World on Wheels Home Page

THE WORLD’S BEST REST STOP

© 2000 Darryl Musick

 Heading north from L.A. to start our grand tour of the state, our plan was to just drive north on Interstate 5 for 5-6 hours and then find somewhere to spend the night before continuing on to Redding and Mt. Lassen.  We don’t usually recommend the disabled traveler to just go somewhere without making any reservations but we weren’t sure where we’d end up except that our calculations said it would be somewhere near Stockton or Sacramento.  Neither being great tourist magnets, we figured we could at least find some reasonably priced lodging when we got there.

 When traveling in this fashion, we usually end up with room and that’s about it.  Lousy service and uncomfortable surroundings are common results but, what the heck, we just need a room to sleep in for the night. 

 Such is the set up for this Friday evening.  After 5 ½ hours on the road, the burning starting to pull on the eyes and the numbness settling in the behind, I ask my wife to scan the AAA tourbook to see if she could find any cheap motels in Stockton or any of the other upcoming cities.

 The highway sign says we are coming up to a town called Westley and I tell her to check and see if anything is listed in the book for that location.  In the tourbook is an ad for the Holiday Inn Express for $59 a night, based on availability. 



The Holiday Inn Express in Westley (the accessible
room is the corner room on the third floor)

 Arriving in Westley, we see it’s basically a glorified rest stop.  A couple of gas stations, restaurants, and motels situated alone in the middle of nowhere.  I have seen this type of area many, many times on our travels and have always been disappointed.  Oh well, we just need a place to sleep...on to the Holiday Inn Express to see if that rate is available or just a come-on.

 The very friendly woman at the front desk assures me that yes indeed it is available.  Now on to the next impossible task...”do you have any accessible rooms still available?”  Yes, they do.

 We check in and head on up to our third floor room.  Uh oh, accessible rooms are not usually located on the top floor, what’s up with that?  Oh well, we just need a place to sleep...

 The room is immense.  Three king size beds...three!.  A very large bathroom, plenty of room to maneuver and grab bars everywhere.  No roll in shower but, and this is a first for me, a built-in transfer board makes for very easy access to the tub.  Grab bars in the tub make bath time for Tim a breeze!  Outside there is also a small sitting area with a sofa (which folds out making for a fourth bed), refrigerator and ironing board.  A small dining are is at the other end of the room.

 Downstairs is a wonderfully heated pool and spa.  The Chevron Station next door has some truly delicious food available to take out and a local farmer has set up a produce stand out back.  To a person, everybody there from the farmer to the guy in the gas station and all the hotel staff were extra friendly and prices all around were at reasonable levels.

 Wow!  This place has earned permanent stopover status on any trip to the north half of the state for us.  While it’s not a tourist mecca with gobs of attractions or sights, this is hands down the best overnight spot I’ve found for when those drowsies start getting to you on the long haul up Interstate 5.

 Holiday Inn Express Westley web page

---


Back to the World on Wheels Home Page