South of the Border

 

We have never in any of our many trips down Route 95 to Florida have we ever stopped at South of the Border.  Despite the multiple billboards (there are 175!) that line the highway, we were always on a schedule.  Not today!

In 1949 in South Carolina just at the North Carolina border, a beer stand was erected. A grill, then motel rooms then Mexican trinkets.  A cocktail lounge, gas station and then souvenirs.  Fireworks, barber shop, drug store, variety store, post office and go karts.  There is a campground and mini amusement park.  

There was a ghost town feeling to the area.  Early afternoon in mid August on a beautiful 80 degree day and we saw few people.


I loved the huge replicas of people and animals.   After visiting Mexico and setting up imports for the stores, Mr Schafer, the visionary, returned with two young men who were called Pedro and Pancho by patrons at the motel.  Pedro stuck.





A dancing alligator with a firecracker - perfect!



















It was a nice place to stop and stretch our legs after being in the car for hours.  The gift shop had lots of interesting items (for those who are not in the process of purging).  

And their philosophy - "take it easy on the road of life".  I could not agree more!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Driving Rain and Left Side Road

Image
 Today found us with lots of cloud and lots of rain.  We snuck in a fast soak in the jacuzzi this morning before our last trip to the grocery store.  A bit of fresh fruit (no fresh foods can be brought back into the states) and enough flour to continue my bread making.  We watched the downpour from the game room where I have yet to beat Paul at pool.  The closest I came was so close... Paul won after I left him this shot! The wet made getting on and off the boat a bit tricky.  During high tides, the boat is about 3 feet above the dock and 3 feet away.  Low tide 3 feet too low.  Normally Paul or I pull the boat closer and climb up or down.  Today I thankfully grabbed his hand before jumping - I slid across the wet dock and would have joined the fish on the other side!  Ugh.  No blood only a small bruise to my shin.  No jumping when wet! Our driving experience here in The Grand Bahamas. The signs:        ...
Read more

Happy (Belated) Birthday Rebecca!

Image
 I hope your day yesterday was everything a birthday should be at 23!  We love you and are happy you are part of chaos household!  💖  I apologize for being a day late!   Today we had some success and some failures.   Successes = trip to church with donate, dump with garbage and trash, lumber yard for one board needed for the bathroom, washer works well and it was warm enough to dry two loads on the dog run, sanding in bathroom is complete, walls all have second coat, dinner was great (Paul cooked) and tonight we sleep on bed sheets dried in the fresh air! Failures = the dryer is broke (I tried to dry the blankets thinking they would never dry in the cooler air), and the closeline Paul tried to hang is too stretchy (better line ordered). While in town we saw this van (also dropping off donates): And it is World Gratitude Day. People I love:  so many, here are a few:                   ...
Read more

Ocean Reef Yacht Resort, Freeport, Bahamas

Image
 It was such an amazing day I don't even know where to start.  After getting all set on the dock last night, talking about our crossing (and our mistakes) and waiting for the adrenaline to subside, we finally fell into bed at 2am. Although the crossing did not go as planned, I am still ecstatic to be here!  The West End is merely a stopping point to check in.  There is a gift shop (with little to no stock), a man selling conch salad, a beach with 2 people, the customs office and marina office.  That's it.  We walked the area in just a few  minutes. The channel out was just as narrow as I remembered .  How we maneuvered in the night - I don't know. As soon as we hit deeper water - 2 sea turtles!  One seemed to pose for the camera but I still couldn't capture him.  So cool! And lo and behold - the wind and seas were favorable!  We raised the sails, turned off the engines and sailed to our destination.  A glorious ride at 6-9 knot...
Read more