On the way back from our honeymoon, we decided to drive as far as we could before it got too hot, because the Carolinas (we hung out in the mountains for our moon) decided to ramp up the heat to triple digits.
We made it from our campsite to a rest stop, to Clinton, SC just a few miles down the road. (We don't have air conditioning in the van, so we were trying our hardest to keep cool using chilled antibacterial wipes (left over from Memorial Day's trip to Burley Park last year, coincidentally). It wasn't really working. We suffered through the miles, and came across the hotel coupon book at the rest area. We picked a good-looking hotel, and decided to aim for it. We decided - after a few miles - that the hotel we had picked was still too far away. Thankfully, there was another hotel in the coupon book. We pulled off the highway, drove past the hotel in the book because it looked rather sketchy, drove past another sketchy hotel, and came upon the Oasis of Comfortsuites. We arrived before check-in time, but the concierge (or desk lady) let us watch NCIS on some super comfy couches while the room was getting ready, there was a fountain in the breakfast area (it was decently fooded the next day) and (still one-and-a-half hours early) we got to check in to a beautifully frigid room that had been freshly cleaned. !!
After anti-thawing for a bit and doing two loads of laundry, we decided to get Waffle House for dinner "just to say we've been there."
It was maybe half a mile down the road, so we changed our clothes and drove to the restaurant - because outside still felt like the surface of Venus.
We walked in and seated ourselves in the corner at the far end of the place, and not just because 2/3 of the customers were breathing out CO from their noxious sticks, but because the corner is where all good policemen / government agents / spies like to sit [because you can see the whole restaurant!] to wait for our server, who was just on the other side of the wall from us. She leaned over and asked us what we wanted to drink - chocolate milk for me! Mountain Happiness for David! Then we ordered our food (after looking at the menu. I ordered (I thought) hash browns, sausage gravy, a pecan waffle, and a scrambled egg. The waitress ordered that for me - along with some meat and toast. I was trying to ask her if they had a meal with the items I wanted... Oh, well. I was able to make sure David ate some of my food so he wouldn't go hungry later.
Overall, our experience at the Waffle House was less than it could have been. The food was edible, but we could smell the smoke from other customers, and frankly (no pun intended, ... well, sorta not intended) it reminded me a lot of Red Hot Inn.
Conclusion? IHOP> Waffle House. I don't do well driving/riding in the heat. And any hotel with a fountain is worth a stay - even with repairs going on in almost every other room in the building!
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