Washington State to Arizona

[NMDriver]

If I'm taking I-40 I fill up in Barstow. That gives me than enough fuel to get to one of the truckstops at AZ 95 past the CA/AZ border.

AZ 95 is 20 miles or so east of Needles.  If you're taking US 95 on the California side south from Needles, a short detour north through Needles to the Arizona side of the Colorado River will save you close to a buck a gallon compared to Needles prices.  There's a Mobil station just north of the river and an Arco with diesel and room for big rigs less than a mile further north.

One time I saw a California CHP car fueling up at the Arizona Mobil station.  In the immortal words of Stan Lee,  'nuff said. 

When I am going on east on I-40 I use the Exit 8/AZ 95 junction Truck stops or just go on up to Kingman. Westbound I always fill up at the AZ 95 fuel stop. When I lived in Oxnard and had family in Albuquerque that was a every other month trip for me. Now I am back in NM and the kids are in SF Bay area so it is a 3-4 times a year trip.

Using AZ 95 to get down to I-10 is not a good route IMO unless you want to deal with Lake Havasu traffic or find a nice camp ground on the AZ side of the river.  I just make sure I have enough fuel to get down to Parker from Barstow using US 95 and CA 62 when I use I-40 in CA. Barstow to Parker is 210 miles and I can do that unless the headwinds reduce my mileage to 7 mpg, which they have not done yet pulling the 5er  ;D.

My preferred route is still I-10 and I use the TA in Indio as a fuel stop to get me to Exit 45 on I-10 in AZ, past the goat rope involved at the border and Quartzsite fuel points.