2009 Roadtrip: Update #12.5

Well, South Carolina was kind of a bore. We made our last stop for gas and a bathroom break at the BP station on exit 65 of I-20, just outside of Columbia. Why am I giving you all these details on the BP station's location? Because you must avoid it at all costs. The bathrooms were just horrible. Single toilet bathrooms that were so gross, you were afraid of contracting swine flu by just touching the toilet handle to flush it. I'm sick to death of the fact that I forgot to take a picture of the sign.  Anyhow, the verdict was unanimous:


Max tried to give a thumbs-down also, but then he got caught up mugging for the camera. I can't blame him for being non-committal since he never actually went into the bathroom in the first place:



Anyways, after getting back on the road, we all settled in for lunch and safe with the knowledge that we would not have to be making another stop-- the gas tank was full and there was certainly NO WAY anyone would need a bathroom break in the next six hours:



*grunt, grunt*

*strain, grunt, grunt*

Huh? What's that? Why's Jack grunting like... OH MY GOD WHAT JUST DIED IN HERE? Apparently he pooped out something radioactive that was burning a hole in his backside:



And at the same time his howling is going on... wait! What's that up ahead? It's... SOUTH OF THE BORDER!



Well, we certainly weren't going to stop at a run down sideshow attraction to help alleviate Jack's problems, but as we were trying to figure out why there was this group of carnie rides called SOUTH OF THE BORDER:



Yes! We finally made it to North Carolina! And just in time because you know what there is when you cross the border?



A welcome center is the perfect place to stop and change a radioactive diaper, so we decided to pull in, stretch our legs and let anyone who needed to take one last shot at the bathrooms.



Look at how excited the kids are to be in North Carolina! Well, so everyone's tired of being in a car and the crankiness is starting to set in, but this is the last leg, so we still think we're doing pretty good.



I took Kiki to the best-marked bathrooms we've seen the whole trip:



I didn't use the facilities, but she reports that they were, by far, the biggest, best and cleanest bathrooms so far:



Finally back on the road, we got to see a wicked multi-car accident (although there was nothing on fire, so my previous post was only a little off the mark).



And now we're on the final leg to the coastal islands of North Carolina. Max decided he wanted to blog up about what happened, so he went on his computer, but I don't think it's internet-ready:



The next update will probably not be until tonight after we've gotten to our house.