After more than 40 years of fueling road trips and sugar highs off Interstate 10, the Dairy Queen at Picacho Peak is calling it quits. The longtime roadside fixture between Tucson and Phoenix will close permanently on May 31, 2026, ending a run that turned the travel center into a default stop for countless motorists. Regulars and road-trippers now have a firm deadline for one last Blizzard, burger or bathroom break.
Bowlin Travel Centers, which owns the location, said it ultimately could not reach terms with the Arizona State Land Department and decided to shut the restaurant down. The Picacho Peak stop has long doubled as a travel center and quick-service restaurant, so its departure is not just a lost ice cream counter, it is a noticeable gap along a busy stretch of I-10.
In a press release distributed through GlobeNewswire, Bowlin Travel Centers confirmed the closure and said the final day of business will be May 31, with operating hours of 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. through that date. “We are deeply grateful for the overwhelming support and loyalty shown by our customers over the past 40-plus years,” Valkyrie Musarra, the company’s chief operating officer, said in the announcement. The statement explains that Bowlin and the Arizona State Land Department were “unable to come to mutually agreeable terms” for tenancy on the parcel, which led to the decision to close…