Our ultimate one day Buc-ee’s adventure: Worth every mile (Opinion)

🔴 Are you a Buc'ee's fan?

🔴 NJ 101.5's Jen Ursillo and Eric Potts took a road trip to Buc-ee's, South Carolina

🔴 They did it in one day

You’ve seen the sign on the northbound New Jersey Turnpike just past Exit 8 — “Buc-ee’s: 581 miles South.”

There’s not a Buc-ee’s in New Jersey. The closest is in Florence, South Carolina. So, would you be willing to drive 10 hours there and 10 hours back in under 24 hours for a brisket sandwich? That’s 581 miles there and 581 miles back. And, is it even possible to do this trip in a day?

The answer is “yes” and “yes”…and I know because I did on Saturday.

What is Buc-ee’s?

Buc-ee’s is a chain of stores and gas stations (the largest gas station in the country), headquartered in Lake Jackson, Texas. The chain was founded in 1982 in Clute, Texas. Then, in 2018, the company went on a huge expansion explosion, opening locations all over the U.S.

Buc-ee’s is known for its ginormous gas stations, with some locations sporting about 100 to 120 pumps. However, no 18-wheelers are permitted at any of its locations because the parking lots and driveways are not designed to accommodate truckers.

It’s also known for its massive store inside, which is open 24/7 and attracts thousands and thousands of people daily. Think Walmart and Wawa having a baby and that’s Buc-ees. It’s also famous for its brisket and pulled pork sandwiches, “the wall of jerky,” and beaver nuggets.

If you want a souvenir, there’s so much to choose from: shirts, hats, beach towels, cups, pool toys, sandals, bathing suits, stuffed animals, clothes, candles, caramels, nuts, fudge, and so much more, all with the official Buc-ee’s logo.

They even have beaver nugget-scented candles. You could spend hours inside. It's insane.

The Buc-ee’s chain is also well-known for the cleanliness of its bathrooms (in fact, it won the Cintas award in 2012 for “Best Bathroom in America”), and its mascot named — you guessed it — Buc-ee the Beaver.

If you have not been to a Buc-ee’s, you must get to one and see what all the hype is about. There are so many to visit. As of March 2024, Buc-ee’s has 48 locations in the U.S. You’ll find them in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas.

The biggest Buc-ee’s location is in Luling, Texas, according to the company. It spans more than 75,000 square feet and offers 120 fuel pumps.

The closest Buc-ee’s to New Jersey is in Florence, South Carolina — about 10 hours away, and that’s how this hair-brained, crazy, plan came to light.

The Buc-ee’s Planned Road Trip

It was the night before Thanksgiving 2023 and New Jersey 101.5 fill-in host, stand-up comedian, and retired police officer Eric Potts was doing the 7 p.m. to 11 p.m. shift on the air.

I was hanging out at the station waiting to go to Trenton-Mercer Airport to pick up my son who was flying in from Florida for Thanksgiving break. So, I went on the air with Eric during the last hour of his show. The topic was favorite convenience stores.

People were calling in about places like Wawa, Sheetz, and other places, when Eric and I both mentioned Buc-ee’s. We found out how much we both loved it. He had been to the one in South Carolina before and I had been to the one in Daytona Beach, Florida. The phones lit up with Buc-ee’s fans.

So, Eric came up with the idea that we should take a road trip to Buc-ee’s in South Carolina since it was the closest. Of course, I agreed. He was kidding. I was not. If you challenge me, I’m going to take you up on it.

Whenever we saw each other around the radio station, Eric would mention the trip and jokingly laugh it off. But I decided, life is too short. Let’s just do it.

I told Eric to put Sat., June 22 on his calendar. We’re going to Buc-ee’s.

Of course, so many people tried to talk us out of it because it was crazy. We were going to drive 10 hours to Florence, S.C., shop and eat at Buc-ee’s, and then drive 10 hours home. That was it. No other stops on the road trip. Just there and back. Even Eric tried to get out of it a couple of times but I wouldn’t let him.

Plus, we were getting orders for beaver nuggets (I’ll explain that in a bit).

We knew we couldn’t do this by ourselves, so Eric’s eldest son, EJ, volunteered to come and be a third driver, if needed. We even took his truck.

The Trip

While we were both pumped for this one-day road trip challenge, we still kept asking ourselves, “Why are we doing this?” “Are we nuts?” “Is this worth it?” The answers? We’re doing it because we love a good challenge. Yes, we are nuts. Yes, it was worth it.

We came prepared for this trip with a cooler full of water (we were in the middle of a heat wave), a state trivia game, car karaoke, crazy stories, and more.

Eric met me at the New Jersey 101.5 studios and we left at 1:10 a.m. with a full tank of gas to start, Eric at the wheel, me in the front seat, EJ in the back, and my stuffed Buc-ee’s that I bought during my Daytona Beach trip to keep us company.

We were so excited to begin our adventure and immediately we hit a snag. We didn’t even get to the stop sign and we got pulled over. Uh-oh. Eric forgot to turn his headlights on. All good. He knew the cop so no ticket. Then, we were on our way.

During our very long drive, we talked, we laughed, we played music, we did state trivia, we played 21 questions, we made stupid jokes, and we made videos.

Eric introduced me to bluegrass music which he grew up on because his dad was from West Virginia. I made him play some Bruce Springsteen in the car. It’s all about compromise, right?

A couple of hours in, we stopped at the Maryland House where we stretched our legs, the men got snacks (Eric needed his pop tarts), and then we were off again.

Eric was a real trooper as he drove the entire 10 hours to our destination. At one point he started to hit a wall and began speaking in a southern twang. This sparked us to make a video about “Southern twang slang.” You can see that video on our New Jersey 101.5 Facebook page.

I learned a lot about Eric on this trip and our “opposites.” He is a retired police officer and detective. He was in the army. He loves the Phillies. I love the Mets. He loves the Eagles. I love the Jets. He loves the Flyers. I’m an Islanders fan. He does not like roller coasters. I’m a daredevil. He needs to wear compression socks so his legs don’t swell. I do not. He has three kids. I have one. His son EJ and my son Ryan have the same birthday. We both love classic rock. We both can’t sing and our Southern twang needs a lot of help.

We passed a few notable landmarks on the way such as the Philip Morris Manufacturing Center just south of Richmond, Virginia.

Plus, we had to stop at the world-famous attraction, South of the Border just off I-95 in Hamer, South Carolina. How could we not? Pedro, its famous mascot, wanted us to stop there. South of the Border has been a landmark of the southeast for nearly 70 years.

To get commuters excited, there are tons of creative, funny signs along I-95 letting them know they are getting closer and closer to this exciting place.

Check out some of these signs

Then, in the distance you see the giant sombrero and you know you’ve made it.

The 104-foot tall image of the mascot, Pedro greets drivers as they enter South of the Border. It’s a little town complete with a restaurant, a cocktail lounge, a motel, a gas station, a ton of souvenir shops, and it’s home to reptile lagoon, which I wanted to go to, but I was outvoted.

There were not a lot of people visiting when we went. It used to be packed back in the day. Who knows? Maybe Buc-ee’s, which is only 30 miles away has become the bigger attraction.

Anyway, a quick stop, quick pictures, and we're out. Buc-ee’s was waiting.

Grand arrival at Buc-ee’s

At 10:10 am, we arrived at Buc-ee’s. Remember, we left at 1:10 a.m. with only three quick stops in between (Maryland House, a gas station, and South of the Border). So, it took us nine hours to get there with zero traffic.

The line to get into the Buc-ee’s parking lot was insanely crowded. There were 100 fuel pumps, and every one of them was occupied, with a long line of cars waiting to fill up there.

Remember, no trucks are allowed.

We find a parking spot, and when we exit the truck, we’re immediately smacked in the face with the southern heat (it was a scorcher), mixed with the scent of brisket wafting in the air. Ahhh…brisket.

Before we went inside, we had to take our picture with the giant Buc-ee’s statue out front. It’s a rite of passage, after all.

Eric, EJ, and I make our way into Buc-ee’s. There were hundreds and hundreds of people milling around, shopping, ordering food, and checking out at registers. Now, granted, we expected it to be crowded, but this was just nuts.

There are a lot of Buc-ee’s fans out there, but I had to wonder — were most of these people stopping here on their way to their vacation destination spot, returning from vacation, or was anyone else crazy enough like us to do a nine to 10-hour drive JUST to go to Buc-ee’s?

If you’ve never been inside, the first big attraction inside is the red beetle car with Buc-ee behind the wheel and the car packed with Buc-ee stuffed animals.

There is so much merchandise, you don’t even know where to look first. There are clothes, hats, shorts, pajamas, onesies, blankets, pillows, jewelry, car accessories, bathing suits, pool toys, shoes, backyard goodies, cell phone holders, cups, wine glasses, water bottles, candles, Buc-ees coffee, and teas.

Smack in the middle of the store is the brisket sandwich-making station. You can watch Buc-ee employees make brisket and pulled-pork sandwiches.

Munch on a cone of hot roasted pecans.

Customize a sampler box of Buc-ee’s famous fudge.

It truly is a sight.

Don’t forget to grab a Buc-ee’s drink, and a pecan log, and be sure to hit the restrooms.

Remember, they are the cleanest.

We split up so we could all do our shopping. I had a list of requested items from Buc-ee’s fans from back home.

I bought beach towels, pool toys, floats, beach balls, sandals, and a cooler.

I also got Buc-ee’s coffee, caramels, pecan logs, fresh roasted nuts, Buc-ee’s famous fudge, a pulled pork sandwich, and beaver tots.

I could not leave without bags of Buc-ee’s famous Beaver nuggets in original, cinnamon and sea salted caramel flavors.

This was the most highly requested item from friends. I was bummed they didn’t have the chocolate-flavored nuggets.

I perused Buc-ee’s Famous Wall of Jerky. Yes, it exists. Name the flavor and the heat level, Buc’ee’s has it. I brought back a hot and spicy jerky bag for Bill Spadea because he’s a jerky fan.

I think I went overboard with the shopping but I just couldn't stop.

Eric got the brisket and left with some cool souvenirs too, like a Buc-ee’s hat and a shirt. Let’s put it this way — it’s easy to drop a few hundred bucks in there.

I got my picture taken with Buc-ee the mascot next to the red beetle car. Eric was nowhere to be found (probably napping in the car by this time after driving 9 hours).

We spent about two hours inside Buc-ee’s and nobody could believe that we spent two hours inside.

If you’ve never been, it’s hard to fathom. But if you have, then you get why we were in there for a long time. There is just so much to see and you don’t want to miss anything.

Just so you know, there is no place to eat the food that you order. So, Eric and I went out to the truck and stood outside with our perfect brisket and pulled pork sandwiches, beaver tots, and roasted pecans, and just enjoyed every bite, while relishing in our achievement.

Then it hit us…..Dear God. We have to drive back.

So, back in the truck we went, and started our long trek back home.

The Ride Home

We departed Buc-ee’s at about 12:30 p.m. The GPS told us we would arrive back at New Jersey 101.5 at 9:30 p.m. Not bad.

The trip home was a lot quieter because let’s face it, we were hot and tired. Well, Eric was hot and tired. I was still a bundle of energy and could not stop bouncing around, which he could not understand.

Eric’s son, EJ drove the first few hours home until Eric got antsy in the back seat and decided to take over the wheel about 3 ½ hours into the ride. I offered to drive, believe me. But he wanted to drive so I wasn’t going to argue.

We still sang, chatted, and told stories.

Everything was going great until we hit Virginia. Dead stop everywhere. There was so much traffic and a few impatient drivers, to put it mildly. Let’s just say Eric had some colorful words for these drivers.

Once we got through Virginia, it was smooth sailing. One more stop at the Maryland House for a fuel-up, a quick bite, and back on the road.

We still sang and told stories and learned things about each other but there was no doubt Eric was fading. I was still giggling and on a Buc-ee’s high. Maybe it was the bag of beaver nuggets I ate or just the excitement that, “We did it!”

We arrived back at the station at 10 p.m. We did one more Facebook Live video, hugged it out, said we would definitely take another road trip together again, and went our separate ways.

I was home and in my bed by 11:30 p.m. We did it! We drove to Buc-ee’s and back in less than 24 hours. How cool is that?

Was it weird to do it? Yes. Was it crazy to do it? Yes. Is it the way I would normally spend a Saturday in the summer instead of going to the beach? No. But, we did it. I have zero regrets, except I didn’t get chocolate-flavored beaver nuggets.

I would definitely do another road trip with Eric Potts. He’s crazier than a June bug on a July night in my mason jar of lemonade. That was part of the Southern twang slang game we played.

You can see that video and so many others on our New Jersey 101.5 Facebook page.

I hope you enjoyed the adventure with us; whether it was through our Facebook Live videos, listening to us promote it on the radio, reading this article, checking out the photos, and more.

Thank you so much for taking the 581 mile trip there and back with us!

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