This might help with your plans---
LAX to St. George is 404 miles / 650 km
Traffic in the LA basin is reliably congested and slow, but speeds up once you leave the city and when you cross the state line into Nevada the speed limit is faster.
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This might help with your plans---
LAX to St. George is 404 miles / 650 km
Traffic in the LA basin is reliably congested and slow, but speeds up once you leave the city and when you cross the state line into Nevada the speed limit is faster.
What time are you arriving? LAX is on the west side of LA ... you will need to drive all the way through the LA Freeways to get out. It's been a while since I've navigated this, so someone else with better experience, please chime in here ... :-) Depending on time, you have 2 choices ... one is basically Interstate 10, either out to I15, or I10 to State Route 110 to I 210 to I15. The other is I405North from LAX, up to State Route 14, to State Route 58, east to I15. I405 North can be a nightmare, but might save you time in the long run. Can anyone else clarify?
Also, as a place to stay the 1st night, Mesquite is 2 hours (?) north of Las Vegas with inexpensive lodging: the Casa Blanca, and Virgin River. Both are casino / motels: They're about 45 minutes south of St. George.
http://casablancaresort.com/
http://virginriver.com/
Clean cheap rooms in the Las Vegas area generally come with additional daily resort fees, sometimes more costly than the price of the room.
Filthy cheap rooms in Las Vegas tend to come with bed bugs.
Exercise caution when reserving accommodations in Las Vegas.
Whisky Pete's casino in Primm, on the CA/NV line is inexpensive and clean with no resort fees (the last time I was there) No flash like Vegas, but if you just want a place to recover from highway hypnosis for a few hours it's good.
John Dillinger's shot up car is in the lobby.
I've stayed at the Virgin River. No resort fees. Basic but nice. The last time I stayed in Primm, Terribles Casino had bought them, and the room was very poor. I wouldn't stay there again. At one time, it was nice.
Also, one nice thing about the Virgin River ... rooms open to the outside. You can park in front of your room, and, in 10 steps, have your photo gear in the room.
Thanks. That's good to know. There's a large Joshua Tree field between there and Searchlight that I need to re-visit, and it's good to know that I have an alternative to Searchlight. Anyone ever stayed at ... what-I think-is the only motel in Searchlight? Rumor has it that Harry Reid used to hang out in there?
Nipton is the little town(?) with the tee pee accommodations, IIRC, and a great Joshua tree forest is just East of there. The Nipton road goes right through it.
Bates Hotel?
Escalante gets my vote. This cottonwood was taken in Coyote Gulch, but I think it was mid-November. No, my significant other tells me it was the end of October.
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