It used to be the abandoned playground on the opposite side of the road from South of the Border that looked like an old Soviet play place, and was quite huge and rusting. I think they’ve torn it down, though.
Quite true. We’ve also done that, numerous times. It’s a real treat in high winds!
To be fair, if we’re crossing that en route from DC to Florida, we are very, very confused! (for those who don’t know, it’s 90 minutes or so NORTH of us).
Ahhhh. South of the Border! (in South Carolina, just across the state line from North Carolina). Billboards for something like 100 miles in either direction, along I-95 - though they seem to have diminished in number in recent years.
Intentionally tacky-as-hell. I vaguely recall once driving past it at night and several features were brightly lit and kinda pretty. I’ve only stopped there a small handful of times, both times to pick up some Blenheim Ginger Ale (made by the same family that owns SotB), and it always seems run down and depressing.
There are a lot of RV sales places along the highway in various places. And at one point, in SC or Georgia, there is some kind of hot tub dealership with dozens or hundreds of hot tub “shells” sitting out on display in a field. Strange.
Racist as hell, too. If they tried that imagery/statuary/attitude in SoCal, they’d have been burritos decades ago. Still, I took my students there when we were in Charlotte for Nationals one year.
I’ve been to South of the Border a couple of times and it is tacky. But it’s also the home of Blenheim Bottling, the makers of the best ginger ale in the USA (in my opinion, anyway 
) I don’t know if they do factory tours, but you should be able to pick up a six pack on the campus somewhere.
yep - there’s a large convenience / grocery store right in the thick of things - we bought 4 6-packs. on our last drive north. 1 of the real 'dissolve your tonsils" original, 1 of the 'wusses only" ( which is still more gingery than regular stuff), and 2 of the sugar free. Red, gold and white caps, respectively.