I am spending the next several days driving to Washington, DC. The last time I drove down 95, I remembered seeing South of the Border, SC as we passed it from the other side of the highway, too late to stop.

It is a miracle, a Mexican Las Vegas-esque oasis in the middle of nowhere, South Carolina. Or so I thought.

It looks amazing. In one night, this one town must use the same amount of electricity as the rest of the state uses in one month. There is more neon covering a half square mile than I've ever seen outside of Vegas. However, with all the neon and flashing lights, you would think this place would be hopping on a Saturday night. They've got arcade games, restaurants, bars, motels... and no one was there.

Two restaurants we walked into closed at 10:00pm. It was 9:50pm; they both pointed to Pedro's, "They're open until midnight!," Great.

We walked into Pedro's to get some burgers or tacos or whatever they were selling, and there was Pedro himself, mopping the floor with the dirtiest bucket of water I've ever seen, smoking his cigarette and snarking at us with a glare as we walked in. We ordered our goodies at the counter, and the cashier, using the high-tech ordering system they had (paper orders... handed to the 'chef') wandered out to her car to smoke... something, forgetting to hand our order to the casher. We're sitting, waiting for about 10 minutes before we even realize what the problem is. No one else is in the restaurant, just us and Pedro. I wander outside to take some photographs of this bizarre place. On my way out, Pedro snarks some more as I walk over his freshly mopped floor. Another cashier figures out the problem, completes our order and we're on our way. It appears that there should be some life here, but the lots are empty, the stores are closed...

I bet you thought this story was going somewhere... no, no, South of the Border, SC is just that frightening.

Labels: awkward, neon, scary, touring, travel, useless blog