There aren't too many places to stop for gas, munchies, and restrooms (clean or otherwise) once you reach the middle of the Grapevine, but this Chevron always did the trick for us.
For years, we would all pile into my mom's van and make the 2 1/2 hour drive down to Placentia every Sunday afternoon to go West Coast Swing dancing (See my review of The Clubhouse www.yelp.com/biz/the-clubhouse-dance-studio-placentia#hrid:Pm-UYF8Vu64KaQ7vBomPDg/src:self ) Mom would pack coolers full of drinks and baskets of goodies for us to munch on the ride down while we played dance videos or movies on the DVD player in the back. We'd leave Placentia between 11:00 and midnight, and by the time we reached the Grapevine on the ride home, we'd all be asleep in the back while my mom drove. This Chevron, and the attached convenience store and restrooms, were a convenient stop to stretch her legs and pick up a caffeinated drink to keep her going the rest of the way home. Sometimes we woke up and used the restroom, too, and sometimes we just slept right on through.
My mother will probably kill me when she reads this review and finds out that I shared this story publicly, but even she'll have to admit it's the God's honest truth and I can't ever pass this exit without thinking about it. On one of these trips home, I remember waking up in the van in the parking lot of this Chevron. My brother was still asleep, but his dance partner, Marcie, was awake. I went into the convenience store and saw my mom bending over the freezer that housed the ice cream sandwiches and other frozen treats. I walked past her into the (very clean) restroom. I walked out and got back into the van. As mom was exiting the parking lot, Marcie suddenly blurted out "They tried to leave you!" Apparently, when mom got back into the van she hadn't noticed I was missing and had started to get back on the freeway before mMarcie realized that I was missing. They quietly pulled back into the parking lot and evidently all agreed not to rat her out - though obviously the strain of keeping the secret proved too much for one of them.
So, my advice is to stop here to take advantage of the gas, munchies, and clean restrooms. HOWEVER - DO NOT get out of the car without your purse or cell phone as I did, because if nobody notices you're missing, you could be there far longer than I was. ADDITIONALLY - Count heads before you pull out of the parking lot, and if you do leave somebody and want to swear the others to secrecy off some type of incentive for them to keep the silence ;) read more