Stockton, CA

The second day of our trip was great. Even though the hotel left much to be desired, we had already made reservations at a Ho Jo in Stockton and one in LA where our son lives. Maybe Ho Jo’s in Portland are bad and old…maybe it will get better.

We stopped for coffee at Starbucks and outside were two adorable Dalmatians. (See picture above). The dogs have nothing to do with anything except I thought they were cute.

We stopped in a little town called Weed for gas. We saw from a distance a beautiful mountain called Mount Shasta. (Pictured below) Upon entering the town of Weed there was a welcome sign which stated: Weed like to welcome you. And when you leave guess what it said: Weed like to come back. These weren’t their main signs but it gave me a little chuckle.
After driving for 10 hours we stopped in the town of Stockton. It was the 4th of July and they were having their town celebration. When we arrived at Ho Jo’s we looked at each other. Our room was on the ground floor right by the pool. It was noisy. The streets were filled with people – the kind that didn’t make you feel safe. Quite the accomplishment for some former New Yorkers. I didn’t get any warm fuzzes from the sign in the lobby: We are not responsible for things stolen from your vehicle while parked in our lot. Considering my son’s belongings were in the van and there was no way to remove it, I became a bit concerned. A little prayer goes a long way.

We found a Chinese Restaurant and the food was okay, but the service was very good. We got back to the room. We prayed for God’s protection over the van and my son’s contents. Our plan was to go to sleep really early and wake up early. I got up at 2:00 am and Tom woke at 2:30 am. We hadn’t planned on this early, but I couldn’t sleep anymore. By 3:00 in the morning we checked out of the hotel. I knew it was a bad sign when the entrance to the lobby was locked and you had to ring a bell at what looked like a bullet proof window. We handed in our key through one of the drawers you see at a bank drive in window. This was quite funny to us.

We later found out from some residents that Stockton has the second highest crime rate in the country. They said never leave anything in your car because they will break into it. Thank You God for protecting my son’s belongings and us. Ho Jo number two was worse than number one. We really had a great time, believe it or not and laughed all the way to LA. Maybe Ho Jo number three will be better. Stay turned, I know you are hooked.

© Nadine Z. 2007