Westley Rest Area

This review is for the EAST Westley Rest Area, as opposed to the WEST Westley Rest Area, because screw those West Siders – didn’t you pee before you left the Bay Area?! No, no… the EAST Westley Rest Area is for those people who are just finishing the long, long, long slog up the I-​5. Civilization is SO close, but you just can’t hold it any longer. Or maybe you’ve been trapped for TOO LONG in a bubble of a-​holes passing semis at five miles under maximum without once pulling back into the right lane, and you just need to get out of it for a few minutes and take some deep breaths and get your rage under control. Either way, this is the place to stop, and the last one before the 580 cut-​off.
It does the job. There are toilets. They aren’t fancy, and there aren’t enough of them, but they are there, and they flush. There are picnic tables with shade. If you don’t know why this shade is so important, then you’ve never experienced the Central Valley in August. There is grass. Because dogs need to pee too. There are vending machines. The biggest one is for Red Bull. There are informational signs. Because after soaking in the Central Valley landscape for hours, you may feel compelled to attach meaning to that experience. For RVers, there is a dump station. Because your bladder isn’t the only thing that needs to be emptied.
So, y’know…stop here if you need to, but I wouldn’t hang out.

Worst rest area, ever. Lights went out in one restroom, while the other restroom was closed up. Vending machine took money, but didn’t deliver product. Employee was rude and unhelpful. Not enough room to handle truck traffic. Witnessed a drug deal in the area adjacent to the restrooms. Unsafe!

Conveniently located off the I 5 80 miles south of Sacramento.
Plenty of parking.
A few vending machines.
Dog rest area.
Restroom was clean but very small.
Long lines for using restroom.

Favorite rest stop in all of California. No lie I will travel here once a year and spend half the day reading a book and eating potatoes chips staring at the picturesque hills. If a found a painter who could properly capture the magic of this location on canvas I would pay whatever it takes to get that work of art into my house.
If you are traveling to here to see the magic I recommend stopping at the Target in Lathrop and picking up a bag of Flaming Hot Cheetos (Extra Flaming Hot is acceptable, not that Lime or Puff garbage) and a bag of honey Dijon chips as well as a bottle of strawberry milk. There are vending machines but I don’t care how much you love a rest stop you should only purchase from rest stop vending machines in case of extreme emergency or if they have Faygo (this one does not)
Clean bathrooms with well manicured lawns and plenty of room to stretch and walk around. Plenty of interesting people to people watch. Or even make life long friends with. As I said this place is pretty magical and brings together all sorts of people and brings out the best in them. You might meet that special someone here. Or if you already have one, bring them here and fall in love all over again

This is a nice place to take a break on my way back to L.A. It has picnic tables, a little park with trees, restrooms, vending machines which sell chips and candy & beverages, There are also maps on display to check your progress on I-​5, and kiosks providing you with information about the Central Valley Province. The region is home to Kit Foxes. Sparrows, Finches, rattle snakes, squirrels, and moles. The topography of the area makes me feel like
I’m at the Grapevine some 230 miles to the south.

How sad. Having been to the rest stops around Sacramento I expected better. My husband says all but one stall in the men’s restroom is torn apart. Horrible landscape, nobody on duty. :-(

As far as rest stops go this is a fine rest stop indeed. Clean, well lit and easy on and off freeway access. There seems to usually be some staff around cleaning, sweeping and doing general maintenance. Lots of easy parking also.

Inspires Me To Finish That Coffee-​Table Book On Urinals I’ve Been Kicking Around
SITREP
Beautiful, Wild, Natural Tundra — Everything You Want In A Rest Area. Srsly. When I die, spread my ashes here. Great rest stop area with lots of amenities.
THE SETUP
One of the nicest touches at this stop is the informational kiosks that are around that discuss the local animal life & ecology of this area:
And apparently there is a local San Joaquin Kit Fox — it would be kinda cool to see this creature:
AMENITIES
The bathrooms are clean, with sturdy lookin little urinals. I mean, look at these guys — they look like mean little rugby players:
And that actually brings me to an interesting point here: in all the stops I’ve made, I don’t think I’ve seen identical urinals from stop to stop. They all seem to be different.
NOT as strange as the ones in Utah that look like vaginas, mind you:
But even some in California give me the heeby-​jeevies, like these ones in Buttonwillow:
Anyways, this stop had everything you’d one: vending, lots of picnic tables, room to roam & hike event, and you gotta love those vistas views of the landscape of utter desolation (like out of a Mad Max film). ;)
THE LOWDOWN
So I may soon pursue my dream some day of doing that coffee-​table book on
urinals. :D

This rest stop is just average.
For a public rest stop, one would think it would completely gross. But this one is surprisingly somewhat decent. There was no line for the restroom, they had running water to with soap.
They have a nice shady grass area for my dog to go to the bathroom and exert some energy. As well as some nice grass, they are picnic benches to rest at! They have garbage cans, and recycling cans to dispose of any trash.
My girlfriend obviously used the women’s restroom. She didn’t agree with me. She stated that the line was long, and that one of the locks on the stalls were broken. For women, this could be a hassle. She also said that the bathrooms were ok, not clean but not dirty.
Overall, if your on the road and are looking to stretch your legs, go here. If not, there are much cleaner restrooms down the freeway.

I’m on the road heading north. Since I have the pupster with me, I need to stop occasionally so he can stretches legs and to do his thing outside, so he doesn’t do his thing in the backseat of my car. LOL
A nice little rest area with plenty of parking for cars and big trucks alike, with nice grassy areas, picnic areas and a nice little doggie area.
It’s a perfect place to stop and stretch your legs when mother nature is calling, when you are northbound that is.

I was rolling back from Vegas in my Whip Black Beauty and was getting a little White Line Fever. Luckily the Westley Rest Area popped up. I rolled off the freeway and parked my Whip .
I then used the Restroom and chilled out on a Picnic Bench for a Half Hour .
Feeling rested I jumped into Black Beauty and rumbled off.

Why one would need to stop an hour out of the Bay Area and a mere mile after reaching I-​5, but then again, traveling with pre-​schooler is an unpredictable sport.
But as stops go, it’s easy in, easy out, and while perhaps still waiting for its facelift — but as priorities go, some of the less desirable ones are/​were done first along 5, so no complaints there, either.

I’ve stopped in here on more than one occasion while driving home from southern CA. It’s only an hour or so from home so it’s never necessary to stop on the drive south, and usually we try to make the drive without stopping, but if that’s impossible, this is an easy and quick place to stop.
Clean, well-​stocked, well-​lit restrooms. That’s the nicest part — you never know what youre going to get from a rest stop. There are vending machines, but if you want more substantial food youre better on traveling on to Westley or Patterson (or bet yet, Santa Nella — with Del Taco and Pea Soup!)

As a history buff, I always love finding random fun facts about the CA landscape and U. S history. This is a Blue Star Memorial Highway spot. Wikipedia it.
As far as the facilities… well the best I can say is that I’ve seen worse. So if you are on the I-​5 and need a spot to rest, look out for the Westley Rest Area and check out the history while you are here. You won’t be disappointed.

Definitely not the best of rest stops… The stalls in the women’s restroom didn’t lock very well and there were flies everywhere! It was quite gross to try to do your business with so many flies buzzing around. The sinks are also not automatic which is annoying and there was very little soap in the dispensers.

As most of the rest stops on I-​5, this one couldn’t have come soon enough. The bathrooms were what you would have expected… heavily used, but hey, its an I-​5 rest stop.
Easy in and out access back on to the road after a stretch session.

I stopped at the Larry Combs Memorial rest area while traveling South on the I-​5. The grassy area just as you pull in has a sign designating it as a pet area, but remember they must be on a leash per county ordinance.
There are two sets of restrooms on either side of an open plaza with well stocked vending machines. The ladies restroom to the North has 3 stalls. It was fairly clean but there was some toilet paper on floor. The lock was broken on the first stall so that the door won’t stay shut. All three stalls were stocked with plenty of toilet paper, and the first and third stalls had paper toilet seat covers. There were skylights for added natural lighting, no graffiti anywhere, and windows up high that open allowing for a slight breeze and reducing any chance of a lingering odor.
(Update: 2÷9÷15 — signs are posted next to the sink advising us NOT to drink the water because of contamination. I wasn’t planning to DRINK the water, but now I am feeling less confident about having washed my hands with it)
There are several drinking fountains and a payphone in the central plaza area. There are plenty of trees to provide shade. There are eight covered picnic tables plus two more uncovered tables for picnicking or just resting. I’ve never thought about picnicking at a rest area, but if you’re travelling with kids and pets this would be very nice to help everybody get a little break from being stuck in a crowded vehicle together.
There is a sanitary dump for trailers and RVs just before you get back on the freeway.
This rest area is not fancy but has a little something to appeal to every weary traveller on the road.

So you are making that heavy push from North to South or South to North across California… and suddenly you pooch starts making it known it needs to hop out of the ride or that one of your friends decides that they dont want to use a shrubbery to take a leak… Well this place is just what you need then…
Its located just south of the ⁵⁸⁰⁄₅ «Y». This location makes it highly accessible for most ppl traveling between the bay area or sacto area and so cal.
Pro Tip: You are not supposed to stay overnight at a rest stop, but everyone does it if they are too tired… I have countless times as well… or for a couple of hours sometimes.
There is plenty of truck parking here as well as regular automotive parking. I dont think that I have ever been here when there is not plenty of parking.
Just make sure you clean up after your dog and keep it on a leash if fido or rex needs to take care of business as well.

I found this rest stop to be visually relaxing and does what it is intended to do. Maintenance workers were on duty when we arrived to use the facilities, which made it feel safe. This is one of the first rest areas my boyfriend and I stopped at on I-​5 heading to southern Ca.

There was plenty of parking spaces for all vehicles from cars to trucks. Nice lawn areas with shade trees for humans and dogs to walk around on. Lots of picnic tables were available either under covered shelters or out in the open. There was even a separate small building with vending machines.
I can only speak about the women’s rest room. While I noticed that about half of the other reviewers spoke about how dirty it was, it appeared clean on the morning I used it. I did have some annoyances though… There were 2 sinks, but only 1 was working. There were 3 stalls on one side of the room, but 2 of the stall doors wouldn’t latch. There’s nothing more irritating than having to hold the stall door closed while trying to squat over a toilet. The toilet paper was one ply, but seemed even thinner than 1 ply! I had to grab a larger than normal amount of TP just to get the job done! The toilets have automatic flush systems, which is nice, but mine didn’t cooperate, so I still had to manually press the button.
These are the pros and cons of this rest area. At least it’s there when you need it! And I think the pros outweigh the cons.

Last stop off the 5 freeway (from LA) before the 580 to SF/​OAK.
Not too clean restrooms and Westley smells like COW DUNG. Oh wait… there’s a cow pasture right behind the area. For a rest stop, this will suffice!