between Lucerne and Barstow is slow. But you have to deal with traffic and watch the road signs going through Victorville, so it probably doesn't make much difference. I've towed both ways with no problems.

58 into Bakersfield is a piece of cake.

(I'll do just about anything to avoid driving through the LA area. I'm totally with you in that respect.)