South of the (Carolina) Border

Dillon, South Carolina (July 2006)

We rode through hundreds of miles along Interstate 95 with a constant barrage of “Pedro Says” this and “Pedro Says” that signs. Finally, a giant sombrero beckoned us to an offramp (map). Roadside advertising beat us so badly that we felt compelled to stop. Our older son still recites Pedro’s famous weather report: “Chile Today, Hot Tamale.”

I discovered that South of the Border seemed infinitely more interesting at 3:00 in the morning with a rented van full of fraternity brothers on the way to a bowl game in Florida than in the middle of the day in the hot, blazing South Carolina sun with a couple of road-weary children.

I won’t need to stop again.