March Trip from Phoenix - Looking for best route

[tim9995689]

Hello, I am new to AC and am planning a trip starting from around the Phoenix Area.  Starting trip March 11.  I have E-bike and friend has touring bike.  Looking for a fun trip with Hotels every 50-65 miles so I can charge E-bike and good weather.  Considering Southern Tier Route to San Diego but also other AC routes such as Grand Canyon Connector or Utah Cliffs Loop.  Any suggestions?
Thanks, Tim

[John Nettles]

Welcome to the ACA Forums!

You probably need to give a bit more info such as how many days total.  Do you have an extra battery or what is the max distance you can do in one day?  Are you eating out or cooking or eating food not needing to be cooked at the hotel?  Are you looking for a loop or one-way?

If you are solely dependent on a hotel every night, be sure to plan carefully.  Some days may need to much shorter or longer than you would like.  Check out WeatherSpark.com to see if the temps are what you are thinking they would be.  For me, doing the Utah Clifs in March would be a bit too cool when at elevation.

Whatever you decide, have a great trip!  Tailwinds, John

[CMajernik]

The Utah Cliffs Loop is 50% pavement and 50% dirt/gravel. I don't know if you and your friend want to ride that much off pavement. More information is under the Logistics tab on this page:https://www.adventurecycling.org/routes-and-maps/adventure-cycling-route-network/utah-cliffs-loop/

[tim9995689]

I have an E-bike with an extra battery, my friend has touring bike.  We could do about 70 miles per day if reasonably flat, less if lots of uphill.  One way or loop.  Pavement or gravel would be fine.   I would prefer hotels, but would consider Warm Showers or possibly a park with electricity for a night or 2.   Safe road with a shoulder is important.  I just spoke to some people about Southern Tier Route- Phoenix to San Diego and they said highway through desert was treacherous, so still looking.   

[John Nettles]

By the highway through the desert, they may meant the old route that went from Blythe, CA, to Brawley, CA.  The new route uses I-10 which while sounding dangerous is probably safer due to the much better sight lines and the full-width shoulder.  The old route was not ideal on weekends due to the large amount of RVs pulling Off-Road vehicals to Glamis on a somewhat narrow road that had lots of little ups and down making sight-lines more difficult.  Beautiful but not great on weekends/holidays.  On the week days, it wasn't too bad but I would encourage the use of a flag and/or bright clothing for that stretch. 

Regardless, in order to go from Phoenix to San Diego and have hotels every 70 miles or less, you would have to follow the old route from Phoenix to Quartzsite then south to Yuma (very little services) then west to San Diego. 

Out of curiosity, why Phoenix?  Do you live there or ? 

[Alessa3322]

I have an E-bike with an extra battery, my friend has touring bike.  We could do about 70 miles per day if reasonably flat, less if lots of uphill.  One way or loop.  Pavement or gravel would be fine.   I would prefer hotels, but would consider Warm Showers or possibly a park with electricity for a night or 2.   Safe road with a shoulder is important.  I just spoke to some people about Southern Tier Route- Phoenix to San Diego and they said highway through desert was treacherous, so still looking.

My requirements are usually the same. Did you end up staying only in hotels? If yes, did you look for and book them in advance?

[rayed]

We stayed in Marriott couple of times, no complaints. The room for two of us was around 60square meters, which is one of the largest one i've been so far. The room service came 25 minutes after we ordered our dinner and the food was extremely good. Of course some people are not happy with their services and then they write those reviews - https://marriott-international.pissedconsumer.com/review.html. My experience was completely different though.