Hon-Dah Casino in Pinetop- Saturday, 9/2416

As you must know by now, our destination is to the Hon-Dah Casino which is actually in Pinetop, not Show Low. I have revised the route slightly to take us directly to the Casino rather than to Show Low which is about 20 miles out of our way and involves a lot of city driving to get from Show Low to Pinetop.

Starting point will be exit 197, Tomahawk Road,  off the HWY 60 near Apache Junction. We will meet at the gas station on the N.E. corner at 9:00 AM and depart at 9:15 AM. Please have a full fuel tank at the start and bring this route guide, your club radio, club name tags and we recommend a state map, always.   

We'll get on Hwy 60 and drive east to Superior which is about 32 miles from the start and we'll keep going to Miami which is another 24 miles. This is the stretch of road under construction but my conversation with the Superior Chamber Of Commerce today tells me there is no construction on weekends and although the road is a bit bumpy speeds are reduced to about 30 mph for about 2.5 to 3 miles. Based upon a lot of research on this over many days I feel there will be no problems for us.

After passing through Miami we will continue on Hwy 60 to Globe and at the end of town on the right hand side we will have a 15 minute stop at the gas station for a comfort break and fuel if you need it but you shouldn't if you started with a full tank.

We'll take Hwy 60/77 out of Globe and I use the two numbers because it is marked both ways on the map I have but in any case this is the route through the very scenic Salt River Canyon. It's about 63 miles to our next waypoint which is the intersection of hwy 60/77 and Hwy 73 and we will turn right on to Hwy 73 which will take us through the Indian town of Whitewater. There is probably a sign there pointing to Whitewater.
The distance from the beginning of Hwy 73 to the Casino is 48 miles, just stay on Hwy 73. DO NOT SPEED ANYWHERE ALONG HWY 73 AS THAT IS INDIAN RESERVATION AND YOUR ODDS OF GETTING A SPEEDING TICKED ARE HIGH. When we come to the end of Hwy 73 we will be in Pinetop and the Hon-Dah Casino will be on our right. The overall distance is 167 miles start to finish.

If the Casino has done their work properly they will have a private room for us in the conference center but I'm sure we will have to ask around to get directions to the banquet room. Our reservation is under the name of the BMW Roadster Club. I estimate we will arrive around 12:30 and by the time we have a comfort break and find the banquet room it will be close to 1:00 PM and that is when we're scheduled for the buffet line which is set up for us exclusively. If you need it, our contact there is the banquet manager Mr. Lucian Henry. A cash bar will be set up in our banquet room for adult beverages.

Again, a reminder, please be prepared to pay the $23 even cash to Keith to cover the meal expense, Keith will not be in a position to be making change so even cash is important. Keith will have an attendance list and we'll mark you off as you remit. The $23 covers gratuity and tax also.

We're in no big hurry to eat and run so that will give us a chance to socialize and visit before we start home. The return route is optional but there are really only two routes, the same way we drive up or Hwy 260 back through Show Low, Heber, Payson and then Hwy 87 south. I'm guessing that with the road construction in Miami most of us will return through Payson. That being the case, let's do our best to refuel together and try to caravan back home as a group. In the past, this seems to get overlooked and it's silly to drive home alone when you could be with the group, not only is it safer and more fun your odds of getting a speeding ticket are greatly reduced unless you're the lead car, when you drive alone you're ALWAYS the lead car ~~~~ not good !!!

This is going to be a fun trip, it looks like we have about 23 cars so we will split the group into two parts, the "A" and "B" groups. The "B" group can be those who prefer to drive at a slower pace than the "A" group. We don't want anyone to feel they have to drive faster than they are comfortable with.

With luck, this will be the last communication on this tour, it has been a long and difficult "road"  pun intended.

Thanks for supporting the club

Paul

All you can eat

Paul Ebeyer, President Arizona BMW Z Series Club

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REMEMBER - THE OFFICIAL CLUB POLICY IS TO OBEY ALL TRAFFIC LAWS AND REGULATIONS AND TO BE COURTEOUS TO OTHER DRIVERS