Ontario California Truck Stops

San Francisco (Gay Bay) is not a Zoo. It's a total #### hole (not literally) just as bad a New York City, Detroit, and some other big city crap holes with no truck stops, only travel plazas on their high dollar toll roads, and still s**tty roadsm and highways.

 

Where is Farmers Brothers, and how much do they charge to park?

 

Here's my secret parking spot in Fontana.
Dropped pin Near 15252 Valley Blvd, Fontana, CA 92335 Google Maps

 

I was just at that Petro, when I left in the morning the guy was too lazy to check the receipts so he just let out a bunch of trucks

 

i tell ya there aint no better feelin than seein that great big arizona flag sign sayin welcome to arizona after u been in cali all week, puts a smile on my face everytime

 

One can a

One can also park on street across from the GAF plant on Industrial Ave., as I just learned this past Friday.

I could've...but I didn't, since I had to do a 34, so I reserved me a spot for two nights (my company reimburses me for parking expenses AND pays me extra for doing a 34 away from home), and PC'd on over to the good ol' TA in Ontario. And thus I began my own Ontario truck stop experience.

For starters, that was only my second time in Cali--my first time was back in 2014 with s different company (TMC, for those scoring at home)--had a loaf of paper from Pryor OK headed to the port of Long Beach. And it was horrible...to start with, the 15 from Barstow down to pretty much just north of LA proper, was all tore up and under construction, and at 3, 4a.m. I couldn't see the road lines for jack. Figured I would've been good getting thru LA at 430, 5 am--NOPE! Bumper to bumper. I had a much easier time getting out of LB to Rancho Cucamonga and then back up the 15 before I ran out of hours--at the Wild West TS in Vegas. (So guess who got a free 34 out of that one??) So that was my previous CA experience as a 3-year young buckaroo at that point.

Fast forward to last week, when I was given a load of skid loaders from Waterloo IA to Lakeside, on the northeast corner of San Diego. I was initially hesitant bcuz of my previous experience out there (after which I told myself I'd never go back out there again), not to mention that horses#!+ 55mph split speed limit as well as all the horror stories of the DOT I'd heard sbout and even read about in here--but oddly enough didn't get bothered by my first time out there). I hesitated on taking it--but for a half second, before the allure of the adventure talked me into it. And I'm glad I did. This time, though, this now-8-year buckaroo knew what to expect.

Aside from some jack-up on 215 headed down to the 15 to Lakeside, it was actually relatively smooth sailing for a late Friday morning. Got to Lakeside about 1130 a.m., unloaded--and then turned around and booked it--and I do mean booked it--back up to Fontana to load up my shingles before they closed. (Yeah I did catch traffic back up and busted my line 3 by 11 minutes to get there, but I also learned something about the po-pos down past Riverside: unless I just caught them on a good day, they didn't seem to care much about the split speed limit. Let's just say my orange needle broke the double nickel by a good margin most of the way down and back. )

And so I made it to GAF to load up--and this, after all that long story, is how I come to find out about the street parking on Industrial Ave. Hehe...

...And so now on to the TA.

First off: the parking situation want anywhere near as bad as I was expecting. (Then again I parked in the spaces along the fence right up by the entry booth.) And, for those who may not know this because I certainly didn't and am this glad I asked, if you reserve a parking space, that does count toward that $20 fee. Hope that helps someone in the future. Second, yeah the inside was butt, but at least they had an ample amount of washers and dryers so I could get my laundry done quick. (And as an aside, those washers actually had full size buckets--I've noticed some TAs have the "half-size" buckets in their washers, like, say the one in Nashville.) But left you think I camped out in that TA...oh no!

With Ontario Mills Mall--and Del Taco and s couple other FF joints--being right across the bridge, that's where I intended to spend my day...until curiosity got the better of me and I looked to see how far I was from downtown LA since I'd never been before, and then found out there exists a bus route...so I say go yally that if you ever do end up 34ing in Ontario and wanna get out, walk across the freeway and catch the OmniTransit route 61 to Pomona--the bus stop is right in front of the US Bank on the first street to the left after the freeway entance--and that'll take you to the Pomona Transit Center. Transfer there to the Silver Streak and that'll take you into downtown Los Angeles, the last stop of which will drop you a block from Staples Center & the LA Convention Center. Fare is 1.50 for the 61, 2.75 for the Silver Streak one way, so about $9 total round trip. All total it takes about two and a half hours one way, but it's worth it if you wanna get out the truck stop and go see some stuff, which is why I'm sharing all this. (This also speaks to something I'm learning to do more on this second go-round OTR: if Imma be bustin' my behind to make a living out here--& for the record I do like the living--i can also learn to LIVE while being out here and ENJOY myself and not feel guilty about it! And I say this to anyone reading this who can feel that, too.)

All in all, I had a good second run back to and out of Cali, and on that wise I think I've officially kicked my reservations about Cali for good.

 

You can be cited for parking there, the entire City of Fontana now prohibits parking a Commercial Vehicle on a City Street except to pickup or deliver. While they normally leave us alone, every now and then they will run sweeps of areas and cite any trucks they see parked.

 

Given a choice, I go to Petro. The best way I can describe the feeling is comparing CVS and Walgreens. TA is like CVS, efficient, but impersonal. Petro is a tad more welcoming.

 

You know i never have any problems with california as long as im in another state, but as soon as i cross that border something inside of me just says #### this place

 

I haven't been there in years, they were both TA's then. The first time I ever went to one, the east side if I recall was on a friday evening and I was going to have to stay at least till monday to find a load out at the earliest. I called my wife as soon as I got backed into a hole to see if she had found me anything yet, and a truck stopped for a second and let a lizard out, while I was still on the phone she switched to another truck. I went inside to get something to eat and came back out, called the old lady and told her, never mind a load, I will be home in the morning, it was only 996 miles. lol
I did spend a night there later on and there was trucks bobtailed back and forth all night long, like they were kids dragging main, I don't know what that was all about, after that if I had to stay in the area I would stay at the sisters. I pulled in cherry street once, and figured that if I went inside they would surely issue me a gun if I promised to stay there for the night. lol
I don't know where this cowboys or farmer brothers is.