Amazingly Weird

Sunday, September 27, 2026

Our friend Gary described Buc-ee’s as amazingly weird and I could not have said it better. Buc-ee’s is a chain of travel stores known for many gas pumps and clean bathrooms. Why they are enormous and filled with a gazillion people, I don’t know.

Coming South from Charlotte our direction voice had us not turn where the sign said Florence (town of Buc-ee’s). We trusted her and continued our lovely drive through South Carolina countryside.

We got to see two water towers that I didn’t understand.

We got to see cotton fields.

We ended up coming out on the street that went straight into the Buc-ee’s parking lot, crossing the stream of cars coming from the interstate. There were so many cars that were stopped, waiting to creep up the exit, cross the bridge, and come down the road to turn into the parking lot. Absolutely crazy!

Inside, Buc-ee’s was mobbed. It was like the Disney Main Street Emporium after the fireworks. I was intimidated by the crowds. I don’t know why people go here. The lines to check out were so long (but they moved very quickly because of lots of people working). The prices were fine, but nothing special – $9 for a tasty brisket sandwich – except giant BOGO sodas were $0.79. Everyone had one, including us. The bathroom was indeed clean and nice, and they had a full-time person telling you which stall to use. Each stall had a red/green light above it, so we could probably have figured it out. She was directing people to different places (24 stalls, I think), but it really would have helped if there were numbers over the doors. That seems a simple thing that would really help. I must remember to send them a helpful suggestion note. I asked two ladies I was by in line if they had come here before (thinking maybe everyone comes once, just to see it), and they both had – a bunch of times. Of course, we bought a ton of stuff. Soda and chips and brisket sammiches and fudge and sweet nuts and peanut brittle and beaver nuts or pellets or whatever their thing is called and a chicken stuffed with jambalaya. Yes. A mostly deboned chicken stuffed with jambalaya. It was my idea. Can you believe I had to talk Keith into it? Surprised me.

We drove on to Myrtle Beach and checked into our place. We were surprised to get an ocean view room. It was a very pleasant surprise.

Addition by Keith: Before we travelled from Charlotte to Myrtle Beach, I used the map app on the phone to tell me if there were any interesting attractions along the way. The first two were different listings for the same Welcome to North Carolina sign at the border. The fourth was the Welcome to South Carolina sign. As you can see by the listing below (when I clicked into the first one for more info), this was not some special, fancy sign. It’s literally just a standard, simple, green road sign–possibly the lamest attraction ever. The especially funny thing to me was that the Welcome to NC sign would only be visible in the rearview mirror as we were already in NC, heading for SC. But I was lucky. I was able to enjoy this #1 attraction in the mirror as I drove by.