If she left around 6pm, it would have taken her at least an hour to drive out of the congested neighborhoods of Mesa, heading north to 60. No other route. Sun in her eyes on 60, more sun as she got off on 10 heading west from 60, which again, no matter her route, she would have done. If she went north on 17 to 40, no sun in her eyes until there wouldn't have been much if any significant sun when she reached Flagstaff and went west for 177 miles to Kingman.
The obvious problem with trying to figure out exact details is that the lies, including lies about completely inconsequential things, perhaps just for the sport of the thing.
Having sun in her eyes- she would have, on 10. Getting gas in Buckeye, all the rest- who knows, but I still think she felt the need to go the fastest route out of AZ into a part of Nevada not too distant from the route she was supposed to be on to Ryan's, so IMO, that excludes circling around on 40 through Havasu then going out of her way to go over Hoover dam instead of avoiding it.
This was the route I was thinking...
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Pasadena, CA, USA to Buckeye, AZ, USA
4 h 54 min [4 h 41 min without traffic]
(344 miles) via I-10 E
Buckeye, AZ, USA to Mesa, AZ, USA
56 min [55 min without traffic]
(56.4 miles) via I-10 E
Then after...heading due west, perhaps with the thought of getting onto 95 and straight up to LV, got disoriented/tired and ended up making the turn onto the 95 up to Havasu instead of the 95 by Ehrenberg.
Mesa, AZ, USA to Quartzsite, AZ, USA
2 h 7 min [2 h 2 min without traffic]
(144 miles) via I-10 W
Quartzsite, AZ, USA to Lake Havasu City, AZ, USA
1 h 21 min [1 h 17 min without traffic]
(74.1 miles) via AZ-95 N
Lake Havasu City, AZ, USA to Kingman, AZ, USA
1 h 1 min [58 min without traffic]
(60.0 miles) via I-40 W and AZ-95 S
Kingman, AZ, USA to Hoover Dam, United States
1 h 11 min [1 h 7 min without traffic]
(75.3 miles) via US-93 N
Hoover Dam, United States to Mesquite, NV, USA
1 h 50 min [1 h 46 min without traffic]
(119 miles) via I-15 N
Mesquite, NV, USA to Salt Lake City, UT, USA
4 h 46 min [4 h 30 min without traffic]
(340 miles) via I-15 N
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