Vegas to Palm Springs?

[distaff]

Google maps suggests a route across the Mohave - I'm sure it is quite scenic but I'm not so sure about the road for a motorhome.

The route is I15 south to Nipton Road, to Ivanpah Road, then onto Morningstar Mining Road to Cima, the the Kelso-Cima road to Kelso, then onto Kelbaker to the National Trails Highway, then the Amboy road and then you are onto the Twentynine Palms Highway which I know.

We all hate getting on a choppy piece of highway where you are stuck for a couple of hours. Not that I'm overly concerned, but there are also no obvious services out there.

Any suggestions on the route? The cowardly play seems to be I15 over to Barstow.

[LJowdy]

Unless you like looking at desolate desert, I-15 to I-10 If something adverse happens at least there's a semblance of civilization

[select55]

Originally Posted by distaff

Google maps suggests a route across the Mohave - I'm sure it is quite scenic but I'm not so sure about the road for a motorhome.

The route is I15 south to Nipton Road, to Ivanpah Road, then onto Morningstar Mining Road to Cima, the the Kelso-Cima road to Kelso, then onto Kelbaker to the National Trails Highway, then the Amboy road and then you are onto the Twentynine Palms Highway which I know.

We all hate getting on a choppy piece of highway where you are stuck for a couple of hours. Not that I'm overly concerned, but there are also no obvious services out there.

Any suggestions on the route? The cowardly play seems to be I15 over to Barstow.

vegas to Barstow then 247 over to yuca valley ;yucca valley down to 10 10 to palm springs;; from 247 to 10 u will meet very little traffic;; roads are great;; done it many times

[theroc]

I agree with the routing that select55 has mentioned.

We've taken the car alone on that exact routing you've outlined. It's spotty in some areas but generally, it's not bad routing and okay for a motorhome and toad but will jostle you around a bit in some places. There will be sections that are still paved but bumpy (click here for a Google image of one section of Kelso Cima Rd that has filled potholes, for an example) ...not for miles and miles but could last for several miles in places. And yes, we didn't like the desolation --as you say, no services at all. However, if you like to be by yourself and not hassle traffic, it's the way to go. Still, the compromise is Barstow to Yucca Valley to Palm Springs which is a much smoother road and relatively well traveled.

[avid_dk]

Originally Posted by select55

vegas to Barstow then 247 over to yuca valley ;yucca valley down to 10 10 to palm springs;; from 247 to 10 u will meet very little traffic;; roads are great;; done it many times

Three weeks ago I went 247 and it was half torn up for many miles. It was really scary as you had to ride with your wheels over the center line because of the sheer outside edge. The other lane actually had two lanes as they had paved the shoulder very wide but then they they divided it into two with a white line. In anger, someone had driven over miles of plastic posts marking the sheer drop off. It was a scary 10 or 15 miles. I would check Caltrans site and see if the work is complete. This another instance where I can't believe the first Trooper through wouldn't call the head of Caltrans and read him the riot act.

[LarryW21]

The desert isn't desolate to me. Its beautiful! My time at Ft. Irwin made me appreciate the desert. I'd take the backroads.

[select55]

Originally Posted by avid_dk

Three weeks ago I went 247 and it was half torn up for many miles. It was really scary as you had to ride with your wheels over the center line because of the sheer outside edge. The other lane actually had two lanes as they had paved the shoulder very wide but then they they divided it into two with a white line. In anger, someone had driven over miles of plastic posts marking the sheer drop off. It was a scary 10 or 15 miles. I would check Caltrans site and see if the work is complete. This another instance where I can't believe the first Trooper through wouldn't call the head of Caltrans and read him the riot act.

agreed it was bad if in a motor home no big deal in a automobile

[distaff]

theroc - thanks, I did look at a some different spots on google maps, but I didn't see anything quite that bad or I wouldn't have asked! Exactly what we would like to avoid.

About ten years ago we were on the I40 near Needles and it was the worst road we have ever seen outside of Africa (seriously - we had to keep the coach below 30 mph on an interstate)!

I'll go the the other way.

[Starsekr]

Three weeks ago took I-40 to Kingman from the US 93 junction. Road last year was very rough in places, this year it was pretty good. Major roads get maintenance in most states every other year or so it seems like, county roads not so much. Some states allow heavy industrial traffic, like mining or oil field, on county roads that were never designed for that weight, now that can give you a bad ride. Most of San Bernardino county roads don't get the maintenance they need.

[distaff]

Originally Posted by Starsekr

Three weeks ago took I-40 to Kingman from the US 93 junction. Road last year was very rough in places, this year it was pretty good. Major roads get maintenance in most states every other year or so it seems like, county roads not so much. Some states allow heavy industrial traffic, like mining or oil field, on county roads that were never designed for that weight, now that can give you a bad ride. Most of San Bernardino county roads don't get the maintenance they need.

Jim - I hear you that the information about a road's condition is very temporal. I'm sure that bit of I40 between 95 south coming out of Vegas and the cut off for Lake Havasu has been fixed. At the time it was shocker.

I don't know the local politics of California but I suspect San Bernardino may not vote for the right party. Here in Alberta you used to be able to tell when you drove on a road into or out of the riding (In Canada our electoral boundaries are called ridings, in the U.S. it would be a District) of a big shot.

[danhannah]

Distaff-

Here is a different opinion.

I was a little nervous about that route as well, but no more.

I just drove the route Google has suggested to you in late November - loved every minute of it. Almost no traffic, stress-free, very smooth roads for the most part, and the scenery was awesome.

We even tried our hand at boondocking one night in the Mojave - so many free places available - and we will definitely travel that route again, and plan an another overnight as well.

There are services. Its maybe 60 miles or so at the most betweens towns, as I recall, at any rate we did not want for anything. Bring a full tank of water and keep your gas level up, if you feel better that way.

There is a cool museum - I think in Cima, about the railway days in the desert.

[distaff]

Dan, thanks. I may reconsider and go that route. The bit that theroc captured in the link he sent was much worse than the road a few hundred yards either way.

I like the serenity of the desert and am not overly concerned about services. We can run about 14 hours on a tank of diesel, so fuel shouldn't be a problem. My real concern was road condition. In the desert, unlike up here near the tundra, you don't get frost heave.

[theroc]

Paul, I agree, go for it. Who knows, those patched sections may have been paved over by now. That Google image I linked was from 2008 and we drove that route a few years after. I think Google was using that as the preferred routing back then also. I'm trying to think when it was we drove that route. I'm going to guess 2012 or so.

And again, they were sporadic. From my recollection, we hit a patch like that which maybe lasted a 1/4 mile or so and then we wouldn't see a similar section for miles later. It didn't really bother me driving over those rough patches driving the car and who knows, if in the motorhome they may have been absorbed better than I'm guessing.

[Shuffster]

I am making this journey tomorrow, what is your recommendation? How is the 247?