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Grand Canyon - North Rim: Friday, Saturday, Sunday, June 23 -25, 2017

More details will be provided as we get closer to this event. In the meantime, here's the route guide:

 

TOUR GUIDE FOR JUNE 23 - 25, 2017 GRAND CANYON TOUR, NORTH RIM

We are splitting the 39 cars into 2 groups, creatively named "Group 1" and "Group 2," of 19 cars each and staggering the start times by 30 minutes. This is necessary in order to make the scheduled fuel, comfort stops and the lunch period more efficient. Making a comfort stop with 68 people is insanity; ditto for the lunch. We are grateful for the assistance of Mike Hunt, Ron Linder, Andrew Navik and Keith Kandrashoff who helped us solve some major issues of this tour.

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The door to door transit time for the tour is approximately 9 hours and the distance is approximately 330 miles from our starting point. About 60% of the time is driving and the other 40% is comfort, fuel and lunch stops. If we somehow reduce these times on the actual tour so much the better.

The Albertson's center is the starting point and it is  located on Carefree Highway about 1/2 mile east of interstate 17 on the north side of Carefree Hwy. We meet at the far east end of the parking lot near the bank.  There is a restroom and coffee available in Albertson's.

At the starting point please have a full fuel tank, your club name badge, your club radio with extra batteries or a charger, and you will be handed a packet of information you will need.  Handing out the packet of information to each participant at the start will take time so please come to us for your info packet. The packet will contain a copy of this text agenda and an Excel print out of the tour summary with times, locations, highways, etc., your dinner seating for both evenings, a list of the driver's in your group and an updated cell phone list; if you have an emergency or issue of any kind and you are out of radio range the cell phone list will be a good thing to have.

Group 1 will arrive at the starting point no later than 7:10 AM and depart at 7:30 AM SHARP. Please have your coffee and comfort break completed well before departure time so we don't have a "straggler" holding up the start.

Group "2" will arrive no later than 7:40 AM and depart AT 8:00 AM at their leisure. There will be a designated leader for each group who will be in charge.

If you have never been on this route previously we recommend you carry an Arizona state map and give it a review before starting the tour but other than the transition from Interstate 17 to US 40 and US 40 to Hwy 89 it is quite simple. Keep it handy just in case there is some confusion about your navigation. There is nothing more frustrating than to have a driver make a wrong turn or get confused or lost; it will really ruin your day.

Our first scheduled stop for each group will be in Camp Verde, 66 miles, for a comfort break. The next waypoint but not a stop is Flagstaff. As we approach the south end of  Flagstaff, we will exit from Interstate 17 to US Hwy 40 eastbound.  When transitioning from 17 to US 40 look for the signs directing you to Albuquerque and follow them. Once on I-40 you will look for the 201 off ramp exit,  which is about 6 miles to the east. That exit will put you on Country Club Drive.  Turn left on Country Club Drive and stay to the right lane because Hwy 89 comes up quickly. Turn right on to Hwy 89 to Cameron. It is about 56 miles from there to Cameron where we will get lunch & fuel.

After lunch continue north on Hwy 89 and in 15 miles there is a junction of Hwy 89 and Hwy 160 that goes to Tuba City & Kayenta,  This is just a navigation waypoint; not a stop. DO NOT TURN RIGHT ON HWY 160, but instead continue straight ahead on Hwy 89 to Bitter Springs  which is 42 miles north of you. Bitter Springs is not a stop, just a navigation waypoint. Hwy 89 forks at Bitter Springs  and you want to bear left and pick up ALT 89. If you continue on 89 it will take you to Page and you will really be in a mess. The next stop after passing through Bitter Springs is Marble Canyon & Lee's Ferry 14 miles from Bitter Springs; at that point hwy ALT 89 turns toward the west; stay on it. We will be stopping for a comfort break at the Park Service at Lee's Ferry, a very basic facility at the west end of the bridge. Following this comfort break we head to Jacobs Lake  which is 41 miles from Lee's Ferry. We stop at Jacobs Lake for fuel and another comfort break. From Jacobs Lake we pick up Hwy 67 south and it's 44 miles to the lodge. This is a beautiful, scenic drive. There is an admission fee into the Grand Canyon park, if you have a Golden Age Passport bring it with you and admission is free.

The return trip on Sunday morning will be discussed with everyone on either Friday evening or sometime Saturday and everyone can decide what they want to do. I am sure not everyone will want to leave at the same time but it's a good idea to travel with at least a few other members for safety reasons. Many of us will elect to have breakfast and depart some time after that. The return trip is considerably less structured but no doubt Carol and I will lead a group of cars and we'll make stops for lunch and fuel as needed. There will probably be others leaving in a group at different times. Just make it a point to ask around and hook up with whatever bunch works for you.

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