travel question

I will be covering the Gator Bowl, and my wife and son are going with me. We are spending the upcoming weekend at her parents' house in Banner Elk, N.C. Then, we want to drive halfway to Jacksonsville, Fla., on Christmas, then drive the rest of the way the next day. It's about an eight-hour trip and we want to divide it up for our son's sake (he's only 15 months). Can anyone tell me a good town to stay in south of Columbia, S.C.? We would like to drive between four and five hours on Christmas, which would put us past Columbia. I don't know enough about the area to know a good (and safe) town/city for our one-night stay. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

I stayed in Orangeburg on a road trip once, also splitting up a drive to Florida. There are some OK chain places there, I think i stayed at a Fairfield Inn.

 

Yeah, there isn't much after Orangeburg before you get to Savannah.

 

Savannah is nice, but at that point you'd be about two hours from Jacksonville...

 

Thanks. Orangeburg it is, I guess.

 

word of advice: book your room now. My wife and I live in N.C., and we go to Jacksonville a lot. One trip we figured we'd stop somewhere along the way, but every hotel along I-95 was booked (it was around the holidays). We ended up sleeping for 3 hours at a rest stop and then trucking on. Not as much traffic along I-26, where Orangeburg is, but if you're going any farther you might want a room ASAP.

 

Backyardigan, thanks for the tip. I made reservations this evening. Unfortunately, it looks like Christmas dinner will be at -- and I'm not kidding -- the local Waffle House because all of the surrounding restaurants I called will be closed that day. But not the Waffle House. "We open all day every day," a sweet old lady told me when I called this evening. Maybe I can find a nice Chinese restaurant like the family from The Christmas Story. FA RA RA RA RA...

 

Nothing says Christmas dinner like a fried steak served by a waitress with a Pall Mall smoldering in the corner of her mouth!