RALEIGH – Amanda Williams’ decision to stop by a convenience store for water on a hot day ended with a cool $100,000 win in the Mega Bucks scratch-off game Sunday.

Williams, a paralegal studies student from Granite Falls, her husband, Eric, and their two children were heading home after a weekend camping trip when the family decided to stop for refreshment at the Market Basket convenience store on N.C. 268 West in Wilkesboro. Amanda bought water and two Mega Bucks tickets.

Eric scratched off the lucky ticket just as Amanda was driving away from the store. “He just yelled at me and screamed,” recalled Amanda, who picked up her check from lottery headquarters Monday. “His face went white, my face went white, and we just high fived. Everybody was screaming.”

The Williams said they will use a portion of their winnings, worth $68,001 after taxes were withheld, to buy clothes for their kids, fund a beach trip for their daughter’s thirteenth birthday and buy a much-needed new car. The couple drives a 1994 SUV, and said they had to borrow a car to pick up their check.

“I’m still in shock,” she said. “It doesn’t quite feel real yet.”

As of Monday afternoon, 10 $100,000 top prizes remain to be claimed in the Mega Bucks game.

Since the lottery began through June 30, 2012, Caldwell County education programs received more than $17.8 million in lottery funds. By law, those funds pay for teachers’ salaries in grades K-3, school construction, prekindergarten programs for at-risk four-year-olds, and college scholarships and financial aid based on need.

To date, the N.C. Education Lottery has raised more than $2.8 billion for these initiatives statewide.