I-8 San Diego to AZ 84/Stanfield Exit

[DonnaR57]

Road report as of Friday, June 17th:

The Buckman Springs Rest Area in the mountains just east of San Diego is still under construction. The sign says it will be closed through Jun 30th. Since we have watched this sign being changed over the past year, one can only hope that it will actually open this time!

The rest area just west of El Centro, known to some of us as the "Seeley Rest Area" is finally open.

The rest area in the sand dunes area has not closed for any repairs and is still open. Bear in mind that there are glorified porta-potties in that rest area.

There were no Cone Zones on the California side.

On the Arizona side - Yuma has finally finished all the repairs at the 16th Street exit, the main exit for restaurants, motels, and gasoline.

Also, the former cone zones on either side of Gila Bend are also done. This shouldn't be too surprising - Arizona tries to get construction work done in the winter months on its southern end.

Right now it is probably around 90F at 8:23 am, and climbing to the 100s later.


Donna (on a "shakedown cruise")

[Mark Sedenquist]

Are you filing this from the road?

Outstanding!

Mark

[DonnaR57]

Not while driving, no. But we are on a weekend "shakedown" - - we came over to Phoenix for two purposes.

Phoenix report: Grand Avenue (of which we were on for 16 miles) had a few sections of construction. Loop 101, Loop 202 are both in good shape with no construction. I-10 "the new road" was congested in places even on a Saturday afternoon, but acceptable and no construction. US 60, for the 5 miles we were on "The Superstition" (i.e. east of I-10, heading towards Tempe, Mesa, Apache Junction and points east) was in good shape as well.

Home today....same route.


Donna

[DonnaR57]

Return trip: same route in reverse (I-10, AZ 347, AZ 84, I-8).

Westbound on I-8, there is some construction on the eastern approach to Yuma, about 20 miles out. It tells you that there are 8 miles of unmarked pavement. Well, it's marked in a basic way, just waiting for the painters, I guess. Still, there's a spot where they make you slow down from 75 all the way down to 35 (!) in increments. Frustrating, especially on a Sunday when NOTHING is happening.

We found a good place to eat in Fortuna, at least on Sunday. The KFC/A&W combination at exit 12 on the southeast side has a $7.99 all you can eat buffet of KFC, and includes a medium drink. Pretty good deal! There was a salad bar that consisted of salad and trimmings, potato salad, macaroni salad, KFC's cole slaw, cottage cheese and many others. The chicken and trimmings bar included both original and crispy fried chicken (no grilled), KFC's mashed potatoes and gravy, plus corn (not on the cob), green beans, peas, potatoes, corn bread, biscuits, and 2 types of dessert.

Bad news about the new "Seeley" rest area in California (just west of El Centro): the toilets are NOT equipped with seats! They provide seat covers, but no seats. (I hope that didn't offend anyone, but I thought it was just the stall I chose on the eastbound trip. Come to find out, this is the thing on both sides of the freeway.)

The traffic was a bit on the heavy side, but it's Sunday and Father's Day to boot. We found lots of 'Zonies heading for San Diego, and lots of River Rats returning from the CO River with their boats.


Donna at home now

[glc]

KFC's mashed potatoes

AKA wallpaper paste?

[Mark Sedenquist]

Bad news about the new "Seeley" rest area in California (just west of El Centro): the toilets are NOT equipped with seats! They provide seat covers, but no seats.

So there's a lid to the toilet, but there are no seats? That's really odd.

Mark

[DonnaR57]

Paper seat covers (which we see more in public restrooms here in CA than in other states), but no seats (and no lids either). Just a toilet with no seat or lid.



Donna

[glc]

I haven't had to use such a device like that since I was in Japan - what's the point of having "butt gaskets" without anything to put them on? Is the state of California so broke that they can't afford seats and lids, but they have a dispenser full of paper covers? I'm afraid to ask if they have toilet paper and doors on the stalls...........

[Mark Sedenquist]

Just a toilet with no seat or lid.

Oh, boy, yeah, I've seen that used quite a bit outside of the USA, but this is the first I've heard of it here -- in a state-provided rest room. Personally, that's going to reduce my interest in using them. Oh boy.

Mark

[Mark Sedenquist]

Wait, aren't these toilets the molded toilets, where the seat is incorporated into the design of the bowl? They're a little bit institutional -- like you'd see in a jail -- but they're pretty well designed and reasonably comfortable to sit upon and there's little that breaks or wears out on them.

So, maybe this is not such a big deal after all?

Mark