September 5, 2009
Airline Twin Drive-In Theatre
Winchester, Indiana
Well, after further review, last weekend was supposed to be the final Cruise and a Drive-In movie [especially since most all of the drive-in theatres are wrapping up the season and having weekend only movie showings due to the limited dusk hours and kids getting back to school, but I still “cruise” the internet and look to see which theatres [that I haven’t already visited, of course] were showing two good double features for this Labor Day weekend, although some were running “Triple Features” for the same low single admission price. Having found none, I got intereseted in finding out about the Woodbridge Michigan Cruise up in Michigan that Kevin and several other United Ford Owners members were raving about at the Fords at the Summit back in July, and thought about driving up there about now [since there would be no “traffic” to deal with this time of year since being a “Parade of One” and the lone wolf type and maybe catch a movie at a Michigan Drive-in that was still open in a good geographical distance close to the Ohio State Line is always a consideration as to my travel plans, etc.] but decided to look at other surrounding states to see what they had to offer as well!
After going to Drive-ins.com and looking up the still open Drive-ins [they also list the ones that have been since “plowed under” but still give their locations], I happened upon the Airline Twin Drive-In just across the Ohio border in Winchester, Indiana where they were going to show not two, not three, but four full length 2009 movies on each of their two screens, and as in the immortal words of the Godfather: “That was an offer I could not refuse.” I was, however planning to go on Sunday, but weather considerations for that area moved up my plans a day to head on over on Saturday [since on Friday they only planned to show just three movies]. It’s not that I don’t mind the rain [since it is more important for the farmers anyways], but it sometimes just spoils the whole day, especially with the long day and even longer evening and night just ahead, so I made sure to get plenty of naps in Friday!
With Saturday, it also brought the first game of the Ohio State Football season, and after a nail biter against Navy [and even though it was going to be a “win” for the Buckeyes] it pushed back my starting time from Brunswick Hills to 3 pm, a half hour past when I wanted to leave, and after getting everything ready [including figuring out where I was going to get gas and determining my “halfway point” since getting gas in the middle of the night in unfamiliar territory was going to be my biggest issue] I didn’t actually get started until 3:30 pm. So my original plan of chugging down US 42 on over to re-finding my way along the old Lincoln Highway and taking Route 4 to Route 47 was out the proverbial window, and hopefully could pick up US 42 at Ashland via I-71 and take another Lincoln Highway Route 89 to Mansfield after getting gas was also out the window as the Highway Patrol had “All Hands on Deck” for the Labor Day Weekend, so passed up that exit as well.
With gas getting low, I figured I could make it all the way down I-71 to Exit 140 Mt. Gilead / Sunbury where I that would be my halfway point, and with the gas needle pointing towards the Big E on the dash, was prudent on my part that if I wanted didn’t want to end up pushing it all the way back. So gassed up at the BP station, checked the map one last time and headed back North up Rt. 61 briefly until the Rt. 229 intersection and headed due west. I had a brief hiccup at the US 42 intersection [mistaking it for Rt. 23 somehow and headed up US 42 North until I realized it was wrong, but took a left at the next county road and then a couple of miles later took another left hoping it would filter back down to Rt 229 then finally found US 23 and worked my way to Rt. 47 [which would take me on through to the Indiana border and would join up with Indiana 32 to the Drive-In] and cruised briefly through Waldo, Ohio.
The remaining cruise on Rt. 47 was for the most part disappointing, and I do not know if it was because it was the flatness of the road, the many hairpin turns, the few towns that I went through [although cruising through Bellefontaine once again after many years was a nice added bonus, along with the odometer turning exactly 171,000 at the corner of Baker Rd (Rt 47 and Twp. 63 in Maplewood, OH], or leaving later than I wanted to and not getting to go the way I ultimately wanted to and having to deal with trying to deal with the time and making certain “checkpoints” I set up for myself [being at a certain place at a certain time to make sure that I am “on time” and don’t have to rush so much], and trying to enjoy the cruise as well; but it may have been a combination of all of the above, particularly since I was planning on a Sunday Cruise in the beginning. Once I got to Union City, Ohio [which is situated on each side of the Ohio / Indiana border] I looked at the town clock, and all of a sudden, it crossed my mind if Indiana observed Daylight Savings time [which would really have messed up my timing runs], but remembered that on the website that the gates would open around 8 pm with the show starting around 8:40 pm, so I hoped that the time was going to work itself out.
After crossing into Indiana and finding my way to Indiana 32, there was a notable difference between Ohio and Indiana almost immediately; whereas Ohio municipalities are 25, 35, and 45 mph, Indiana slows things down to 20, 30 and 40 mph. Corn grows right up to the road, and about 20 minutes driving along what felt like driving literally through a corn field, the Airline Drive-In Theatre soon came into view, and with about 20 minutes to spare, cruised on through to the town of Winchester, Indiana just 5 minutes up the road and did see some old time cars cruising around, probably going to their local car show but did a quick turn around and headed on back to the theatre to make sure I got in line and waited to make sure I got a good parking place!
Airline Twin Movie Theatre is another one of the single screen theatres that have doubled up and made use of the extra space to add a second screen that was erected on telephone pole ala Field of Dreams Drive-in. With what looked like limited pickings on the parking, I ended up in the second row of Screen 1, right in front of the cinder block house / concession stand [and FYI: in the front row directly in front, there is a pipe sticking out of the ground that would ruin ones front suspension and tie rods, just in case anyone was heading over there someday] and reclined back and waited for the start of the movie. Other “amenities” offered were swings, slide, “Jungle Gym”, and since it was Indiana, a corn field surrounding the entire Drive-In. The concession stand was small but well stocked, and since it was going to be an all night affair, served up a serving of eggs and toast sandwiches for those who would be enduring the movie marathon!
The movies on tap this evening were Night at the Museum II, Halloween II, Fast and the Furious 4, and Inglorious B*stards! All movies were previously seen, but were definitely worth the trip [with the exception of the Halloween second featured movie, which was absolutely the worst movie ever re-made, and if you haven’t seen it already, don’t worry, didn’t miss much, except for the desperate cameo by “Weird Al” Yankovic, and have to be desperate for a director to have him appear in it AS HIMSELF to top it all off. The movie itself was not scary at all and totally predictable as most of those movies genre types are: the only scary part was looking out into the surrounding corn field and hoping something was out there, and folks at the theatre were having their own fun jumping out from behind their parked cars and scaring their passengers in the darkened lot, but I got out during that movie and saved some of the car’s battery life]. I had missed the first 15 minutes or so of Inglorious at the Melody Cruise-In, but as it turns out, didn’t miss much at all, but for the Second Last Official 2009 Drive-In Cruise of the 2009 season, cruising One Last Inglorious Time was well worth it, even though the cruise over to Airline Twin wasn’t exactly what was originally planned and had to improvise along the way, it was still an overall great time!
Well, it was 5:30 am when the lights came on up above the movie screen and started up the car to go home [although it looked like those car who were remaining were all fast asleep since I was the only car that was leaving, but had to get back home to the Ohio side of the line ASAP. With 151 miles already driven [my fuel tanks “Halfway Point”] since fueling up the previous day at Exit 140, and although there were gas stations open, decided against heading back the way I cam and went back west into Winchester and took US 27 South 25 miles and got back on I-70 East at Richmond [where in Indiana the speed limit on interstates is 70 mph, but still had to deal with the even 20, 30, and 50 mph limits of speed, and couldn’t wait to get back to Ohio – mostly because I didn’t know what the Indiana State Police cars looked like, nor did I want to find out since I don’t think the stickers on the car carry much political weight on that side of the state line, which at 5:45 am at night there was absolutely no traffic what so ever (and could have made a quick side trip to the highest point in Indiana just east of US 27) but it would have been all down hill from there so just soldiered on back to the Ohio State Line via I-70 and after a quick pit stop, headed back home and was just after sun up for another gas and go at the TA Truck Stop at London at US 42, finally meandered my way home by 9:30 am and the end of “An Inglorious Labor Day Weekend”!
Monday, September 7, 2009
Monday, August 31, 2009
End of the Summer Cruise at the Star View Drive-In Theatre [Norwalk Ohio]
August 30, 2009
With the summer days winding down, and with one last Summer Cruise blast left [and after last nights glorious cruise down to C-Bus with the United Ford Owners along with a double feature at the Melody Cruise-In over at Springfield], I did my daily routine check of all of the drive-in theatres now playing websites and decided at the last minute to get back into the saddle once again and head back over to Norwalk and had to stop for some go-go juice since it was getting a tad low from the previous evenings “Fun Run” over at Springfield [though running the highway gets a heck of better gas mileage than having to stop and start all of the time in Small Town USA], but still, having to stop when time keeps on running sometimes makes me wish that there were portable tankers like the US Air Force has where they can refuel in mid-flight without having to stop – oh well.
Got back on the back roads and made it my usual 45 minute flat run out Rt. 303 to US 20 out past Norwalk and bypassed Summit Raceway Park, opting to do an end run since the box office had already opened at Norwalk’s Star View Drive-In just west of Norwalk Ohio there on US 20 to see two of my favorite movies of the year, Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen and G I Joe, Rise of the Cobra. When I first entered the theatre after paying the $7.00 [which was not listed on their website, but I have always come to expect to pay between $5 - $8 dollars for single admittance when the price is not listed on the website, which for two movies is still a great bargain for the way the economy is going nowadays] I first went to my usual second row parking place, but after sitting there for a while, and how the screen was angled, started up the car again and went to the eastern side of the small cinderblock concession stand [right next to the concession’s exhaust fan which was belching out all of that sweet smelling and ever tempting freshly made butter popcorn] and for this theatre, I would highly recommend for this screen parking on the concession stand side furthest from the entrance give the best enjoyment of the films being shown at this single screen theatre, and even though there were some mini vans in front of me, the screen was high enough where I was four rows back that there was plenty of room [and the screen was high enough to see two great films, and I would recommend to the club that if anyone would want to see a movie after a long day over at Fords at Summit would want to stop by for a fun filled evening, but will reserve final judgment until I visit Tiffin’s Drive-In Theatre, probably it looks like next year since this will be my final visit to Drive-ins for this 2009 Cruisin’ Season.
Well, with the final credits rolling and the camera fading to black, it was time to get back on the road and head back to home for one last trip down Rt. 18, back rollin’ “quietly” thru my hometown of Wellington and on back in the early morning hours and looking forward to the summer of 2010 to complete the remaining 15 Ohio Drive-Ins yet to be visited. Overall, I have had a great time both cruising and visiting all of the Drive-Ins this year, and each of them have their own unique flavor and atmosphere that also uniquely defines what it is was to be American when they first started up and coinciding with the rise of the love of the American Automobile.
With the summer days winding down, and with one last Summer Cruise blast left [and after last nights glorious cruise down to C-Bus with the United Ford Owners along with a double feature at the Melody Cruise-In over at Springfield], I did my daily routine check of all of the drive-in theatres now playing websites and decided at the last minute to get back into the saddle once again and head back over to Norwalk and had to stop for some go-go juice since it was getting a tad low from the previous evenings “Fun Run” over at Springfield [though running the highway gets a heck of better gas mileage than having to stop and start all of the time in Small Town USA], but still, having to stop when time keeps on running sometimes makes me wish that there were portable tankers like the US Air Force has where they can refuel in mid-flight without having to stop – oh well.
Got back on the back roads and made it my usual 45 minute flat run out Rt. 303 to US 20 out past Norwalk and bypassed Summit Raceway Park, opting to do an end run since the box office had already opened at Norwalk’s Star View Drive-In just west of Norwalk Ohio there on US 20 to see two of my favorite movies of the year, Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen and G I Joe, Rise of the Cobra. When I first entered the theatre after paying the $7.00 [which was not listed on their website, but I have always come to expect to pay between $5 - $8 dollars for single admittance when the price is not listed on the website, which for two movies is still a great bargain for the way the economy is going nowadays] I first went to my usual second row parking place, but after sitting there for a while, and how the screen was angled, started up the car again and went to the eastern side of the small cinderblock concession stand [right next to the concession’s exhaust fan which was belching out all of that sweet smelling and ever tempting freshly made butter popcorn] and for this theatre, I would highly recommend for this screen parking on the concession stand side furthest from the entrance give the best enjoyment of the films being shown at this single screen theatre, and even though there were some mini vans in front of me, the screen was high enough where I was four rows back that there was plenty of room [and the screen was high enough to see two great films, and I would recommend to the club that if anyone would want to see a movie after a long day over at Fords at Summit would want to stop by for a fun filled evening, but will reserve final judgment until I visit Tiffin’s Drive-In Theatre, probably it looks like next year since this will be my final visit to Drive-ins for this 2009 Cruisin’ Season.
Well, with the final credits rolling and the camera fading to black, it was time to get back on the road and head back to home for one last trip down Rt. 18, back rollin’ “quietly” thru my hometown of Wellington and on back in the early morning hours and looking forward to the summer of 2010 to complete the remaining 15 Ohio Drive-Ins yet to be visited. Overall, I have had a great time both cruising and visiting all of the Drive-Ins this year, and each of them have their own unique flavor and atmosphere that also uniquely defines what it is was to be American when they first started up and coinciding with the rise of the love of the American Automobile.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
UFO Cruise-in & Melody Cruise-In Theatre Weekend FUN!
August 29
End of another month, and I am glad that August is almost over! Had to take the ’06 Fusion in for the first warranty service of a Ford vehicle in the family’s history of owning Fords last week [the driver’s front window got stuck in the down position, and couldn’t drive it anyways since a wide open window is just a wide open invitation to unscrupulous folks, plus it was going to rain, then with that car at the Liberty Dealership here in Brunswick, the “Hillbilly Deluxe minus the Deluxe” battery died [jump starting too many chevy’s, I reckon it got the H1N1 (Help this 1 but Not this 1) virus] but after 5 years [and no wonder the terminals were corroding], it was time, so pushed it out of the garage and called AAA got it started and picked up the Fusion at Liberty and got that home, then 2 hours later went to go to a car show and again it wouldn’t start so pushed it out of the garage once again and there was something wrong so called the experts and Yorktown and after getting it started for a second time drove it up to Parma Hts. and yep, it was the battery and picked it up the next day, and should have gotten an oil change since it was pushing 169,000 but don’t like to ask too much of them since they have always been very generous with getting our cars fixed for the past 37 years now.
Keeping an eye on the weather channel, which showed that the rain should skirt by Columbus by the time it was starting, and not having been down to UFO events all of August since Party Picnics and party business is starting to encroach on more and more of my time, and will probably have to put Car Club events on hiatus since it looks like there may be an out of state opportunity coming down the pike, but for now, headed out south on I-71 to CBus for the August Cruise at Quaker Steak and Lube, as well as heading west to Springfield’s Melody Cruise-In Theatre. As soon as I got to Mansfield, the rains came, and kept on raining all the way to the Polaris Exit [I kept looking west and it looked like it would clear up, but as weather goes, sometimes it just doesn’t but again, as long as the farmers get what they need when they need it, I don’t complain too much about a little rain now and then.
Maybe spent a little too long cruisin’ with the club, but as the song goes, “I’ve got no particular place to go”, but it was time well spent as always! Got back on the highway and headed around I-270 to I-70 to get to the US 40 exit to the Melody Cruise-In Theatre and with dusk quickly approaching [and figuring in the 10 minute movie trailers, would hit it just about right, but I missed the median crossover and not being too fond of U Turns [the old joke being: A guy made a U-Turn and found out he was going the wrong way and immediately did another U-Turn all in front of a police office, and when he got pulled over the officer asked him “What did you just do?” The man replied “A Circle”] at the next intersection, kinda did an end around down a secondary road and headed back east and by that time the movie had started and just as I pulled in, sheriff deputy was at the box office [Great] so shut off all of the illegal interior lights etc and as I was paying, I looked in my side view mirror and sure enough, he was eyeballing the car, then took out his cell phone and held it up while I’m trying to pay attention to the attendant telling me what screen the movies were on [Inglorious B**tards and G.I. Joe – for the third time] as well as what radio station to tune to [although the lights on my radio face kinda died a while back (although it kinda can be seen during the day) so I have to go through each individual station until finding the right station that goes to the right screen, not to mention losing all of my presets I had to re find all of the country stations I listen to in all of the major cities around Ohio] while the officer was taking pictures of it with his cell phone, then asked “Sir, could you pull this over” and I motioned to the side if that was ok since there was someone else behind me, so while the movie has already started, I’m pulled over INSIDE the movie theatre chatting about the car while he’s snapping pictures of it and I’m trying to watch the movie without seeming to be disinterested in his conversation, which I wasn’t since he asked me about the “Patriot’s” Theme and family members who are currently in Service, along with one of the statewide candidates name on one of the fenders etc., and after both saying “God Bless” and “Safe Journeys”, I actually found a pretty good spot middle of the field next to the concession stand on the far side of the entrance side, and missed most of the entire first “Chapter” of Quentin Tarentino’s movie [and fumbling through the stations to find the right channel] got there in time for Chapter Two, Inglorious B**tards. I saw on Reelz Channel movie previews that it took 10 years for him to write the script, and even heard that there is a prequel in the works.
As far as the movie goes, it is Quintessential Quentin Gore [which is why I only watch one of his movies a year – Reservoir Dogs is still my favorite, but his is a movie where one automatically throws disbelief out of the window, and this was kind of in a Pulp Fiction mold, but working on something for that long, can kind of see elements of all of his movies in the interim] and going back through it I can see the basic dumb down formula of Nazis bad, Brad Pitt good in the Twisted World History According to Tarentino, which is why they are making the prequel to feature more of the B**tards
and rake in another huge payday. It had been a “while” since I had seen G I Joe, Rise of the Cobra [the weather kinda last time made it disappointing and with all of the humidity and all] someone somewhere must had said something, since the night fight scene in the beginning of the movie was a lot brighter than I had seen in previously showings, and could see more of the action and wasn’t “in the dark” as much and trying to guess what was going and who was fighting whom and all, so I don’t know if it was in the projection or what, but it made that part of the movie a whole lot enjoyable to watch!
Got out during the break for a stretch, and although I couldn’t see what amenities that were offered up in front of the screen, I did enter a very different type of concession stand, which resembled a cafeteria style where one could go all around an outer circle and the food workers were on the inside to service more patrons at a time. After the second movie, and time to get back on the road home, but then and again, had another car that had its hood up [although most drive-ins have one of those automatic chargers now a days, still keep jumpers in the back “just in case”] so waited 5 minutes after the credits have ended, since a lot of movies now have something at the very end related to the movie that often gets missed and pulled up and once again [and just having battery trouble myself I sympathize, especially having a great time at the movies then the car has to die and not start and who knows if they have a car service or not, but as Great Granddad used to say: “The main goal in life is to make other people happy; and if you make other people happy, then you are happy yourself”, and not to get all preachy here or do that Kevin Spacey “Pass It On” sort of deal, but if asked for a reward, I just ask that they remember this and do a good deed towards another some day. So in the words of Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara:
Someone says to do a favor,
or if you have the opportunity
to help someone in your lifetime,
Do it.
In life do what is right because
it is right and leave it alone.
No ulterior motive.
Do what is right because it is right.
Don't make money from it.
Don't write about it or publicize it.
Do what is right because it is right."
End of another month, and I am glad that August is almost over! Had to take the ’06 Fusion in for the first warranty service of a Ford vehicle in the family’s history of owning Fords last week [the driver’s front window got stuck in the down position, and couldn’t drive it anyways since a wide open window is just a wide open invitation to unscrupulous folks, plus it was going to rain, then with that car at the Liberty Dealership here in Brunswick, the “Hillbilly Deluxe minus the Deluxe” battery died [jump starting too many chevy’s, I reckon it got the H1N1 (Help this 1 but Not this 1) virus] but after 5 years [and no wonder the terminals were corroding], it was time, so pushed it out of the garage and called AAA got it started and picked up the Fusion at Liberty and got that home, then 2 hours later went to go to a car show and again it wouldn’t start so pushed it out of the garage once again and there was something wrong so called the experts and Yorktown and after getting it started for a second time drove it up to Parma Hts. and yep, it was the battery and picked it up the next day, and should have gotten an oil change since it was pushing 169,000 but don’t like to ask too much of them since they have always been very generous with getting our cars fixed for the past 37 years now.
Keeping an eye on the weather channel, which showed that the rain should skirt by Columbus by the time it was starting, and not having been down to UFO events all of August since Party Picnics and party business is starting to encroach on more and more of my time, and will probably have to put Car Club events on hiatus since it looks like there may be an out of state opportunity coming down the pike, but for now, headed out south on I-71 to CBus for the August Cruise at Quaker Steak and Lube, as well as heading west to Springfield’s Melody Cruise-In Theatre. As soon as I got to Mansfield, the rains came, and kept on raining all the way to the Polaris Exit [I kept looking west and it looked like it would clear up, but as weather goes, sometimes it just doesn’t but again, as long as the farmers get what they need when they need it, I don’t complain too much about a little rain now and then.
Maybe spent a little too long cruisin’ with the club, but as the song goes, “I’ve got no particular place to go”, but it was time well spent as always! Got back on the highway and headed around I-270 to I-70 to get to the US 40 exit to the Melody Cruise-In Theatre and with dusk quickly approaching [and figuring in the 10 minute movie trailers, would hit it just about right, but I missed the median crossover and not being too fond of U Turns [the old joke being: A guy made a U-Turn and found out he was going the wrong way and immediately did another U-Turn all in front of a police office, and when he got pulled over the officer asked him “What did you just do?” The man replied “A Circle”] at the next intersection, kinda did an end around down a secondary road and headed back east and by that time the movie had started and just as I pulled in, sheriff deputy was at the box office [Great] so shut off all of the illegal interior lights etc and as I was paying, I looked in my side view mirror and sure enough, he was eyeballing the car, then took out his cell phone and held it up while I’m trying to pay attention to the attendant telling me what screen the movies were on [Inglorious B**tards and G.I. Joe – for the third time] as well as what radio station to tune to [although the lights on my radio face kinda died a while back (although it kinda can be seen during the day) so I have to go through each individual station until finding the right station that goes to the right screen, not to mention losing all of my presets I had to re find all of the country stations I listen to in all of the major cities around Ohio] while the officer was taking pictures of it with his cell phone, then asked “Sir, could you pull this over” and I motioned to the side if that was ok since there was someone else behind me, so while the movie has already started, I’m pulled over INSIDE the movie theatre chatting about the car while he’s snapping pictures of it and I’m trying to watch the movie without seeming to be disinterested in his conversation, which I wasn’t since he asked me about the “Patriot’s” Theme and family members who are currently in Service, along with one of the statewide candidates name on one of the fenders etc., and after both saying “God Bless” and “Safe Journeys”, I actually found a pretty good spot middle of the field next to the concession stand on the far side of the entrance side, and missed most of the entire first “Chapter” of Quentin Tarentino’s movie [and fumbling through the stations to find the right channel] got there in time for Chapter Two, Inglorious B**tards. I saw on Reelz Channel movie previews that it took 10 years for him to write the script, and even heard that there is a prequel in the works.
As far as the movie goes, it is Quintessential Quentin Gore [which is why I only watch one of his movies a year – Reservoir Dogs is still my favorite, but his is a movie where one automatically throws disbelief out of the window, and this was kind of in a Pulp Fiction mold, but working on something for that long, can kind of see elements of all of his movies in the interim] and going back through it I can see the basic dumb down formula of Nazis bad, Brad Pitt good in the Twisted World History According to Tarentino, which is why they are making the prequel to feature more of the B**tards
and rake in another huge payday. It had been a “while” since I had seen G I Joe, Rise of the Cobra [the weather kinda last time made it disappointing and with all of the humidity and all] someone somewhere must had said something, since the night fight scene in the beginning of the movie was a lot brighter than I had seen in previously showings, and could see more of the action and wasn’t “in the dark” as much and trying to guess what was going and who was fighting whom and all, so I don’t know if it was in the projection or what, but it made that part of the movie a whole lot enjoyable to watch!
Got out during the break for a stretch, and although I couldn’t see what amenities that were offered up in front of the screen, I did enter a very different type of concession stand, which resembled a cafeteria style where one could go all around an outer circle and the food workers were on the inside to service more patrons at a time. After the second movie, and time to get back on the road home, but then and again, had another car that had its hood up [although most drive-ins have one of those automatic chargers now a days, still keep jumpers in the back “just in case”] so waited 5 minutes after the credits have ended, since a lot of movies now have something at the very end related to the movie that often gets missed and pulled up and once again [and just having battery trouble myself I sympathize, especially having a great time at the movies then the car has to die and not start and who knows if they have a car service or not, but as Great Granddad used to say: “The main goal in life is to make other people happy; and if you make other people happy, then you are happy yourself”, and not to get all preachy here or do that Kevin Spacey “Pass It On” sort of deal, but if asked for a reward, I just ask that they remember this and do a good deed towards another some day. So in the words of Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara:
Someone says to do a favor,
or if you have the opportunity
to help someone in your lifetime,
Do it.
In life do what is right because
it is right and leave it alone.
No ulterior motive.
Do what is right because it is right.
Don't make money from it.
Don't write about it or publicize it.
Do what is right because it is right."
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Back to the Lynn Drive-In Theatre
August 13, 2009
Halfway through the Summer Season, and with 14 Drive-ins visited, it was time to go back to an early favorite, the Lynn Drive-in in Strassburg, Ohio. I have begun breaking down into categories [since it is almost impossible with each passing Drive-In I visit to pick a favorite, although I am about to declare both the Lynn and the North Ridgeville Aut-O-Rama as my top choices for Best Drive-In movie theatres with two screens! The breakdowns are as follows:
Best Single Screen Drive-In Theatre visited:
1) Holiday Drive-In
Field of Dreams Movie Theatre
3) Blue Sky Drive-In
4) Mayfield Road
5) Sunset Drive-In
6)Skyline Drive-in
Best Double Screen Drive-In Theatre visited:
1) Lynn Drive-In Theatre
Aut-O-Rama Drive-In Theatre
3) Van-Del Drive-In
4) Twin Drive-In Ravenna
5) Springmill Drive-In
6) Sundance Kid Drive-In
7) South Drive-In
Best Multiple Screen Drive-In Theatre visited:
1) Memphis Drive-In [closed]
2) Winter Drive-In
So on Thursday, went back down south on US 250 via Route 3 and through Wooster to and with extra time, went up through Massillon and Canton for some 16th Congressional District “timing runs” to see [once again, drum roll, please] G-Force and G.I Joe [movies previously discussed, but good enough to spend an ginormous $5 [not figuring in the cost of gas for all of these journeys, but hey, I work in state government and when has the government ever worried about the accurate cost of anything since all numbers are made up to begin with, but with 2010 elections just around the corner, it’s getting just about time to rake in another 6 month load]. Got there early this time, and instead of parking off to the side at the same Screen One where I saw Witch Mountain and Monsters vs. Aliens back in April, I found a middle third row space in front of the concession stand, and while the movie was going, I could see into the projection booth the movie reel spinning, which is another reason I enjoy going to the Lynn. Small but very efficient concession stand [got an ice cream sandwich bar for a buck] and overall another great experience here at the Lynn. Weather kinda got the better of the second movie of GI Joe [fog was rolling in and the rapid temperature change also played havoc with the humidity], and look forward to returning many more times to a new favorite Double Screen Drive-In theatre!
Halfway through the Summer Season, and with 14 Drive-ins visited, it was time to go back to an early favorite, the Lynn Drive-in in Strassburg, Ohio. I have begun breaking down into categories [since it is almost impossible with each passing Drive-In I visit to pick a favorite, although I am about to declare both the Lynn and the North Ridgeville Aut-O-Rama as my top choices for Best Drive-In movie theatres with two screens! The breakdowns are as follows:
Best Single Screen Drive-In Theatre visited:
1) Holiday Drive-In
Field of Dreams Movie Theatre
3) Blue Sky Drive-In
4) Mayfield Road
5) Sunset Drive-In
6)Skyline Drive-in
Best Double Screen Drive-In Theatre visited:
1) Lynn Drive-In Theatre
Aut-O-Rama Drive-In Theatre
3) Van-Del Drive-In
4) Twin Drive-In Ravenna
5) Springmill Drive-In
6) Sundance Kid Drive-In
7) South Drive-In
Best Multiple Screen Drive-In Theatre visited:
1) Memphis Drive-In [closed]
2) Winter Drive-In
So on Thursday, went back down south on US 250 via Route 3 and through Wooster to and with extra time, went up through Massillon and Canton for some 16th Congressional District “timing runs” to see [once again, drum roll, please] G-Force and G.I Joe [movies previously discussed, but good enough to spend an ginormous $5 [not figuring in the cost of gas for all of these journeys, but hey, I work in state government and when has the government ever worried about the accurate cost of anything since all numbers are made up to begin with, but with 2010 elections just around the corner, it’s getting just about time to rake in another 6 month load]. Got there early this time, and instead of parking off to the side at the same Screen One where I saw Witch Mountain and Monsters vs. Aliens back in April, I found a middle third row space in front of the concession stand, and while the movie was going, I could see into the projection booth the movie reel spinning, which is another reason I enjoy going to the Lynn. Small but very efficient concession stand [got an ice cream sandwich bar for a buck] and overall another great experience here at the Lynn. Weather kinda got the better of the second movie of GI Joe [fog was rolling in and the rapid temperature change also played havoc with the humidity], and look forward to returning many more times to a new favorite Double Screen Drive-In theatre!
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
A Fair-ly Good Day Medina County Fair & Van-Del Drive-in
August 9, 2009
Headed out Sunday down to the Medina County Fair at the fairgrounds to put in some booth time, and while 2010 elections are fast approaching, its time to gear up for another run and make some money! Won’t talk politics here, since car club time is my escape from my daily drag, and even though the car also functions as my office, anything car club and now drive-in theatre related is my “Vacation” time and even though work is now making my blog blobs postings fall further and further behind, will do my best to detail all that is Cruisin, though it may be a tad bit later than usual.
The plan for the day was to put in a couple of hours at the booth, tank up the car with some Go-Go juice and head out heading south on US 42 on over to Jeromesville on 89 and cruise the Western portion of the Lincoln Highway over to Van Wert County to the Van Wert Drive-in in Middle Point, Ohio. Well… put in more time that I wanted to at the fair booth and with points on the map [along with using an outdated map to boot] seeming a lot closer than they are in real life, had to make some adjustments along the way. Got to Jeromesville in good time and headed west at the town light, across US 30 and up past Hillsdale High School. Made Mansfield in pretty good time, and instead of following the Lincoln Highway signs at the town square, kept heading west and turned North at the Sunset Drive-In on Route 314, which was a mistake since it lead directly into a traffic jam lasting 25 minutes, but no worry, can pick up time elsewhere. Cruised through Creston, and then things got a bit tricky, since the Lincoln Highway split with an original route through Leesville and a later route to get to Bucyrus. So I zigged when I should have zagged, and ended up going in a circle back through Creston, and by that time I was totally turned around, so went South on Route 61 to hook up with US 30 west since time was kinda running out.
Passed a lot of 18 wheelers that had come from Indy Car racing at Mid Ohio, back to their base in Indiana since they left at the US 33 exit at Upper Sandusky, and again, the outdated map said that US 30 had not been completed yet [and even verified it with the satellite map that the road had not been built, but could see the roadbed being prepared, but all the same, had to hammer it a little bit and along with it being a scorching hot day and along with the heater on and the windows up [would rather conserve fuel aerodynamically than become a well done roast] and factoring in rest stops for water, it was a good thing they completed US 30 into an expressway [along with looking for a gas stop for after the movie], but was determined to cruise at least one portion of the Lincoln Highway. So I got off the interstate at Delphos [one exit before Middle Point], knowing that the Van-Del Drive-In was right adjacent to the road, and since there was no markings, again, I now zagged when I should have zigged, and with the sunset in sight, doubled back after a brief “square” of the city the way I came and got back on US 30 west and gunned it for the next exit.
With all of the Drive-ins now a dinosaur and thing of the past, I am glad that I got back on the expressway, and even though there was construction going on at the exit, the neon tubing lights lit up the Drive-In like an oasis in the Desert night, and thankful that those who planned the US 30 Expressway planned it in a way to highlight this magnificent dinosaur’s Giant screen marquee for all who pass through this way! The old Lincoln Way literally passes feet from the entrance, and like many of the original Drive-ins, it is a single screen [one of the tallest I have seen yet] that has expanded into another separate screen that the ownership has placed out in the field near the Old Lincoln Way [that still has the occasional 18 wheeler grind through], along with a separate projection booth. So got there late and couldn’t be picky about the parking, but got a good spot in the third row. Concession stand was small, but convenient, and had outside seating as well!
The movies for the evening were G-Force, and the opening of G.I. Joe. Having seen G-Force in movie trailers previews, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that this was going to be a suspension of disbelief movie, but who knows, after taking a couple of select “herbs” guinea pigs could actually talk, NOT! The only objections I had with it was the depiction of animal cruelty, and I know that the animals were all digital, but some impressionable kids might think it was OK to do some of the things that were done [lipstick and tossing them, though the film did acknowledge through the characters that it is animal cruelty, and me being no environmentalist and thinking PETA stands for “People Eating Tasty Animals” and know of one guy who put an WWII anti-aircraft gunners sight as a hood ornament here in the Township and another who uses his side view mirror as a gun steadier since those deer whistles aren’t as effective, it was just a downer since this wasn’t done for sport and necessity, but for meanness, and hopefully parents explained it to them later, and although we “Bruns-tuckians” joke about road kill as a delicacy here in the township, I do my best to brake and avoid animals (which always amazed me about how birds can avoid cars as fast as both are going, and if you see one deer, there are always two or more that are not too far behind, and as great granddad used to say, he always had a ditch picked out just in case)].
I used to watch the GI Joe cartoon back after school way back when, and to see the characters on the screen I was really at a loss [after getting back home in another long drive back, went to the Internet and looked up all of the characters on Wikipedia and their background] but it was pretty easy to figure out with my limited memory of the main characters which got jogged pretty quickly as to who [without giving away too much of the plot to those who haven’t seen the movie yet] who Cobra Leader was going to be, as well as who he was originally as movie now a days have so many lighted billboards as to where the story was heading. Joseph Gordon Levitt was a nice change of pace for him in a villain role, and along with the cameo by Brendan Frasier as Sgt. Stone [had a nice back story on his appearance from Wikipedia, and although I usually take that website with the tiniest grain of salt as possible], although it is another one of those fantasy action movies that always begs the question: when there is about to be great destruction, both the antagonist and protagonist both stop dead in their tracks and BOTH STOP AND WATCH the impending disaster, then resume the chase. My favorite site is the IMBD websites, where all of the goofs are revealed for continuity, historical facts, just plain goofs, etc. Oh well. My favorite movie on “goofs” was with Alan Alda in Sweet Liberty, who wrote a historically accurate Revolutionary War book until Hollywood took over and literally rewrote the screenplay because “modern Hollywood movies demanded only three things: 1) Big Explosions 2) Gratuitous Violence and 3) People getting naked” and at the end with his book totally shredded historically, Alda decided to turn the tables on the director and make all three things happen, just so I won’t spoil the whole “ending”.
Another late night back on the road, and getting low on gas so trekked back east on US 30 to the Beaverdam / I-75 gas plazas [there’s no direct access from I-75 to US 30] for some Go-Go Juice and headed up I-75 north to reach US 224 and take that through the University of Findley straight back east to I-71. Had only gone on US 224 as far west as Tiffen, and at 4 am was pretty much an open throttle run, with a 5 minute wait on a CSX coal train at Attica [Attica! Attica! Attica!].
Movies: A
Cruise: C [Couldn’t find anything]
Overall: A
Headed out Sunday down to the Medina County Fair at the fairgrounds to put in some booth time, and while 2010 elections are fast approaching, its time to gear up for another run and make some money! Won’t talk politics here, since car club time is my escape from my daily drag, and even though the car also functions as my office, anything car club and now drive-in theatre related is my “Vacation” time and even though work is now making my blog blobs postings fall further and further behind, will do my best to detail all that is Cruisin, though it may be a tad bit later than usual.
The plan for the day was to put in a couple of hours at the booth, tank up the car with some Go-Go juice and head out heading south on US 42 on over to Jeromesville on 89 and cruise the Western portion of the Lincoln Highway over to Van Wert County to the Van Wert Drive-in in Middle Point, Ohio. Well… put in more time that I wanted to at the fair booth and with points on the map [along with using an outdated map to boot] seeming a lot closer than they are in real life, had to make some adjustments along the way. Got to Jeromesville in good time and headed west at the town light, across US 30 and up past Hillsdale High School. Made Mansfield in pretty good time, and instead of following the Lincoln Highway signs at the town square, kept heading west and turned North at the Sunset Drive-In on Route 314, which was a mistake since it lead directly into a traffic jam lasting 25 minutes, but no worry, can pick up time elsewhere. Cruised through Creston, and then things got a bit tricky, since the Lincoln Highway split with an original route through Leesville and a later route to get to Bucyrus. So I zigged when I should have zagged, and ended up going in a circle back through Creston, and by that time I was totally turned around, so went South on Route 61 to hook up with US 30 west since time was kinda running out.
Passed a lot of 18 wheelers that had come from Indy Car racing at Mid Ohio, back to their base in Indiana since they left at the US 33 exit at Upper Sandusky, and again, the outdated map said that US 30 had not been completed yet [and even verified it with the satellite map that the road had not been built, but could see the roadbed being prepared, but all the same, had to hammer it a little bit and along with it being a scorching hot day and along with the heater on and the windows up [would rather conserve fuel aerodynamically than become a well done roast] and factoring in rest stops for water, it was a good thing they completed US 30 into an expressway [along with looking for a gas stop for after the movie], but was determined to cruise at least one portion of the Lincoln Highway. So I got off the interstate at Delphos [one exit before Middle Point], knowing that the Van-Del Drive-In was right adjacent to the road, and since there was no markings, again, I now zagged when I should have zigged, and with the sunset in sight, doubled back after a brief “square” of the city the way I came and got back on US 30 west and gunned it for the next exit.
With all of the Drive-ins now a dinosaur and thing of the past, I am glad that I got back on the expressway, and even though there was construction going on at the exit, the neon tubing lights lit up the Drive-In like an oasis in the Desert night, and thankful that those who planned the US 30 Expressway planned it in a way to highlight this magnificent dinosaur’s Giant screen marquee for all who pass through this way! The old Lincoln Way literally passes feet from the entrance, and like many of the original Drive-ins, it is a single screen [one of the tallest I have seen yet] that has expanded into another separate screen that the ownership has placed out in the field near the Old Lincoln Way [that still has the occasional 18 wheeler grind through], along with a separate projection booth. So got there late and couldn’t be picky about the parking, but got a good spot in the third row. Concession stand was small, but convenient, and had outside seating as well!
The movies for the evening were G-Force, and the opening of G.I. Joe. Having seen G-Force in movie trailers previews, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that this was going to be a suspension of disbelief movie, but who knows, after taking a couple of select “herbs” guinea pigs could actually talk, NOT! The only objections I had with it was the depiction of animal cruelty, and I know that the animals were all digital, but some impressionable kids might think it was OK to do some of the things that were done [lipstick and tossing them, though the film did acknowledge through the characters that it is animal cruelty, and me being no environmentalist and thinking PETA stands for “People Eating Tasty Animals” and know of one guy who put an WWII anti-aircraft gunners sight as a hood ornament here in the Township and another who uses his side view mirror as a gun steadier since those deer whistles aren’t as effective, it was just a downer since this wasn’t done for sport and necessity, but for meanness, and hopefully parents explained it to them later, and although we “Bruns-tuckians” joke about road kill as a delicacy here in the township, I do my best to brake and avoid animals (which always amazed me about how birds can avoid cars as fast as both are going, and if you see one deer, there are always two or more that are not too far behind, and as great granddad used to say, he always had a ditch picked out just in case)].
I used to watch the GI Joe cartoon back after school way back when, and to see the characters on the screen I was really at a loss [after getting back home in another long drive back, went to the Internet and looked up all of the characters on Wikipedia and their background] but it was pretty easy to figure out with my limited memory of the main characters which got jogged pretty quickly as to who [without giving away too much of the plot to those who haven’t seen the movie yet] who Cobra Leader was going to be, as well as who he was originally as movie now a days have so many lighted billboards as to where the story was heading. Joseph Gordon Levitt was a nice change of pace for him in a villain role, and along with the cameo by Brendan Frasier as Sgt. Stone [had a nice back story on his appearance from Wikipedia, and although I usually take that website with the tiniest grain of salt as possible], although it is another one of those fantasy action movies that always begs the question: when there is about to be great destruction, both the antagonist and protagonist both stop dead in their tracks and BOTH STOP AND WATCH the impending disaster, then resume the chase. My favorite site is the IMBD websites, where all of the goofs are revealed for continuity, historical facts, just plain goofs, etc. Oh well. My favorite movie on “goofs” was with Alan Alda in Sweet Liberty, who wrote a historically accurate Revolutionary War book until Hollywood took over and literally rewrote the screenplay because “modern Hollywood movies demanded only three things: 1) Big Explosions 2) Gratuitous Violence and 3) People getting naked” and at the end with his book totally shredded historically, Alda decided to turn the tables on the director and make all three things happen, just so I won’t spoil the whole “ending”.
Another late night back on the road, and getting low on gas so trekked back east on US 30 to the Beaverdam / I-75 gas plazas [there’s no direct access from I-75 to US 30] for some Go-Go Juice and headed up I-75 north to reach US 224 and take that through the University of Findley straight back east to I-71. Had only gone on US 224 as far west as Tiffen, and at 4 am was pretty much an open throttle run, with a 5 minute wait on a CSX coal train at Attica [Attica! Attica! Attica!].
Movies: A
Cruise: C [Couldn’t find anything]
Overall: A
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Ford Fun Weekend er, Fords At The Summit & Winter Drive In Theatre Cruise
United Ford Owners were out in “Force” this weekend for the first annual Fords at the Summit over at Norwalk, Ohio, formally known as Norwalk Raceway Park, but then and again, that new NASCAR series will forever be know to me as The Winston Cup Series, along with other name brands that have gone the way of the corporate takeover, such as Gulf and Sohio [where there are still signs around in the more remote parts of The Roads Less Traveled that I have been on, since they have to keep the logo around for I guess what amounts to logo copyrights or whatnot, but I digress per usual] and “journeyed” over to the racetrack all four days [even though the weather was not going to cooperate as well as we would have liked, but I don’t really complain all that much as long as the farmers get what they need rain wise, and when they need it, and besides, it means a free car wash and more “mud baths” to pack on the side fenders later on].
Got there early Thursday evening [per usual] for the Fords at Summit walk through and while waiting for Kevin D and the Gang to make there way over from their hotel, decided to set up my own little personal “Speed Trap” there along Route 18 [just after a huge deluge of rain] and backed the car up to the chained entrance to get behind the United Ford Owners Convoy once they came by [with all of the antennae sprouting from the car and the illegal red light on the front dash – which is actually the rear high mount stop from the ’86 Taurus -- even 5-0 thinks I’m 5-0, but during the day cover it up – just in case], and once they drove by and honked, I got in line with all lights [and headlights – illegal stuff #2] flashing to “pull them over” we headed over to the Budweiser side gate to meet up with our host, and got caravanned around to the Summit side where Rod, Wayne, Dale and the other Happy Campers were already there. Unhooked the golf carts and went over the plan for the weekend, and walked the Swap Meet area to be manned by Dale and Morgan and the rest of the UFO "Gang".
This was the first time since 2003 that I had been there [since the Budweiser side was totally paved over, and being there with the old car club – North East Ohio Stang Gang and all Ford Club that has since disbanded -- had club drag racers including Patrick Cathan Team Racing had a tent site with the banner tied to the fence and it was a distinct difference to be back on the grounds once again, although I do drive out that way a couple of times a year just cruisin’ around and on business and I haven’t taken the Ohio Turnpike in 14 years on my way out to either Toledo or Youngstown since Routes 18, 20 and 224 have sufficed for my cruisin’ needs] and the improvements were very nice indeed! Back during the Fun Ford Weekend Days in their glory days, the club actually had cars on both sides on both the Summit and Budweiser sides, along with a car show that was held on Saturday. The way the field was set up was that general parking was in the far back [where the camping is now], one row was designated for the car show [where the car show was held this year]; which had both rows Plus the side by the fence filled with cars and they had Summit Tech inspections which went over each car show participant [I believe the participation fee was $10], and the other two sections of the field was filled with drag racers and NO Parts Swap, but did have the National Vendors at the same location where it was this year. Camping was over in the lot where the general parking was this year.
The ONLY problem with this set up was that folks driving in to get back to the general parking lot would not be paying attention and looking at all of the cars in the car show as they were rounding the corner, and the race cars coming back from their run down the track would be idling back to their pits on the Summit side and then BOOM!, even though both were going under 20 mph, when nobody is paying attention bad things happen, and between Ford Nostalgia runs I’d be over on the golf cart with my buddy and we’d bet “Hit or Miss” when two yo-yos would be close to “trading paint”, then everybody would run on over to see what’d just happened, since it was an insurance adjustors dream to figure out the blame since both the front quarter panels were like my favorite subject: History. So some kind of traffic control, or at least pavement markings should be there since those Visual Flight Rules don’t always work.
Got there early on Friday at the Budweiser Gate and they didn’t have the clubs credentials there yet, so went out cruisin’, out Route 18 and headed down to Tiffen [and hopin’ that 5-0 chick wasn’t still there that I never called back] and back up Route 53 to look for the Tiffin Drive-In that I missed the late at night last time after going to the Field of Dreams Drive-in at Liberty Center [much easier to find during the day, eh!] and then back around to Norwalk where they should have it by now, probably should have passed out the credentials for those going to be there for the weekend, but whatever whatever. Nice addition by the club for the parking safety vests, which I don’t know if it made us more visible or more invisible, but none the less, with ponchos in hand, so began the 1st Annual Fords at the Summit.
Rain, Rain, Go Away was pretty much the order for the rest of the weekend, which probably was the reason for the low car turnout, but then and again, I’m more of the “Other Side Of The Tracks” kind of guy anyways [having literally been born on the wrong side of the tracks in the nearby town of Wellington on Barker St, where Conrail and now CSX trains literally bisect the town with the many runs that go through daily and hopefully you don’t have an emergency that requires EMS, Police, Fire, etc response] and the car show idea is cool, although one has to be there all three days to be “judged” or something [I just pointed cars to the next guy up the hill] but my thing is Norwalk is all about “Waking up to the smell of nitrous oxide in the morning” and with all of the rain delays, waiting for the track to dry and the occasional breakdowns, did have an overall great time, especially Saturday evening with Rod, Wayne, Dale and everyone over at their site for a great evening of hospitality they all extended to those remaining for dinner!
Went back to leave since it was getting a little “late” in the evening for my 45 minute “Cannonball” back to the “barn”, and they had closed the gates on the Summit side [which they said was a 24 hr gate, but must have meant the Budweiser entrance, so lit up the lights blazing and cruised around the back staging lanes [where we cut through to get the $1 a pound ice cream bonanza] and back through the Budweiser pit area maze and hit the open road.
Sunday was pretty much a “mop up” day [no pun intended] and with the Swap meet what I thought was a great success from my point, the rain held off and didn’t put a damper on the “Ring of Fire” festivities, though I prefer enjoying, driving the snot out of my Fords, breaking it, then enjoy fixing it, then enjoy driving the snot of it again until it breaks [after buying the ’99 Hillbilly Deluxe minus the Deluxe back in 2002 used and now up to 162,000 + miles on it, only having to redo the transmission once back in 2004, and the Good Lord knows how many tie rods have been busted on my back creek adventures, which I would love to do an autocross sometime – but rules state nothing loose on the inside and don’t know where else I could put my “office”, and I love the “bounce” of the car hitting a curve at “??? mph” going up / down on a hill – more on that on the following cruise to the Winter Drive-In down in Wintersville Ohio in Jefferson County – those hills WOW!] Was asked by Kevin which one of the ROF cars I’d like, and without hesitation “The T-bolts” because of guess what, THE SOUND [although it might have been louder with subwoofers I’d put in them, along with a nice large flat screen on the interior of it’s trunk, so I wouldn’t need gas, I’d just vibrate down the highway]. After all was said and done, went up into the Summit stands right next to the start line to watch the remaining drag races [Y block Mercury made it to the DOT finals and unfortunately lost [once the hood went up, that is never a good sign, but love the race crew for giving them the time to fix whatever], and they had the original T-Bolts parked underneath the Summit stands, and whenever one of them left, the ENTIRE stands shook like it was a 10.9 earthquake, so if one ever wondered what it felt like to be inside a T-Bolt when it fired up, the fans in that section of stands got a thrill of a lifetime!
The rain held off for all of the finals, and went back home to unload some of the rain gear and headed out south to Wintersville Ohio to the Winter Drive-in. Didn’t get to the two remaining Drive-Ins there at Norwalk or Tiffin [sometimes, the two movie combinations just don’t jive with what I like to see and get the biggest bang for the proverbial buck], and after this time a 55 minute saunter back home via Route 18 [with the obligatory stop for the train there at Wellington – the line which also runs through Lagrange but just have to get lucky, and lucky for me is stopping for the train, since I get to turn the car off along with the radio and listen to the wheels going over the tracks (another reason I love going to the Aut-O-Rama there at North Ridgeville since the CSX tracks are right next to the drive-in, and although that can be annoying at times, I still love trains just as much as I love cruisn and Fords). Granddad on my mothers side was a conductor for the old New York Central out of Bellefontaine, Ohio, and a couple of years ago almost was hired by CSX for conductor, but as things worked out, if I did get the job I wouldn’t be doing what I do today, although I can’t go out and by a complete locomotive train – yet] and dumped off all of the Fun Ford Weekend UFO stuff that had accumulated.
Then while on my way, got the car “washed” going down Route 94, heading on over to Massillon down Route 21 after a short run on I-76, then ditched the expressways for the Lincoln Highway 172 running thru Massillon to Canton, getting some Go-Go juice and looking at a map for the best way, since it was getting sundown time. Chose to take 172 past Canton and head south on Route 43 which led directly into Wintersville [and hopefully I remembered correctly the map on the website, and thanks to Google, there satellite view, although only 1 dimensional, gives a somewhat accurate account of what is there, and having never been that far southeast before, I knew all of the squiggles on the map demarking the road meant better have good brakes and power steering]. Halfway there, I began to notice that the houses, barns, and even businesses were literally built into the hillsides on the narrow road [NO WAY am I going 55 on these hills, and I don’t care who else is behind me] with the first floor near the road, and the basement at least three stories below. Passed through several small towns, and the houses, particularly in the deep valleys, were scrunched together so tightly in the limited space that was flat, and the houses out in the country were only built where a flat space was available as these hills were worse than the one’s I have experience in Amish Country, and even gave the person I was following a good half mile since my ride doesn’t do to well on steep inclines with all of the extra “weight” it has to haul in speakers and personal “heft”. After an extreme roller coaster ride that seemed to last forever, finally made it to Route 22 and knew it was not much further.
I knew that the Winter Drive-In had 4 screens, and looking up the satellite imagery showed the up close cut of the land, but was pleasantly surprised after I entered, but after driving through all of the hills and valleys, I should not have been, since yes, there are 4 screens, but instead of the area of the drive-in being land flat as is per usual for all of the other drive-ins, because of the topography, the four screens [in four separate corners of the lot] are up on their own hill, and the projection booth along with the concession stand is down in the center of the valley(!) with an emergency access road running thru the first screen (red poles) so hope that the emergency brake is in full function! Since I haven’t been commenting too much on concession stands thus far [with the exception of the Field of Dreams and some others], went inside to use the facilities and both the facilities and concession stand were very well kept!
After hiking back up “Mt. Wintersville”, which was not too much of an incline [but one can always drive down to the concession area, eh?] reclined even further back in the car [which made drinking the soda an adventure, even though there was a straw] to see Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince and Transformers 2 [again]. Film critics were right that HP6 was a bridge to the final movie, but it was not a total waste of $7.50 since Transformers 2 hit it out of the ball park once again, along with going to a uniquely designed Drive-in Theatre! Had someone else’s car battery die between movies, so fortunately the trailers ran forever and finally got them started [note to self, better clean the battery terminals] and got back to my spot for T-2.
Got cold down there in the “holler” and although I would have loved to go back on US 250 via Route 22, I knew what those squiggly lines meant on the map, and at that late time with the fog rolling in, and knowing what Route 43 was like, took the roundabout way of heading east along Route 22 to hook up with Route 11 North and literally alongside the Ohio River. Even though it was like 3 am in the morning, foggy and on the road since like 8 am, it was still pretty cool to drive alongside a quite river, past the river locks, oil docks and coal plants which were literally right on top of Route 11, and would love to see it all during the day, although there will be much more traffic. Really didn’t have a real plan as to how to get back west, so followed Route 11 north until I got to Canfield and Route 224 West [although I am no environmentalist and am known to environmentalists by my carbon footprint as “Big Foot”, I do find it a wee bit wasteful to illuminate main street every two feet at 4 am like it is the center of the sun’s corona at high noon and almost needed sunglasses] to hook up to I-480 to I-71 south to Brunswick for another completed journey on the road less traveled.
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Cruise Updates 4 This Week / FORDS AT THE SUMMIT Preperations
Keeping the car in the barn for the next two weeks [though would like to have gone out and seen Public Enemies down in Winterville down in Jefferson County but movies seem to be floating around until the next big wave of summer movie releases July 24th with Harry Potter Part 524 being released with another midnight drive-in special showing etc. but plan to go down to Amelia in Brown County in Southern Ohio to catch that movie later this month] and will be busy prepping the car for the FIRST ANNUAL FORDS AT THE SUMMIT at Summit Raceway Park in Norwalk, Ohio July 24-26, 2009 [the old Fun Ford Weekend]!
May sneak in a cruise or two in between now and then, but finishing up on some of the smaller details I let slide during the winter months [including some major rear fender design work that will be completed by tomorrow -- have to look close each time the car is around since I have changed and / or added at least one different item on the car each month, something that is nice about the vynil is that easily comes on and off like butter [especially in the hot summer sun that bakes it right on, and sometimes gets too hot to work with, so just put it in the garage to cool the surface off so it can contract and adhere better to the car's exterior metal] but won't be entering it in any of the competitions [I don't think that they have a junk category yet, and the way I trash it every time I'm out driving, it's a wonder it is still in one piece!] since I have always been of the belief that Fords were made to be driven hard and way into the ground and have never once washed it since getting it used 5 years ago [and the soap used in the commerical car washes would automatically fade all of the colors, as the sun has already done on some of the stickers!] so just get it washed as the Good Lord Doth Provides whenever it rains [which means I get to go out and even though it washes off all of my entomology (bug) collection that were so painstakingly placed on the windshield means not only a whole new collection awaits as I tear up the back country roads] but it also means MUD, GLORIOUS MUD! as there is an open field I can cut thru on my way over Medina ways [and down in Wooster they are tearing up the whole length of Beall Ave. to which I rolled my eyes towards Heaven and gave a great big Thank You!]
Some folks Got their Armor All, us hill folks [and as Neal McCoy sings it:] GOT MUD!
More 411 at:
http://summitmotorsportspark.com/schedule/1st-annual-ford-heritage-nationals.ics
[P.S. Don't forget about the Fall SuperSwap !!!]
www.fallsuperswap.com
May sneak in a cruise or two in between now and then, but finishing up on some of the smaller details I let slide during the winter months [including some major rear fender design work that will be completed by tomorrow -- have to look close each time the car is around since I have changed and / or added at least one different item on the car each month, something that is nice about the vynil is that easily comes on and off like butter [especially in the hot summer sun that bakes it right on, and sometimes gets too hot to work with, so just put it in the garage to cool the surface off so it can contract and adhere better to the car's exterior metal] but won't be entering it in any of the competitions [I don't think that they have a junk category yet, and the way I trash it every time I'm out driving, it's a wonder it is still in one piece!] since I have always been of the belief that Fords were made to be driven hard and way into the ground and have never once washed it since getting it used 5 years ago [and the soap used in the commerical car washes would automatically fade all of the colors, as the sun has already done on some of the stickers!] so just get it washed as the Good Lord Doth Provides whenever it rains [which means I get to go out and even though it washes off all of my entomology (bug) collection that were so painstakingly placed on the windshield means not only a whole new collection awaits as I tear up the back country roads] but it also means MUD, GLORIOUS MUD! as there is an open field I can cut thru on my way over Medina ways [and down in Wooster they are tearing up the whole length of Beall Ave. to which I rolled my eyes towards Heaven and gave a great big Thank You!]
Some folks Got their Armor All, us hill folks [and as Neal McCoy sings it:] GOT MUD!
More 411 at:
http://summitmotorsportspark.com/schedule/1st-annual-ford-heritage-nationals.ics
[P.S. Don't forget about the Fall SuperSwap !!!]
www.fallsuperswap.com
Thursday, July 9, 2009
AGHHHHHHH! & A Late Night Possum Run [7/8/09 UFO Club Meeting Cruise]
Another month, another United Ford Owners Meeting [7/8/09], time to tank up the car with gas and head on down to Columbus!
Missed my usual Lodi TA Truck Stop dinner [was moms b-day and so headed with the rest of the family up to Stancato’s in Parma for one of their excellent Italian Buffet extraordinaire!]. On the way down, got off I-71 at Exit 204 Lodi / Wooster to tank up since I wanted to stop off in Holmes County at Millersburg for a county roadmap along with some other local 411 swag for Hood [since we talked about him crusing around Holmes county vicinity at the Applebee’s cruise, and have been going around to all of the various counties picking up county road maps even though getting lost is becoming a specialty of mine as of late] and Holmes county being in my back yard so to speak figured it was high time to “get lost” once again, and if someone tells me to “get lost” I simply reply: “I alreardy am, thank you kindly!”.
After gassing up and headed on down Route 83 towards Wooster, and trying to remember which route thru Wooster got me to the other end of Route 83 without taking the Bypass [Wooster is really what I call a spaghetti of a whole bunch of roads coming together: US 30, US 250, Route 3, Route 83, Route 585, Route 302, Old Route 30(A) all converge in Wooster, which is why I always defer to my father whenever we go to Wooster and the Ohio Light Opera since it is his territory and I always forget which road leads to which road I want to get to since it all goes round about, but with the completion of US 30 Highway (FINALLY) a few years ago, all of the off ramp escapades have made it a little easier, but still have to pay attention to all of the signs since halfway down Route 83 I had to remember that I went the wrong way the last time I wanted to go South on through to Millersburg and ended up doing the “Bypass Carousel” and eventually finding my way, so I zagged instead of zigging this time and went past the College of Wooster and the old Best Western up the hill to the OSU AgCenter Extension and hooked up with one of the best roads to cruise on in Wayne / Holmes County, Route 83 South!
Sometime will post a listing of all the best back roads to travel, and for the driving difficulty and enjoyability, Route 83 South is quite possible the best, since it has nice curves, long straight-aways and is very easy [and of course as always, providing no local yokels are up ahead tying up the road]. Northbound Route 83 is also enjoyable, but is mostly about the beautiful scenery that can only be seen in the rearview mirror cruising southbound – and as always, the usual disclaimer applies if it is during the summer cruising months and should have been mentioned before to which I do apologize: Windows along with the convertible tops down is preferred cruising through these counties, only if one is not offended by “farm” smells that one may “run” across from time to time [and since I have little choice in the matter since I have to keep my heater cranked all of the time to keep the car from overheating] along with the occasional raccoon “speed bump” driving any one of these roads with the throttle wide open and driving thru towns and villages that time has seemingly stood still for the past 100 years is something really enjoyable! One might ask, well the road is the same so why is one direction more better for driving and the other direction better for scenery, well, its just probably me having driven up and around these parts for the better of 20 years now, and is just personal preference [the way the road is set up heading southbound Route 83 the car handles the curves better the one way than heading up the same road the opposite way etc, and have had arguments with my cousins until we go out and settle our point by going out and driving it – we didn’t have video games back then in “1990 Something” – deputy sheriff lived by my cousin and every time the department got a new squad car they would go out and see who was faster, the squad car or the Cougar and it got so that the deputy would tell the chief that he was taking my cousin’s car since it was faster out on calls until one time he took a hill a little too fast and ended up airborne and in the back half of a wagon which ended that cars law enforcement career] but always tell folks just to do what song title says: “Go Your Own Way”
Finally got to Millersburg [a lot quicker than I am currently writing, eh?] and had the address of the Holmes County Road Engineer, and although I emailed them earlier to make sure [since the local visitors chamber didn’t have the detailed road maps I went down to earlier in the year] I found out that there was a distinct difference between East Jackson Street and West Jackson Street, both Route 39, and after 20 minutes of back and forth on West Jackson [including a side trip up a lane and a half road winding up and up and up and passing a local Amish buggy, only to figure out a way back down but first had to turn around so found an old “Wye” turnaround and went back down and stopped and asked at the local gas station, and found out I needed to be on the other side of Route 83 heading east on Route 39, so after heading back with maps in hand, headed back south towards to Columbus on Route 83, and turned onto Route 62 South for further adventures.
Had a “parade” of locals, which normally turn off after a couple of miles since most traffic that is run into will part ways and will have the open road to open up the throttle with, but for some reason today, just couldn’t shake two of them [one having a Georgia license plate, and the other who (unfortunately was a newer Grand Marquis) insisted on driving 30 MPH around corners and cranking it up to 70 on the straight-aways, and passing was definitely not an option, but found a place to “slingshot” pass both of them just above the Route 13 interchange. Got kinda confused with the new “turn about” just outside of New Albany, but once I found Morse Road then I knew Hamilton Road was just around the corner.
Got back on I-70 and moseyed on back North on I-71 after the United Ford Owners meeting, but it was still light out and hadn’t been up North on Route 3 in a long time, so got off at US 36 in Delaware and headed west to connect back up with an old “friend” so to speak, and for all of my years of traveling up and down / back and forth, I have always missed PaceMakers Drag Racing Park where the car club holds its drag racing meets, so made sure I knew where it was for the next club meeting there, and found it just south of Mt. Vernon [and the question is: Will I be able to find it going southbound now that I know where it is heading northbound?? Stay Tuned!].
With the light turning to dusk and dusk now night, time for a Possum Run, which is driving the back roads [preferably paved] at night with the throttle as WIDE OPEN as possible [sometimes do a timing run – getting to a place as fast as possible and then going again to see if the time can be beaten going only the back roads, sort of a nighttime Cannonball Run], and not hitting any possums in the meantime. Drove up thru Loudonville, and thought about driving up to Reflection Ridge – which is a tiny Methodist churchyard where my grand-folks and all their kinfolk got married that overlooks US 30 and the City of Wooster and the traffic below looks like little lightening bugs scurrying along in a straight line – but instead decided to do a Timing / Possum Run up Route 60 between Loudonville and West Salem, which in hindsight was not among the Top 10 Dumb Things I Have Ever Done, but is pretty close, since the asphalt was just repaved with no edge lines or centerlines, so it was AGHHHHHHHH! all the way up, and had all exterior lights on and ready, since a pitch black night on new blacktop with no white edge lines on a zigzags road, it could be me ending up as Middle of the Road Kill, and yes, I did see a possum on the side of the road [which looked like it was saying “After You” to which I obliged] as I whizzed by and turning off some lights for the oncoming traffic, and looking up ahead to see if there was a car up ahead as to see which way the road was going to turn [although with most country roads, its best not to rely solely on a car’s taillight since it is most likely another back road all together] and with what I consider the most dangerous intersection I have ever come across, Route 60 and Route 95, whereas even though Route 60 has the right of way, there are blindspots at all four corners, and at night the lights help immensely, I that is one intersection I won’t go on during the day and should obviously be made a four way stop [this intersection along with Route 89 at US 250 it is a wonder more folks aren’t killed at either intersection than already have been].
After 2 more “Double Z” curves finally made it up to US 30 interchange making great time, but ODOT spoiled the fun and had to take a detour, and normally ROAD CLOSED is not in my vocabulary, but tonight decided that detour means opportunity so headed back west down US 30, and hadn’t been on Route 511 before, so hooked a right and headed back towards Ashland and got on US 42 Northbound to complete the Possum Run to West Salem. Rounded Lodi and headed back east towards Wadsworth on US 422 / I-76 East to get to their 24 hour Wal-Mart then back up Route 94 to pack it in and back to the barn to wrap up another Cruisin’ Day
Missed my usual Lodi TA Truck Stop dinner [was moms b-day and so headed with the rest of the family up to Stancato’s in Parma for one of their excellent Italian Buffet extraordinaire!]. On the way down, got off I-71 at Exit 204 Lodi / Wooster to tank up since I wanted to stop off in Holmes County at Millersburg for a county roadmap along with some other local 411 swag for Hood [since we talked about him crusing around Holmes county vicinity at the Applebee’s cruise, and have been going around to all of the various counties picking up county road maps even though getting lost is becoming a specialty of mine as of late] and Holmes county being in my back yard so to speak figured it was high time to “get lost” once again, and if someone tells me to “get lost” I simply reply: “I alreardy am, thank you kindly!”.
After gassing up and headed on down Route 83 towards Wooster, and trying to remember which route thru Wooster got me to the other end of Route 83 without taking the Bypass [Wooster is really what I call a spaghetti of a whole bunch of roads coming together: US 30, US 250, Route 3, Route 83, Route 585, Route 302, Old Route 30(A) all converge in Wooster, which is why I always defer to my father whenever we go to Wooster and the Ohio Light Opera since it is his territory and I always forget which road leads to which road I want to get to since it all goes round about, but with the completion of US 30 Highway (FINALLY) a few years ago, all of the off ramp escapades have made it a little easier, but still have to pay attention to all of the signs since halfway down Route 83 I had to remember that I went the wrong way the last time I wanted to go South on through to Millersburg and ended up doing the “Bypass Carousel” and eventually finding my way, so I zagged instead of zigging this time and went past the College of Wooster and the old Best Western up the hill to the OSU AgCenter Extension and hooked up with one of the best roads to cruise on in Wayne / Holmes County, Route 83 South!
Sometime will post a listing of all the best back roads to travel, and for the driving difficulty and enjoyability, Route 83 South is quite possible the best, since it has nice curves, long straight-aways and is very easy [and of course as always, providing no local yokels are up ahead tying up the road]. Northbound Route 83 is also enjoyable, but is mostly about the beautiful scenery that can only be seen in the rearview mirror cruising southbound – and as always, the usual disclaimer applies if it is during the summer cruising months and should have been mentioned before to which I do apologize: Windows along with the convertible tops down is preferred cruising through these counties, only if one is not offended by “farm” smells that one may “run” across from time to time [and since I have little choice in the matter since I have to keep my heater cranked all of the time to keep the car from overheating] along with the occasional raccoon “speed bump” driving any one of these roads with the throttle wide open and driving thru towns and villages that time has seemingly stood still for the past 100 years is something really enjoyable! One might ask, well the road is the same so why is one direction more better for driving and the other direction better for scenery, well, its just probably me having driven up and around these parts for the better of 20 years now, and is just personal preference [the way the road is set up heading southbound Route 83 the car handles the curves better the one way than heading up the same road the opposite way etc, and have had arguments with my cousins until we go out and settle our point by going out and driving it – we didn’t have video games back then in “1990 Something” – deputy sheriff lived by my cousin and every time the department got a new squad car they would go out and see who was faster, the squad car or the Cougar and it got so that the deputy would tell the chief that he was taking my cousin’s car since it was faster out on calls until one time he took a hill a little too fast and ended up airborne and in the back half of a wagon which ended that cars law enforcement career] but always tell folks just to do what song title says: “Go Your Own Way”
Finally got to Millersburg [a lot quicker than I am currently writing, eh?] and had the address of the Holmes County Road Engineer, and although I emailed them earlier to make sure [since the local visitors chamber didn’t have the detailed road maps I went down to earlier in the year] I found out that there was a distinct difference between East Jackson Street and West Jackson Street, both Route 39, and after 20 minutes of back and forth on West Jackson [including a side trip up a lane and a half road winding up and up and up and passing a local Amish buggy, only to figure out a way back down but first had to turn around so found an old “Wye” turnaround and went back down and stopped and asked at the local gas station, and found out I needed to be on the other side of Route 83 heading east on Route 39, so after heading back with maps in hand, headed back south towards to Columbus on Route 83, and turned onto Route 62 South for further adventures.
Had a “parade” of locals, which normally turn off after a couple of miles since most traffic that is run into will part ways and will have the open road to open up the throttle with, but for some reason today, just couldn’t shake two of them [one having a Georgia license plate, and the other who (unfortunately was a newer Grand Marquis) insisted on driving 30 MPH around corners and cranking it up to 70 on the straight-aways, and passing was definitely not an option, but found a place to “slingshot” pass both of them just above the Route 13 interchange. Got kinda confused with the new “turn about” just outside of New Albany, but once I found Morse Road then I knew Hamilton Road was just around the corner.
Got back on I-70 and moseyed on back North on I-71 after the United Ford Owners meeting, but it was still light out and hadn’t been up North on Route 3 in a long time, so got off at US 36 in Delaware and headed west to connect back up with an old “friend” so to speak, and for all of my years of traveling up and down / back and forth, I have always missed PaceMakers Drag Racing Park where the car club holds its drag racing meets, so made sure I knew where it was for the next club meeting there, and found it just south of Mt. Vernon [and the question is: Will I be able to find it going southbound now that I know where it is heading northbound?? Stay Tuned!].
With the light turning to dusk and dusk now night, time for a Possum Run, which is driving the back roads [preferably paved] at night with the throttle as WIDE OPEN as possible [sometimes do a timing run – getting to a place as fast as possible and then going again to see if the time can be beaten going only the back roads, sort of a nighttime Cannonball Run], and not hitting any possums in the meantime. Drove up thru Loudonville, and thought about driving up to Reflection Ridge – which is a tiny Methodist churchyard where my grand-folks and all their kinfolk got married that overlooks US 30 and the City of Wooster and the traffic below looks like little lightening bugs scurrying along in a straight line – but instead decided to do a Timing / Possum Run up Route 60 between Loudonville and West Salem, which in hindsight was not among the Top 10 Dumb Things I Have Ever Done, but is pretty close, since the asphalt was just repaved with no edge lines or centerlines, so it was AGHHHHHHHH! all the way up, and had all exterior lights on and ready, since a pitch black night on new blacktop with no white edge lines on a zigzags road, it could be me ending up as Middle of the Road Kill, and yes, I did see a possum on the side of the road [which looked like it was saying “After You” to which I obliged] as I whizzed by and turning off some lights for the oncoming traffic, and looking up ahead to see if there was a car up ahead as to see which way the road was going to turn [although with most country roads, its best not to rely solely on a car’s taillight since it is most likely another back road all together] and with what I consider the most dangerous intersection I have ever come across, Route 60 and Route 95, whereas even though Route 60 has the right of way, there are blindspots at all four corners, and at night the lights help immensely, I that is one intersection I won’t go on during the day and should obviously be made a four way stop [this intersection along with Route 89 at US 250 it is a wonder more folks aren’t killed at either intersection than already have been].
After 2 more “Double Z” curves finally made it up to US 30 interchange making great time, but ODOT spoiled the fun and had to take a detour, and normally ROAD CLOSED is not in my vocabulary, but tonight decided that detour means opportunity so headed back west down US 30, and hadn’t been on Route 511 before, so hooked a right and headed back towards Ashland and got on US 42 Northbound to complete the Possum Run to West Salem. Rounded Lodi and headed back east towards Wadsworth on US 422 / I-76 East to get to their 24 hour Wal-Mart then back up Route 94 to pack it in and back to the barn to wrap up another Cruisin’ Day
Wednesday, July 8, 2009
Sunset Drive-In Theatre [Review] Full Moon Rising
Full Moon Rising at the Sunset Drive-In Theatre Mansfield, Ohio
July 7, 2009
Running late [as usual] after a late running meeting of the NMCRC up in Brunswick, hammered down I-71 to Ontario, Ohio [just SW of Mansfield] to the Sunset Drive-In Movie Theatre to see Transformer 2 and the Jack Black “Caveman Comedy” Year One. With the days getting longer [fortunately] for the 70-odd mile trek and with no Smokies in sight [thank goodness they never did a remake of Smokey and the Bandit, although I’ve personally tried to get the starring role but have enough trouble not getting pulled over for a “chat” with the local constabulary as it is] and with the 18 wheelers now being allowed to legally go 65 mph on the highways [though always laugh when they pass me going 65 plus only for me to pass them on the “Big Hill” between exits 218 and 209 there in Medina – at least they now have 3 lanes for passing and not the two they had not so many years ago; looks like the I-71 / I-76 interchange is about to be completed, although in their redesign they took away my favorite off ramp / slalom coarse from I-76 westbound to I-71 North which I could cut off the corners and keep the throttle wide open then whipping around the on ramp and hitting the gas hard, and although the new interchange is better for the continuation of traffic [trucks able to make their way up to the east coast from the south without having to confront oncoming traffic trying to merge in one of what I consider to be what was one of the most dangerous crossovers with trucks trying to merge onto the bridge from southbound I-71 to get to I-76 / US 224 West with all of those continuous miles of semi’s crossing over to the I-76 East exit this new redesign [which after about 50 years and making Exit 209 the “Crossroads of America”, with the Truckstops of America (TA) rated one of the best truckstops in America as designated by the Travel Channel a few years ago (which was one of the first to have internet hookups in the truck parking yard, and where I still go for their awesome buffet!) now semis not going for to one of the other “Choke and Pukes” for gas, eats, etc. can exit directly from I-71 to I-76 and points east, and those trucks returning back down south can hit southbound I-71 and not have to worry about us “teeny-bop 4 wheelers” trying not to get squashed by a big rig in the brief 10 feet of onramp and on over to northbound I-71] so I motored on down I-71 and got off at US 30 Westbound [kinda an odd offramp / onramp system there, since US 30 becomes a limited access road between Mansfield and Wooster with many crossover intersections – just watch out on the onramp going southbound I-71 since I found out the hard way that 30 mph means 25 mph when going up the on ramp and around to the interstate – did another stupid thing one time heading down to CBus one rainy evening a few years ago which I might have taken the curve a little too hard and over cranked the steering wheel a wee bit much and thought out of the corner of my eye saw a car that had the same stickers on its rear quarter panel as I did, then I realized that it actually was my driver side rear quarter panel sliding out into the wild blue yonder so not wanting it to get ahead of me self let off the gas and cranked the steering wheel back the other way and after a few more fishtails got it all going back in the right direction – I figured I still had time to get there [although I missed out on the best spots, but with it being a weekday, I reckoned it wouldn’t be filled and was only 20 minutes away, passing the Springmill Road exit for the only other Mansfield area theatre still in existence (was one up on US 42 right near US 30 but that had been gone for quite a while, although like many, especially where one was on US 30 in Wayne County the old sign is still being used today for the local business, but all other traces are unfortunately plowed under and long gone as the land becomes too valuable for the owners to say no to since most were once built far from and literally in the middle nowhere or, like the Aut-O-Rama, they are built in land only usable for that usage, since that particular one in North Ridgeville is in kinda a “Wedge” area between the Ohio Turnpike and CSX tracks)] so after looking at my map of all of the Ohio Drive-In Theatres got off at the Route 309 exit and coasted my way on down to the Sunset Theatre for another evening of Fun Movie Entertainment!
Pulling up to the Sunset Drive-In [after looking at their website] which is located literally on the edge of town, and it felt like it was right in the middle of nowhere. I would guess by the simplicity of the structure [single screen, 10-12 feet high white fencing enclosing the entire complex, a house that I guess where the owners live and a small white cinder block building housing the concession and projection booth along with the usual white parking poles, many more than not missing the original speakers, which there were some still available but those that remained did actually work] that the Sunset was one of the earliest Drive-ins [although the Lynn Drive-In in Strassburg on US 250 is the oldest remaining in Ohio], I wouldn’t doubt that the Sunset was pretty close behind in age.
I have found through my going to now a third of the remaining Drive-In theatres [11 so far out of the 33 listed] that each has its own special, well, niche, charm, aura, etc. that is unique only to itself and to no other [would have liked to have started this trek earlier and have had the opportunity to have gone to even more of the now departed screens, especially the one here in Brunswick, or the Miles in Cleveland or even the one over in Ashland and Wayne, since each and everyone has its own niche and local flavor, and like a snowflake, no two are ever or will be the same, and thank goodness for the internet, which I can keep track of most of them and find out what is playing before I go (or have at least a phone number as in the case of Tiffin Drive-In to make sure they are still open) the uniqueness of something that is truly American that, with the age of the Internet and video games etc hopefully is something that will still remain for years to come, and when I see families in their carloads it gives me hope for the future, but know these are trying economic times that these are small businesses that, like the recent court case up in North Ridgeville with the lighting injunction against a new ball field that fortunately went the Aut-O-Rama’s favor, that after 60 + years in some instances it is often an uphill battle, but I am again hopeful since every experience so far has made me want to return and so far it has been tough to pick a favorite, so have chickened out and divided the drive-Ins into categories: Single screen, Double Screens and Triple Screens, although I could also do other subdivisions as well (since some single screens were converted into doubles and so on and so forth) and so far, of the 11 so far visited, the breakdown is as follows:
Single Screen:
1) Field Of Dreams Drive-In
Holiday Drive-In
3) Blue Sky Drive-In
4) Mayfield Road Drive-In
Sunset Drive-In
6) Skyway Warren
Double Screen Drive-In Theatres
1) Auto-O-Rama
Lynn Drive-In
3) Midway Drive-In
4) Springmill Drive-In
5) Sundance Kid Drive-In
6) South Drive-In
Triple Drive-In Theateres
Memphis Drive-In
As for the movies, Transformers 2 was so far [along with Star Trek, Ice Age 3, Fast and Furious 4] the best movies of the first half of 2009. Year One, unfortunately, I think the working title was Year Two, since the script must have been written by two year olds. Transformers 2 at least plays to the lowest common male denominator of smash ups and BIG explosions, while Jack Black [in what the writers were trying to go for was a remake of Mel Brook’s History of the World Part I, and if Year One was HOTW Part II, then Mel Brooks should have won an Oscar for his movie, since Year One, er Two writers should have their mouths scrubbed out with not only soap but every antiseptic detergent available as well] played his moron part extremely well, but as it was the second feature I had a more enjoyable time watching the full moon rise on a semi dark cloudy evening [had to park up closer than I wanted since I arrived late and after surveying the entire lot with a once around the lot finally settled on row two and not blocking anyone in kinda a sparse crowd for a Tuesday evening, but always enjoy reclining back and cranking up the “Surround Sound”, although most if not all drive-ins have at least one outside speaker, and some even have radios to “hand out”] slowly at first above the tall white picket fence like the theatre was located out in the middle of the prairie, with only an occasional semi hitting its air brakes [can’t say Jake Brake anymore since its trademarked -- oops, I just did, oh well]. At the end, heard the whiney sound of someone’s starter not starting, so got out the jumper cables for the assist [gotta clean off my terminals soon as well] and with the big giant super duty clamps trying to hitch on to the tiny nubs of a Pontiac’s battery, was a challenge but eventually got everyone on their way, and when I got back home and checked out the map, the Sunset is located on Route 430, part of the old time Lincoln Highway [at least one of the routes so designated that ran through Mansfield on to points East and West], so no wonder it felt so familiar, so when I’m done with going to all of the Drive-Ins, will be driving the Lincoln Highway [of the known routes and not just the bypass US 30 highway, but another topic for another day] and had another enjoyable evening cruising [albeit hurriedly again] to the Sunset Drive-In Theatre!
July 7, 2009
Running late [as usual] after a late running meeting of the NMCRC up in Brunswick, hammered down I-71 to Ontario, Ohio [just SW of Mansfield] to the Sunset Drive-In Movie Theatre to see Transformer 2 and the Jack Black “Caveman Comedy” Year One. With the days getting longer [fortunately] for the 70-odd mile trek and with no Smokies in sight [thank goodness they never did a remake of Smokey and the Bandit, although I’ve personally tried to get the starring role but have enough trouble not getting pulled over for a “chat” with the local constabulary as it is] and with the 18 wheelers now being allowed to legally go 65 mph on the highways [though always laugh when they pass me going 65 plus only for me to pass them on the “Big Hill” between exits 218 and 209 there in Medina – at least they now have 3 lanes for passing and not the two they had not so many years ago; looks like the I-71 / I-76 interchange is about to be completed, although in their redesign they took away my favorite off ramp / slalom coarse from I-76 westbound to I-71 North which I could cut off the corners and keep the throttle wide open then whipping around the on ramp and hitting the gas hard, and although the new interchange is better for the continuation of traffic [trucks able to make their way up to the east coast from the south without having to confront oncoming traffic trying to merge in one of what I consider to be what was one of the most dangerous crossovers with trucks trying to merge onto the bridge from southbound I-71 to get to I-76 / US 224 West with all of those continuous miles of semi’s crossing over to the I-76 East exit this new redesign [which after about 50 years and making Exit 209 the “Crossroads of America”, with the Truckstops of America (TA) rated one of the best truckstops in America as designated by the Travel Channel a few years ago (which was one of the first to have internet hookups in the truck parking yard, and where I still go for their awesome buffet!) now semis not going for to one of the other “Choke and Pukes” for gas, eats, etc. can exit directly from I-71 to I-76 and points east, and those trucks returning back down south can hit southbound I-71 and not have to worry about us “teeny-bop 4 wheelers” trying not to get squashed by a big rig in the brief 10 feet of onramp and on over to northbound I-71] so I motored on down I-71 and got off at US 30 Westbound [kinda an odd offramp / onramp system there, since US 30 becomes a limited access road between Mansfield and Wooster with many crossover intersections – just watch out on the onramp going southbound I-71 since I found out the hard way that 30 mph means 25 mph when going up the on ramp and around to the interstate – did another stupid thing one time heading down to CBus one rainy evening a few years ago which I might have taken the curve a little too hard and over cranked the steering wheel a wee bit much and thought out of the corner of my eye saw a car that had the same stickers on its rear quarter panel as I did, then I realized that it actually was my driver side rear quarter panel sliding out into the wild blue yonder so not wanting it to get ahead of me self let off the gas and cranked the steering wheel back the other way and after a few more fishtails got it all going back in the right direction – I figured I still had time to get there [although I missed out on the best spots, but with it being a weekday, I reckoned it wouldn’t be filled and was only 20 minutes away, passing the Springmill Road exit for the only other Mansfield area theatre still in existence (was one up on US 42 right near US 30 but that had been gone for quite a while, although like many, especially where one was on US 30 in Wayne County the old sign is still being used today for the local business, but all other traces are unfortunately plowed under and long gone as the land becomes too valuable for the owners to say no to since most were once built far from and literally in the middle nowhere or, like the Aut-O-Rama, they are built in land only usable for that usage, since that particular one in North Ridgeville is in kinda a “Wedge” area between the Ohio Turnpike and CSX tracks)] so after looking at my map of all of the Ohio Drive-In Theatres got off at the Route 309 exit and coasted my way on down to the Sunset Theatre for another evening of Fun Movie Entertainment!
Pulling up to the Sunset Drive-In [after looking at their website] which is located literally on the edge of town, and it felt like it was right in the middle of nowhere. I would guess by the simplicity of the structure [single screen, 10-12 feet high white fencing enclosing the entire complex, a house that I guess where the owners live and a small white cinder block building housing the concession and projection booth along with the usual white parking poles, many more than not missing the original speakers, which there were some still available but those that remained did actually work] that the Sunset was one of the earliest Drive-ins [although the Lynn Drive-In in Strassburg on US 250 is the oldest remaining in Ohio], I wouldn’t doubt that the Sunset was pretty close behind in age.
I have found through my going to now a third of the remaining Drive-In theatres [11 so far out of the 33 listed] that each has its own special, well, niche, charm, aura, etc. that is unique only to itself and to no other [would have liked to have started this trek earlier and have had the opportunity to have gone to even more of the now departed screens, especially the one here in Brunswick, or the Miles in Cleveland or even the one over in Ashland and Wayne, since each and everyone has its own niche and local flavor, and like a snowflake, no two are ever or will be the same, and thank goodness for the internet, which I can keep track of most of them and find out what is playing before I go (or have at least a phone number as in the case of Tiffin Drive-In to make sure they are still open) the uniqueness of something that is truly American that, with the age of the Internet and video games etc hopefully is something that will still remain for years to come, and when I see families in their carloads it gives me hope for the future, but know these are trying economic times that these are small businesses that, like the recent court case up in North Ridgeville with the lighting injunction against a new ball field that fortunately went the Aut-O-Rama’s favor, that after 60 + years in some instances it is often an uphill battle, but I am again hopeful since every experience so far has made me want to return and so far it has been tough to pick a favorite, so have chickened out and divided the drive-Ins into categories: Single screen, Double Screens and Triple Screens, although I could also do other subdivisions as well (since some single screens were converted into doubles and so on and so forth) and so far, of the 11 so far visited, the breakdown is as follows:
Single Screen:
1) Field Of Dreams Drive-In
Holiday Drive-In
3) Blue Sky Drive-In
4) Mayfield Road Drive-In
Sunset Drive-In
6) Skyway Warren
Double Screen Drive-In Theatres
1) Auto-O-Rama
Lynn Drive-In
3) Midway Drive-In
4) Springmill Drive-In
5) Sundance Kid Drive-In
6) South Drive-In
Triple Drive-In Theateres
Memphis Drive-In
As for the movies, Transformers 2 was so far [along with Star Trek, Ice Age 3, Fast and Furious 4] the best movies of the first half of 2009. Year One, unfortunately, I think the working title was Year Two, since the script must have been written by two year olds. Transformers 2 at least plays to the lowest common male denominator of smash ups and BIG explosions, while Jack Black [in what the writers were trying to go for was a remake of Mel Brook’s History of the World Part I, and if Year One was HOTW Part II, then Mel Brooks should have won an Oscar for his movie, since Year One, er Two writers should have their mouths scrubbed out with not only soap but every antiseptic detergent available as well] played his moron part extremely well, but as it was the second feature I had a more enjoyable time watching the full moon rise on a semi dark cloudy evening [had to park up closer than I wanted since I arrived late and after surveying the entire lot with a once around the lot finally settled on row two and not blocking anyone in kinda a sparse crowd for a Tuesday evening, but always enjoy reclining back and cranking up the “Surround Sound”, although most if not all drive-ins have at least one outside speaker, and some even have radios to “hand out”] slowly at first above the tall white picket fence like the theatre was located out in the middle of the prairie, with only an occasional semi hitting its air brakes [can’t say Jake Brake anymore since its trademarked -- oops, I just did, oh well]. At the end, heard the whiney sound of someone’s starter not starting, so got out the jumper cables for the assist [gotta clean off my terminals soon as well] and with the big giant super duty clamps trying to hitch on to the tiny nubs of a Pontiac’s battery, was a challenge but eventually got everyone on their way, and when I got back home and checked out the map, the Sunset is located on Route 430, part of the old time Lincoln Highway [at least one of the routes so designated that ran through Mansfield on to points East and West], so no wonder it felt so familiar, so when I’m done with going to all of the Drive-Ins, will be driving the Lincoln Highway [of the known routes and not just the bypass US 30 highway, but another topic for another day] and had another enjoyable evening cruising [albeit hurriedly again] to the Sunset Drive-In Theatre!
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Newest AutoBot: HELLRAIZER
With all of the stickers lights, and whatnot that cover and decorate the car [SEE "A Car of Many Colors" as blogged about previously in MOTRoadkill], and going to all of the car shows, Movie Drive-Ins Theatres and just cruising the highways, Byways, and other backroads here in Ohio, have had some youngsters ask as they pass the car: "Is That Actual An Autobot??!" [even had one guy while driving down I-71 take out his cell phone and start snapping pictures of the car while going around 65-ish, and with it being 3 lanes down by Ashland OH, he held up his phone and drove by the passenger side and would slow down and let me pass, then get behind me for more photos and then I obliged him by passing on his driver's side so he got the full 360 "beauty shot" and making sure no 5-0 were around, gave him a brief light display [although with it being noon-ish, couldn't give him the full interior display of blue [194B] lights that I have on both the driver and passenger side, along with one behind the instrament cluster as well as the rear trunk that I have one of the rear seats down and also illuminates the rear passenger window with the 13.45 as I pass others, as well as red 194R lights on the rear which illuminate the 2 false speaker panels from my 1986 Ford Taurus rear deck lid [the front red "light" is from the same '86 Taurus rear high mount stop] and once I get everything hooked up electrically [have to do an entire re-wiring of the entire interior hopefully this winter with even more interior blue and red lighting -- headrest, underneath the drivers seat, cup holders and the new main panel box, along with the heating vents etc.] and will blog about what all of the 34 or so switches that are in the car hook up and connect to in future posts.
Well, it is not exactly an AutoBot, but the newest stickers added gets it one step closer, as the Red AutoBots symbols "mysteriously" appeared late last week [even blending in on the rear red trunk reflectors] and now the car can be known as AUTOBOT: HELLRAIZER -- Haven't seen it transform into anything yet, but if Shia LaBouf can have a Camero in the movie, then I want my own personal Transformer AutoBot too!
Well, it is not exactly an AutoBot, but the newest stickers added gets it one step closer, as the Red AutoBots symbols "mysteriously" appeared late last week [even blending in on the rear red trunk reflectors] and now the car can be known as AUTOBOT: HELLRAIZER -- Haven't seen it transform into anything yet, but if Shia LaBouf can have a Camero in the movie, then I want my own personal Transformer AutoBot too!
Sunday, July 5, 2009
2009 Ohio Drive-In Theatre REVIEWS
NE Ohio Drive-In Theatres
Aut-O-Rama Twin Drive-In
autoramadrivein.com/nowshowing.php
$8.00 (cc-D/V/MC)
33395 Lorain Rd.North Ridgeville OH Lorain County
Drive-In Theatre Season’s Official Kick-off
Aut-O-Rama
Time to officially kick-off the 2009 Drive-In Theatre Season with a Visit to North Ridgeville’s Aut-O-Rama. Located just a literal stone throws from both the CSX train tracks and the Ohio Turnpike, the Aut-O-Rama has been one of my traditional Drive-In Movie haunts for the past 10 years [along with Mayfield Road Drive-In in Chesterland Ohio on Mayfield Road, and the now closed Memphis Triple Drive Drive-In on Memphis Ave just off of I-480 in Brooklyn, bought out by American Greetings for “Green Space” for its employees] the Aut-O-Rama has some of the friendliest staff personel and the lot is always extremely well kept, which makes summertime the one thing that I always look forward to crank up the engine [as well as cranking up the radio and speakers] for an always entertaining evening, as well as the cruise over to North Ridgeville. Although this summer I will be going around the state of Ohio to experience other Drive-In Theatre venues [as sort of a mini personal “bucket list” of things I want to do before I reach that “Great Junkyard in the Sky”], the Aut-O-Rama will always be my own personal favorite of all of the previous ones mentioned [Memphis, Mayfield Road, and even went to Midway Drive-In down in Ravenna during my college years at Kent State – yes, did the trunk stuff thing for the “carload” price on more than one occasion].
Went to see Fast and Furious 4 and Paul Blart, Mall Cop [F&F 4 for the obvious “need for speed” reasons and Blart just to laugh at something, OK, it was all about seeing F&F 4], but mostly to be back at the Aut-O-Rama to kick off another great summer season of Drive-In movies at one of the finest locations here in NE Ohio!
TRANSFORMERS 2: RISE OF THE FALLEN OPENING MORNING June 24, 2009
Even though I have been going over to North Ridgeville for eons, received and email for a special midnight showing of Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen on the day that it was being released Nationwide, and even though I would have waited to go and see it eventually [and knowing that it was so huge that it’ll be around for several weeks to come] and had always known that movie chains always show their summer blockbusters with the special midnight showing the day of the summer release, mid week no less, it was being shown with Star Trek [now seen for the 5th or so time] so fired up the car and cruised on over to The Aut-O-Rama for the midnight opening [which I had never been to, but used that as an excuse to see Star Trek one more time] and arrived early enough to cruise around my old cruising ground of North Olmstead and Olmstead Falls before settling in for an evening filled with the typical “Hollywood Fireworks and Explosions” and got the most bang for buck.
For those of you who haven’t heard about the recent controversy surrounding the Aut-O-Rama and a nearby softball field [whose lights were affecting the screen picture quality] here is an update from the Aut-O-Rama’s email and website:
http://autoramadrivein.com/lighting_issue.php
Original Message: 6/4/09
Dear Patrons and Friends of the Aut-O-Rama Drive-In,Our thanks to all of those patrons who took part in our survey over the Memorial Day weekend and continue to be patient with our less than acceptable movie presentation. We are still working with our attorneys to get to a permanent solution to our lighting problem from the nearby sports park. Many of you have seen the attention our situation is getting from the media. If you haven’t been to the drive-in this past month you may not have realized something was going on. At this point, it doesn’t look like our light pollution problem will be solved without going to court. After dealing with this problem since May 8, 2009, we did obtain a temporary restraining order on Thursday, May 28, 2009. The Temporary Restraining Order forbid the sports park from turning any of their 8 baseball/softball field lights on after 9:25pm. Finally after three weeks of trying to get a resolution to the light spillage, we got a phone call from the lawyer for the sports park on Friday, May 29, after we served them with the restraining order, asking if we could meet and discuss this with them. We have no desire to harm the sports park, so we agreed to meet. As a result of that meeting, we agreed to do an experiment on Friday night, in an effort to let them use any fields that might not be contributing to the glare problem at the drive-in. As a result of this test, which lasted almost the entire first movie, we came to an agreement that the sports park would have the use of all eight fields until 9:25 but only 4 of their 8 ball fields after that time. We again went to court on Tuesday, June 2, because the sports park wanted to amend the Temporary Restraining Order. Since it is staying light out a little later, again we compromised and moved the time that all the fields could be lit, from 9:25pm until 10:00pm and allowing the continued use of the other 4 fields after that time. There is still a problem with those other fields, but we are doing all we can to help the sports park keep playing their games. The next step is a preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning, June 10. The hearing is likely to take all morning long. Over the Memorial Day weekend, we obtained a long list of people who said they would be willing to testify in court. Beginning probably tonight, Thursday, June 4, 2009, my daughter-in-law Niki and I will start calling the people on this list to see if they are still willing and able to be at the Lorain County Court building in Elyria, Ohio beginning at 8:30am on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. I know this is a lot to ask of our very loyal customers, but we need the assistance of as many people as possible. You can also contact me to confirm or decline your participation, by answering this email. We are working to get a permanent solution to this problem as quickly as possible, and again, we appreciate your co-operation, help and understanding.Best Regards, and our thanks,Deb Sherman and FamilyAut-O-Rama Drive-In
Update: 6/12/09
We had the hearing for our preliminary injunction. The Judge will not rule on our case for about a week. Our hearing took all day Wednesday June 10, and all morning on Thursday, June 11. We are indebted to all of our customers who took time out of their lives to come to the courthouse and testify. Unfortunately, with the hearing taking so long, the Judge would only allow testimony from 3 people. Their testimony was important because it put a face on the “customers” of Aut-O-Rama Drive-In. We feel that we presented a strong case against the sports park and are very hopeful that the judge will rule in our favor. In the meantime, we have the restraining order in place that compels the sports park to turn off lights on the 4 fields that affect the drive-in the most. Our thanks to everyone for their patience and support.
Mayfield Road Drive-In
http://www.funflick.com/mayfield.html
FM 101.5
12091 Mayfield Rd.Chardon, OH Geauga County
A single screen theatre way out in the country that I also look forward to visiting each summer. Haven’t been there this year yet [did see Speed Racer last year – for the third time, and again had to offer an assist for a dead battery to my “next door neighbor”] and between the Aut-O-Rama, [the now demolished] Memphis and Mayfield Road were my main Drive-In “Haunts” and could regularly find me cruising down Route 44 thru Chardon city square, especially after a weeknight of cruising with my old car club, the North East Ohio Stang Gang and All Ford Club located up in Mentor the first Tuesday of the month before it broke apart a couple of years ago, and opening up the throttle a bit until reaching the 322 / Mayfield Road intersection and heading east just a couple of seconds and reaching the Drive-In, then can either trek back home east on Mayfield Road after the movie, or open up the throttle once again back down Route 44.
Located in kind of a “woodsy” area, always best to bring along some kind of repellant [along with jumper cables, etc), but overall, another family friendly environment and also a well kept family owned facility that keeps me coming back year after year after year!
Midway Twin Drive-In
http://www.funflick.com/midway.html
FM(102.7, 104.7)
2736 SR 59Ravenna, OH Portage County
Going to Kent State U. just up the road from the Midway during the early 90’s was actually the first drive in I ever went to, and yes, we did pile 3 cars worth of kids into one car [with me ending up in the trunk after parking just down the road from the theatre!] and “sneaking” in, although it was by the carload back then. Don’t remember what we saw that night, since, well, I was concentrating on other “endeavors” at the time, but have been back several times in the last couple of years and always keep track of what is playing there in hopes of returning their someday in the near future [and yes, had to figure out to get all of us wild and crazy kids stuffed back into the car once the movie was over and back to KSU.
Blue Sky Drive-In
www.blueskydrive-in.com/
FM 103.7 $16/Car - $8 Single
959 Broad St
Wadsworth OH Medina County
July 3
I don’t know why [since Wadsworth is so close to Brunswick] that I have never visited Blue Sky Drive-In after all of the many years that I have been cruising to Drive-ins – maybe its because I could never find the right combination of movies to see, since it is only a single screen movie theatre [it is also kinda hard to locate if one is not looking specifically for it since it is nicely tucked away in a nice cozy atmosphere on Broad Street just inside the Wadsworth city limits]. Never the less, finally made a point to go there after finding the right combo of movies to see [Ice Age 3 and Night at the Museum 2]. The weather looked “iffy”
[and was going to go the previous evening but rain was predicted – and it did: always like to pick an evening that the weather is going to be favorable, both precipitation and temp wise but have seen movies in the rain but prefer as most do to roll down the windows and get the full drive-in experience for the full value of the great admission price drive-ins do afford] and the grey clouds still hanging around tonight did look like it would rain all day, but after several consultations with The Weather Channel radar, it looked like another perfect night, along with brief fireworks just above the trees from someone’s July 4th celebrations.
After an evening of cruisng over to Summit Motorsports Performance store over in Montrose to pick up some Summit Magazine swag for next weeks meeting of the United Ford Owners, I briefly cruised on back via 532 and US 422/I-76 over to Wadsworth to get in line before it opens [always easier to show up early and get a “primo” parking spot in the center of the screen, usually in row 3, 4 or 5, depending on how far back the rows begin from in front of the screen, as I usually recline anyways – tonight was in row 2 right in front center, and in front of the concession / projection stand -- before all the good spots are taken, eh?], and since the lot is vaulted in a giant steel blue frame, I was totally surprised as to what was awaiting on the other side.
Blue Sky Drive-In is one of the smallest venues I have so far visited [no wonder I have missed it so many times driving by, even when I was trying hard to locate it several years ago [I still had to turn around and go back just to find it since the marquee is not prominently displayed as it is right up against the screen wall, and only a hundred feet or less of actual frontage, only a total of 5 cars can fit in the drive] the amenities that the ownership includes makes it worthy of any big lot drive-in! With only 4 rows for cars and the other 10 or so for the ever increasing SUV and mini-van family contingency [including a handicap space near the concession stand] Blue Sky is among the very few remaining drive-ins that have the old style speaker hookups [two at a pole, one for each side of the pole for the pull up patron], and for the first time ever, I decided to not use my stereo system and listen to their speakers for BOTH movies [although with today’s movies being sent out by studios in that Dolby THX surround sound, I could definitely hear the mono speakers were having trouble with the distortion and splitting the decoded signal, although no one was to my right so got a pretty good “stereo” sound]. Although Blue Sky is small, it also has a small playground like many of the old time sites [slide, swings, a spinning go round] and something else unique that I have found no where else as of this writing – benches right up in front of the playground WITH working speakers for those who don’t want either sit in their cars or have brought chairs to sit in front of their cars. Exceptionally clean and well maintained place [with red and yellow litter bins dotting the establishment and a well graded gravel lot] it is equally enjoyable to enter and leave a clean theatre, knowing the hard work that goes on before and after folks enter, including a small but well provisioned concession stand will place Blue Sky easily into my Top Tier of single screen theatres.
The movies were good as expected [I hadn’t seen the first two Ice Ages – although FX networks just had them on last night so caught up with the “Herd’s” antics in the first two, and hadn’t read the plot before hand but did see the movie trailer at the other movie – which is where I get most of my movie 411 and CAN’T WAIT TO SEE the new Johnny Depp in the John Dillinger Movie!] but having seen Night at the Museum 2 for now the second time, it was an enjoyable way to kick off the Fourth of July Weekend!
Magic City Drive-In
www.magiccitydrive-in.com/
FM 103.7 102.7
5602 S Cleveland-Massillon Rd
Barberton OH Summit County
Elm Road Triple Drive-In Theatre
http://www.elmroadtripledrivein.com/
$7.00 FM 93.7 89.5 90.5
1895 Elm Rd. NE
Warren OH Trumbull County
Skyway Drive-In
www.skywaydrivein.com/
$6.75 FM 88.7
1805 N Leavitt Rd.
Warren OH Trumbull County
Cruised on over to Warren today to the Skyview Drive-In on the west side of town. Stopped in over at Summit Racing for some magazine swag for the United Ford Owners Car Club , and headed on over to Kent to cruise thru the town and KSU campus to see Aliens Vs. Monsters [again] and Fast and Furious 4 [again]. Drove past the Midway Drive-In up Route 5 and past Ravenna, including the Ravenna Arsenal, with its miles and miles and miles of barbed wire fencing. Was looking forward to going to this Drive-In ever since I looked up its website while doing research for this project and found it really informative and from at least the website it looked like it was going to be an enjoyable evening, but when I got there, it looked closed and although I did get there a bit early [had time to cruise around Warren for about an hour – and every time I got back around to when it was supposed to be open, it looked like it was totally abandoned, so went out and cruised around some more [true, it was REALLY early in the Drive-In season and it being a Sunday night (about 10 cars were there) AND a single screen Theatre with movies that had already been out for three weeks] it was kinda disappointing and will leave it at that, since granddad always said if you ain’t got nothing nice to say then don’t say it, but will place it in my second tier of favorite single screen Drive-Ins and maybe if I have the time will give it a second chance to make a first impression, but have a lot of miles to burn between here and sunup so will keep on rollin’.
The movies were great as usual, and got to crank up the stereo on my way back home via US 422 in the late morning hours!
Pymatuning Drive-In
440-293-7757 (S)
FM 90.7
6352 Marvin Rd
Andover OH Ashtabula County
NW Ohio Drive-In Theatres
Star View Drive-In
www.starviewdriveintheatre.com/
FM 88.5
2083 US Hwy 20 West
Norwalk OH Huron County
Tiffin Drive-In
419-447-2551 (S) 419-443-1889 (Ph.)
$6.00 FM 88.1
4041 Hwy. 53 North
Tiffin OH Seneca County
Field of Dreams Drive-In
www.fieldofdreamsdrivein.com/
$ 6.00 FM 87.9
V602 County Road 6
Liberty Center OH Henry County
June 14
Sunday is another beautiful day for a Cruise and a Movie! Filled up the tank the rest of the way in Medina and headed out Route 18 to Field of Dreams Drive-In Theatre in Liberty Center Ohio in NW Ohio. Passed Norwalk / Summit Dragway and got on US 20 and continued heading East, and although I have been to Bowling Green before and looked on the map several times [always preplanning each trip way in advance so that time isn't wasted on the side of the road looking at maps] I did get lost momentarily when I mistook a Route 6 heading 'East' exit -- knowing full well I needed to take Route 6 'West' all the way over to Henry County to Liberty Center -- and I knew it wasn't right so got off and found an empty parking lot and got back on heading in the right direction. After passing I-75 for a few miles, I saw 6 of the ugliest wind propellers alongside the road, placed appropriately in the Wood County Landfill two hundred or so feet up in the air and are what I consider a complete eyesore -- thank goodness it would be dark when I passed them again!Finally got to Field of Dreams Theatre just north of Liberty Center after a 140 mile cruise -- its intereting that Henry County is one of the only counties here in Ohio that uses letters of the alphabet for it's north-south county roads, and numbers its east-west back roads, but it is nice that they have nice big green square placards marking each road for us "foriegners" -- and like in the movie "Field of Dreams" it literally is "Build it and they will come" as someone actually build a small drive in theatre in thier backyard as a screen was built on several telephone poles and the projection house was made of cinderblocks!Several cornhole boards were available, as well as a volleyball sand lot and net were also available and a game was well underway, with folks welcomed to join in as more cars [including a white Ford Torino Convertable] made their way to Field of Dreams. Concessions consisted of a utility truck converted for food service, and before the movie started, the owner invited anyone who wanted to see how the projection booth operated to come on over see inside the inner workings of the theatre. The movies, btw, were NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM and STAR TREK, and both were well worth the drive all the way over in far NW corner of Ohio [in fact, I rank Field of Dreams Drive-In #2 overall of drive-in theatres I have so far visited!]Before heading back, had the inevitable dead battery of a group of folks parked just in front of me, so had the drive-in staff with their portable charger [but the guy was driving a Saturn, and for some reason their battery is in the trunk] and offered up my flashlight as well, but their charger wasn't working so went into AAA mode and got the jumper cables out of the trunk and opened up the hood and after a couple of good revs of the engine, got them started and on their way! Headed back out out Route 6, but headed south when I got to Route 53 towards Tiffen [to find the Tiffin Drive-In [when the UFO Ford Club heads up to Fords at Summit in July so I can go their after a days worth of All Ford entertainment] but can't really find anything in the dark so did a brief cruise thru Tiffin and picked up Route 18 and took that back to homebase until the next Great American Cruise!
Movies: A -
Cruise: A +
Overall: A[wesome!!!]
Sundance Kid Drive-In
www.greateasterntheatres.com/sundancehome.asp
$7.50
4500 Navarre Ave.
Oregon OH Lucas County
Gotta Hurry Gotta Hurry Gotta Hurry! June 24th
Started out late kinda cruisng out to Oregon, Ohio to the Sundance Kid Drive-In theatre this evening to see Transformer 2: Rise of the Fallen and Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [mostly since I was going to take in all three of the remaining NW Ohio Drive-In Theatres Sundance Kid, Tiffin Drive and Star View over the July 24th Fords at Summit Raceway Park with the United Ford Owners, but after reconsidering that after 3 days of drag racing, driving 1.5 hours round trip back and forth from Norwalk to Brunswick that the extra 3 hours of movies each night will prove the Toby Keith song “I Ain’t As Good As I Once Was” a little too much, so even though having already seen Transformers 2 just last night at the early morning showing at The Aut-O-Rama, I had some extra miles to “Turn and Burn” [and wanted to see Pelham 1 2 3 and thought this combo would be a good show] so started out criss-crossing routes 303 to 252 up thru North Olmstead, getting on I-480 to the new cut through just completed of Stearns Road up to I-90 Westbound and splitting off to Route 2 which the Sundance Kid Theatre was locates on [Navaree Road]. Now that Route 2 is completed [although for at least a decade, still remembering getting off on a country road up to Sandusky’s Cedar Point and passing all of the local bait and tackle shops – haven’t been to Cedar Point since High School Graduation, but cruising the local back roads here in Wayne, Medina and Ashland Counties [especially the Lincoln Highway there in Jeromesville] makes all of the rides at both Cedar Point and Kings Island combined seem like little more than speed bumps, especially Abbeyville Road in Medina County between Route 252 and Hamilton Road [although more house building means more traffic -- and bicyclists -- and more folks not wanting to brave the zig zag curves]; Route 604 [between Route 83 and Congress, Ohio] where one has to double check their power steering fluid since it goes down in a deep valley and back up the other side with several twisty turns -- one time a few years ago came right up on an 18 wheel semi which had a little “trouble” getting back up the “hill” and eventually stopped and started rolling backwards right towards me so after throwing the car in reverse [and being fortunate no one was behind me] and got far enough away from the slowly rolling semi [and hoping beyond all hope] no one was coming from the other way] turned on all my flashers and gunned it around the semi since I was going to get crushed either by the trucks trailer or a head on, but driving in the hills, especially if you can see the crest of a second oncoming hill that is higher where you can at least know if someone is going to pop up on the other side [which is why I always have cab lights on the car [though I am going to have to reposition them and drill new holes in the roof next year since they are too high and need to be more towards the front and rear window, but that also means at least 10 new holes that I need to fill AND reposition the Chrome Shop Mafia logo in the rear as well, but that is 2010 summer project] so that folks can see the cab lights lighted first coming up on a hilly section of roads. Smithville-Western Road between US 42 and Route 83 is one of the worst “roads” that I have ever been on and is only 1.5 lanes with a wicked “Z” bend in the road down in the valley that is another “Up and Down” hilly power steering challenger. For an easier challenge, either Route 301 [between US 42 and Route 302] or Route 302 [between old 30A and US 42] are just as much fun, something that the amusements parks just can’t compete with.
Heading out to Sundance Kid Theatre on Route 2, it was another beautiful Northern Ohio day, crossing the causeway at Sandusky Bay [it must have just rained or something that kicked up the algae since something smelled really “fishy”] but this was the farthest west on Route 2 I had ever traveled, and with the occasional “State Flower” [i.e. construction barrel] popping up, was still behind schedule so gunned the engine only to see 5-0 come roaring up behind me while passing a semi, but was out of its jurisdiction [had to back it on down just in case] since it passed me and was actually Toledo PD but was still running behind to get to the opening of the box office. With the road now narrowing to two lanes [and the occasional glance at the map to see how many miles further it was to go and according to the time and posted speed limit] saw and passed Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant up close and personal for the first time -- don’t know why there was a waterfall of water dripping out of the cooling tower, so if I am seen ever glowing, be best assured it isn’t my personality -- and finally arrived at Sundance Kid while folks were still waiting back onto Route 2, and did have time to get gas and all, but since today was the first “day” that they were showing Transformers 2 here, turned around in a local business and got in line on an increasing wait line on the roads shoulder, reminiscient of the Skyview Cruise-In down in Lancaster I witnessed over Memorial Day, and with this being the day of release for Transformer 2, like I said in the opening: Gotta Hurry, Gotta Hurry, Gotta Hurry!
With 3 lanes of ticket booths, wouldn’t it just be my luck [with everyone behind me waiting] that the credit card machine broke down after I used mine -- especially since the car sticks out like a sore thumb and actually thought about taking off all 5 years worth of stickers since I was holding up the line and hiding the car is definitely not an option and after 3 minutes I finally got waved thru since Sundance Kid, along with a growing number of drive-ins now accept credit cards at the gate and concession stands, but can understand in their small business model how cash is more important, and many now have flea markets on weekends to subsidize an ever troubling economy. As for the experience itself, Sundance Kid is a double screen, also well kept by the ownership and also an urban drive-in theatre [being right outside of Toledo], and in addition to the customary concession stand, it also has several stand-alone vendors in parked trucks outside of the stand to accommodate a vast acreage of vehicle spaces, which was filled to capacity for both screens, another reminder that bears remembering is to ALWAYS GO SLOW and always watch out for the little ones, especially between cars since many are thinking only of the movie and what treats are awaiting them at the concession stand, but again, arrive early and don’t have to worry so much, but always being attentive wherever one is.
As for the movies, Pelham 1 2 3 was up first and never saw the original with Walter Mathau [though I suspect with this being the remake with John Travolta and Denzel Washington, they pretty much stuck to the original script with the same beginning, middle and ending, though the story never appealed to me much to go out to the library and check it out the first time, John Travolta plays a wickedly bad guy that I could never accept as a bad guy after watching all of his years in Welcome Back Kotter as Vinny Barbarino as well as Danny in Grease -- and no, I never saw any of the Saturday Night Fever movies -- and although he is on a recent tear of playing the bad guy, his first movie I saw was Broken Arrow with him as a renegade nuke stealing Air Force pilot and his ambiguous good cop / bad cop role in Basic Training, it is hard for me such a sweat, great guy that Vinny Barbarino was in “Kotter” could do anything wrong to anyone, and even rooted for him in Swordfish when his character got away with bank robbery, hostage taking, etc -- maybe it is my failure as movie goer to look beyond the person playing the character in the movie: got mad that they even thought about shooting at Frank Sinatra let along shooting him in the back at the end of Von Ryan’s Express since he is FRANK SINATRA after all and will never see Man With The Golden Arm with him playing a recovering junkie and don’t have time to go through all of the Humphry Bogart movies {The Caine Mutiny etc.} where he plays the bad guy, although that is what is called “typecasting” I guess which Edward G. Robertson always fit that gangster mold to a “T” {although playing the typical gangster, he broke out and expanded his gangster typecast role some in Brother Orchid and Larceny, Inc. }] and event hough I had not seen the original, one thing I don’t like about remakes is that again they have the same exact beginning, middle and end, and except for a few technical tricks that are available to filmmakers now, I would like to see a different ending like they did in the movie Clue [based on the board game] a decade plus ago, where they made 4 different film, 3 with different endings and the fourth with all 3 endings [and yes, the butler did it in one ending -- although the best murder mystery comedy is the classic Murder By Death where all of the worlds famous detectives gather at Truman Capote’s House of Mirrors and at the end Peter Sellers character, when asked if there was an actual murder committed, he answered “Yes, It Killed Perfectly Good Weekend”.
Cruised back down Route 128 to US 20 back home via Route 18 and put the car back in the barn awaiting another double feature to cruise on down to!
Central Ohio Drive-Ins
Lynn Auto Theatre
http://www.lynndrivein.com/
$5.00 FM 103.9 90.3 9735 SR 250
Strasburg OH Tuscarawas County
Lynn Drive-In Theatre
Driving down US 250 after cruising thru Wooster, the overcast skies looked like it should rain, though weather reports on the radio and TV had a cold front just clipping the Strassburg area, which the oldest Drive-In theatre in Ohio was locating, and after looking on their website, going to the Lynn is my most anticipated Drive-In to cruise to this summer, and I definitely was looking to seeing a movie there, as this is my Third drive in this season. Even though I had driven past the Lynn countless times, I never even noticed it as I cruised on by on my trips back from Dover, and even missed it several weeks earlier, but thanks to Google and Mapquest, I now always do a computer check and get an ariel visual of the terrain before going.
The Lynn was originally a single screen theatre, but was partitioned into two screens with one now in the rear, and when I pulled up to the box office gate, I knew that I was going to have great time this evening. Unlike the previously attended Drive-Ins, the entire lot is grass covered between the gravel alleys, and the pride and details to which the owners pay close attention to reflects on what I consider to be the best place to go see a movie [never mind the $5 admission for TWO movies, which I submit could be more] so far this season.
One of the owners came by and chatted me up about all of the logos on the car, and I complimented him on such a fine establishment he was running, and got ready for the movie, that consisted of “Race to Witch Mountain” and “Monsters Vs. Aliens” which both were a great way to end a great evening and the Lynn Theatre will make my Top 10 list of favorite Drive-Ins.
Springmill Drive-In
www.greateasterntheatres.com/springmillhome.asp
FM 88.5 AM 830
1040 Springmill Rd
Mansfield OH Richland County
June 13
After a morning and afternoon of assisting the United Ford Owners at their annual Ricarts / Earth Angel Foundation Charity Cruise-In, fired up the engine and made my way back up I-71 North to Mansfield, Ohio to the Springmill Drive-In Theatre [thought about heading over to the Sunset Drive-In located near the Springmill, but since they were both showing the same movies (UP and STAR TREK) the old art deco type front on their web page made me lean towards Springmill]. Got there a little too early again, and in the interest of gas mileage cruised thru Mansfield, them past the theatre on Springmill Road and up thru Shelby and doubled back and got there just as cars were starting to line up. Another one of these double screens that were converted into two from just the one main one, and the front deco marquee was in need of some paint, but overall was a very pleasant experience!
Went inside the concession stand to stretch between movies [they even give door prizes from the last digits of the admission tickets they have listed on the board behind the counter, and giving folks a chance to smell the popcorn, so to speak, and maybe purchase a drink or two] and again, for the smaller [and probably original single screen theatres] the building and interior were set up like all of the others, though it was just a little bit bigger, but on the same floor plan with the food on one side and management [along with the projection booth] on the other side. Security was around and chasing the SUV’s and pick-ups back to their designated areas, and the weather held out and had an overall pleasant experience, with the exception of a new coat of paint for the marquis, I look forward to a return trip and another fun evening at Springmill Drive-In Theatre!
As for the movies, just wanted to see Star Trek for a second time and also saw UP, which felt like they concentrated more on the animation more than the story, and in the end, both of those negatives ended up dragging the movie UP, DOWN
Sunset Drive-In
www.sunsetdrivein.net/
FM 89.1 AM 530
4018 Park Ave West
Mansfield OH Richland County
South Drive-In
http://www.drive-inmovies.com/
FM 91.5 90.9 3050 S High St
Columbus OH Franklin County
South Drive-In
Was in Cbus Saturday for business, and stopped at the South Drive-In on High Street in Columbus and saw STAR TREK and I love you man [absolutely the worst movie ever made – but on Friday’s and Saturday’s they replay the first movie twice, so it was worth seeing STAR TREK for a second time, so although the ACLU might declare the second feature “cruel and unusual punishment” – and was thankful that the power went out on the projection screen for 5 minutes as to not to have to endure any more torture -- and had a hard time even mentioning it the first time, but I digress, per usual] and nothing real special, except for the fact that they show the first feature over, which is kinda a triple feature – only if you like the first feature [which I absolutely did, not having seen the previews or read any of the plotline, the way I pick movies are usually familiarity with the actors, the theme of the movie, and then any TV trailers that makes it worth cruising on down, and since I only see movies in the summer, I try to pick out two that I really want to see, breaking that rule this time since sometimes I go and just jump in and take a leap of faith that it’ll be good, this time I got burned, but I did get to see the much anticipated STAR TREK which seeing it a second time tied some loose ends together that I missed the altered time line concept the first time, which makes a clean break from the William Shatner ‘60’s TV series (with the exception of Leonard Nemoy reprising his role as Spock) timeline and I foresee two to three more movie possibilities, which in Hollywood nowadays sequels are always a given and is now the norm.
Security was busy chasing the SUV’s and mini vans back to the back row of the theatre, and had local Cbus 5-0 on duty to a packed house, but got in early enough to get my usual 3rd row center of the aisle, but that can change from theatre to theatre as well, depending if the rows are “sloped up” on a rise or not. An all stone lot (like the Aut-O-Rama in North Ridgeville) and overall was another relaxing time after a hectic day at the office. Not many stayed for the Star Trek replay, and had another late late drive back home to the barn. The only negatives of the South Drive-In was the excessive amount of litter that was left behind [had a cat poke around a bag left behind] and also the rear screen where I was at had an apartment complex behind the drive in without much of a wall that let an annoying street lamp shine all the way through the thin tree line during both movies, so it kinda dampened the overall ambiance I am used to, but this being in literally in the middle of an urban setting and unlike the Auto-O-Rama where it is situated in a corner of literally unusable land for anything else commercial or residential with CSX tracks on one side and the Ohio Turnpike in the other corner, most of the now closed theatres were originally built far away from the towns out in farm country, but, like the 42 Drive-in [now a closed lumber yard, but the single screen still remains standing] just up the road from me up here in Brunswick Hills Twp. and the Pearl Road Drive-In in Middleburg Hts. [now a golf driving range and Saturn Dealership now I guess for 20 years or so now] the land became more valuable for the owners who got a deal that they just couldn’t refuse and sold the lot to developers [as in the case of the drive-in now closed in Delaware, although Memphis Road Triple Drive-In just sold out period to American Greetings card company for the company’s need for “Green Space”, but it was only a matter of time anyways for it to be forever gone], but I have found through my research that some just lie completely abandoned [as of the person who did the pictures and the website postings] with the last movie poster that was shown at that drive-in still in the weed covered projection booth, which as a history lover I find sad, and still pass the “Last Screen Standing” here in the township almost everyday, and if I don’t get to all of them here in Ohio I’ve been to a lot of great ones so far in my quest, and by seeing folks paying anywhere from $5 each to $16 a carload [have found with going solo all of the time that it si half a carload price, though after this journey of going to all of the ones in Ohio will probably only go back to those accepting credit cards or are at the $5 level depending on their location and fuel prices etc. in the future, but just want to complete this mini “Bucket List” before any more drive-ins go under since once they are gone, they are gone forever!] to full capacity lots each evening -- and with the low overhead and mostly kids who are family or friends who are working the theatre lots and with the taxes on the land remaining where they are for the time being, the future at least looks a little brighter at least in one corner of the universe where all may go to enjoy a little family fun filled evening of escapism at a great price!
Cruise: C [for cruisn’ downtown Cbus& OSU]
Movie: A/I/A [Awesome / Idiocy/ Awesome]
Overall: OK
Skyview Cruise-In
www.skyviewdrivein.com/
$6.00 FM 100.1
2420 E. Main St
Lancaster OH Fairfield County
June 28
After leaving the United Ford Owners monthly Cruise-In at Quaker Steak and Lube at Poloaris there in Cbus about 5ish for a trek down to Lancaster to the Skyview Drive-In Theatre to see Night at the Museum 2 and Star Trek, taking I-270 to south US 33, but as soon as I came upon a two mile long backup on Route 22 just east of Lancaster and as I neared the theatre I forgot it was Memorial Day weekend so I doubled back and went back and visited with my cousin back in Cbus since the local 5-0 were already starting to turn folks away from the theatre [about a mile up the road from the theatre entrance], and it was too late to get to another theatre in time to get primo parking so I called it a wrap and hope to catch a flick there later this summer!
West Central Ohio Drive-Ins
Auto-Vue Drive-In
937-492-5905(S)
1409 4th Ave
Sidney OH Shelby County
Melody Cruise-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/melodyci.shtml
$7.50 (D/Amex/V/MC) FM 107.3 103.3
4025 E National Road
Springfield OH Clark County
Hi Road Drive-In
www.metheatres.com/hiroad.shtml
$6.00FM 99.3
8059 SR. 68 N
Kenton OH Hardin County
Lake Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/lakedi.shtml
$10.00 / car
8477 Hwy 703
Celina OH Mercer County
Starlite Drive-In
419-925-4944 (S)
1889 Route 127
Maria Stein OH Mercer County
Van Del Drive-In
http://www.van-del.com/
$6.00
19986 Lincoln Hwy
Middle Point OH Van Wert County
SW Ohio Drive-In Theatres
Holiday Auto Theatre
www.holidayautotheatre.com/
$8.00 (cc- V/MC) FM 95.5 [Open All Year]
1816 Old Oxford Hwy
Hamilton OH Hamilton County
Started out going down to the Holiday Drive-In Theatres 2009 New Years Triple Feature in a blizzard after getting an oil change up at Yorktown Automotive in Parma Hts. and after the traditional stop at the TA at Lodi for their buffet before every major cruise, made my way down South to Hamilton, Ohio. With limited time and finding a gas station before they closed for the New Year Celebrations I found it necessary to get gas ASAP and fill up before the stations closed and make sure I had a full tank since I was going to run the heater during the 3 movies shown with below freezing temperatures predicted and be able to get all the way back home, sometimes just have to throw the book out of the window 3 movies shown with below freezing temperatures predicted and be able to get all the way back home, again with New Years Eve early closing for businesses it was time to get there.
Although I have gone to Drive-in Theatres for over a decade, going to a New Years Eve triple feature was definitely a first, with the Holiday Drive-In being my fifth different one I had gone to out of the 33 which still "survive" here in Ohio [down from 270 original] and the Holiday celebrating its 70th year of continuous operation! I always find drive-ins to be a great value [$8 for a double feature where the megaplex cinemas charge even more for just one], and saw Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories [with the obligatory Rob Schneider “cameo”] along with Bolt and Twilight [a movie I admit I knew absolutely nothing about and the first time that I went to a movie and not have had an inkling about what I was about to see – though safe to say that it is a “Cross” between “Dracula meats Juliet” without the typical ending of either Dracula or Romeo and Juliet, but hey, I had never been to anything this fun on New Years Eve in years, so was pleasantly surprised, and was worth getting frozen], with a special midnight "toast" of apple cider [between the second and third movies] along with party favors and special cinematic "Countdown to Midnight" on the big screen, and although the temperature was well below freezing and not your typical drive-in movie summer evening, it was none the less a great atmosphere provided by the owner and staff of the Holiday which made me looking forward to heading out after one of our UFO's Quaker Steak Cruise and head back on down to Hamilton Ohio this summer for another fantastic evening of fun entertainment and this single screen Drive-In gem definitely makes my top 5 Drive-Ins, which if all of the Drive-Ins are this cool and fun, may have to expand my favorites list!
Skyborn Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/skyborndi.shtml
$7.50(cc-D/Amex /V/MC)
Rte 235 & Haddix Rd
Fairborn OH Greene County
Dixie Twin Drive-In
http://www.dixietwin.com/
$7.00 FM 107.3 103.3
6201 N Dixie Rd
Dayton OH Montgomery County
Starlight Drive-In
www.starlitedriveinohio.com/
FM 90.5
2255 Ohio Pike Rt. 125
Amelia OH Clermont County
Melody 49 Twin Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/melody49di.shtml
$7.50 (cc-D/Amex /V/MC) FM 103.3 107.3
7696 Pleasant-Plain Rd
Clayton OH Adams County
East Bend Drive-In
937-373-1307 (S)
Hwy 125
Decatur OH Adams County
Wilmington Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/wilmingtondi.shtml
$10.00 / car
1129 N Rt. 134 Wilmington OH Clinton County
SE Ohio Drive-In Theatres
Kanauga Drive-In
http://www.kanaugadrive-in.com/
740-446-1088(S)
1483 SR 7 N
Gallipolis OH Gallia County
Scioto Breeze Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/sciotodi.shtml
$7.00(cc-D/Amex /V/MC)
9959 US Route 23
Lucasville OH Scioto County
Winter Drive-In Theatre
www.winterdrivein.com/movies.htm
FM 100.1 102.1 104.1 107.1
400 Luray Dr
Wintersville OH Jefferson County
cc- D / V / MC / Amex [Credit Cards Accepted – Discover / Visa / Master Card / American Express]
(S) – Show Times phone hotline
Aut-O-Rama Twin Drive-In
autoramadrivein.com/nowshowing.php
$8.00 (cc-D/V/MC)
33395 Lorain Rd.North Ridgeville OH Lorain County
Drive-In Theatre Season’s Official Kick-off
Aut-O-Rama
Time to officially kick-off the 2009 Drive-In Theatre Season with a Visit to North Ridgeville’s Aut-O-Rama. Located just a literal stone throws from both the CSX train tracks and the Ohio Turnpike, the Aut-O-Rama has been one of my traditional Drive-In Movie haunts for the past 10 years [along with Mayfield Road Drive-In in Chesterland Ohio on Mayfield Road, and the now closed Memphis Triple Drive Drive-In on Memphis Ave just off of I-480 in Brooklyn, bought out by American Greetings for “Green Space” for its employees] the Aut-O-Rama has some of the friendliest staff personel and the lot is always extremely well kept, which makes summertime the one thing that I always look forward to crank up the engine [as well as cranking up the radio and speakers] for an always entertaining evening, as well as the cruise over to North Ridgeville. Although this summer I will be going around the state of Ohio to experience other Drive-In Theatre venues [as sort of a mini personal “bucket list” of things I want to do before I reach that “Great Junkyard in the Sky”], the Aut-O-Rama will always be my own personal favorite of all of the previous ones mentioned [Memphis, Mayfield Road, and even went to Midway Drive-In down in Ravenna during my college years at Kent State – yes, did the trunk stuff thing for the “carload” price on more than one occasion].
Went to see Fast and Furious 4 and Paul Blart, Mall Cop [F&F 4 for the obvious “need for speed” reasons and Blart just to laugh at something, OK, it was all about seeing F&F 4], but mostly to be back at the Aut-O-Rama to kick off another great summer season of Drive-In movies at one of the finest locations here in NE Ohio!
TRANSFORMERS 2: RISE OF THE FALLEN OPENING MORNING June 24, 2009
Even though I have been going over to North Ridgeville for eons, received and email for a special midnight showing of Transformers 2: Rise of the Fallen on the day that it was being released Nationwide, and even though I would have waited to go and see it eventually [and knowing that it was so huge that it’ll be around for several weeks to come] and had always known that movie chains always show their summer blockbusters with the special midnight showing the day of the summer release, mid week no less, it was being shown with Star Trek [now seen for the 5th or so time] so fired up the car and cruised on over to The Aut-O-Rama for the midnight opening [which I had never been to, but used that as an excuse to see Star Trek one more time] and arrived early enough to cruise around my old cruising ground of North Olmstead and Olmstead Falls before settling in for an evening filled with the typical “Hollywood Fireworks and Explosions” and got the most bang for buck.
For those of you who haven’t heard about the recent controversy surrounding the Aut-O-Rama and a nearby softball field [whose lights were affecting the screen picture quality] here is an update from the Aut-O-Rama’s email and website:
http://autoramadrivein.com/lighting_issue.php
Original Message: 6/4/09
Dear Patrons and Friends of the Aut-O-Rama Drive-In,Our thanks to all of those patrons who took part in our survey over the Memorial Day weekend and continue to be patient with our less than acceptable movie presentation. We are still working with our attorneys to get to a permanent solution to our lighting problem from the nearby sports park. Many of you have seen the attention our situation is getting from the media. If you haven’t been to the drive-in this past month you may not have realized something was going on. At this point, it doesn’t look like our light pollution problem will be solved without going to court. After dealing with this problem since May 8, 2009, we did obtain a temporary restraining order on Thursday, May 28, 2009. The Temporary Restraining Order forbid the sports park from turning any of their 8 baseball/softball field lights on after 9:25pm. Finally after three weeks of trying to get a resolution to the light spillage, we got a phone call from the lawyer for the sports park on Friday, May 29, after we served them with the restraining order, asking if we could meet and discuss this with them. We have no desire to harm the sports park, so we agreed to meet. As a result of that meeting, we agreed to do an experiment on Friday night, in an effort to let them use any fields that might not be contributing to the glare problem at the drive-in. As a result of this test, which lasted almost the entire first movie, we came to an agreement that the sports park would have the use of all eight fields until 9:25 but only 4 of their 8 ball fields after that time. We again went to court on Tuesday, June 2, because the sports park wanted to amend the Temporary Restraining Order. Since it is staying light out a little later, again we compromised and moved the time that all the fields could be lit, from 9:25pm until 10:00pm and allowing the continued use of the other 4 fields after that time. There is still a problem with those other fields, but we are doing all we can to help the sports park keep playing their games. The next step is a preliminary hearing on Wednesday morning, June 10. The hearing is likely to take all morning long. Over the Memorial Day weekend, we obtained a long list of people who said they would be willing to testify in court. Beginning probably tonight, Thursday, June 4, 2009, my daughter-in-law Niki and I will start calling the people on this list to see if they are still willing and able to be at the Lorain County Court building in Elyria, Ohio beginning at 8:30am on Wednesday, June 10, 2009. I know this is a lot to ask of our very loyal customers, but we need the assistance of as many people as possible. You can also contact me to confirm or decline your participation, by answering this email. We are working to get a permanent solution to this problem as quickly as possible, and again, we appreciate your co-operation, help and understanding.Best Regards, and our thanks,Deb Sherman and FamilyAut-O-Rama Drive-In
Update: 6/12/09
We had the hearing for our preliminary injunction. The Judge will not rule on our case for about a week. Our hearing took all day Wednesday June 10, and all morning on Thursday, June 11. We are indebted to all of our customers who took time out of their lives to come to the courthouse and testify. Unfortunately, with the hearing taking so long, the Judge would only allow testimony from 3 people. Their testimony was important because it put a face on the “customers” of Aut-O-Rama Drive-In. We feel that we presented a strong case against the sports park and are very hopeful that the judge will rule in our favor. In the meantime, we have the restraining order in place that compels the sports park to turn off lights on the 4 fields that affect the drive-in the most. Our thanks to everyone for their patience and support.
Mayfield Road Drive-In
http://www.funflick.com/mayfield.html
FM 101.5
12091 Mayfield Rd.Chardon, OH Geauga County
A single screen theatre way out in the country that I also look forward to visiting each summer. Haven’t been there this year yet [did see Speed Racer last year – for the third time, and again had to offer an assist for a dead battery to my “next door neighbor”] and between the Aut-O-Rama, [the now demolished] Memphis and Mayfield Road were my main Drive-In “Haunts” and could regularly find me cruising down Route 44 thru Chardon city square, especially after a weeknight of cruising with my old car club, the North East Ohio Stang Gang and All Ford Club located up in Mentor the first Tuesday of the month before it broke apart a couple of years ago, and opening up the throttle a bit until reaching the 322 / Mayfield Road intersection and heading east just a couple of seconds and reaching the Drive-In, then can either trek back home east on Mayfield Road after the movie, or open up the throttle once again back down Route 44.
Located in kind of a “woodsy” area, always best to bring along some kind of repellant [along with jumper cables, etc), but overall, another family friendly environment and also a well kept family owned facility that keeps me coming back year after year after year!
Midway Twin Drive-In
http://www.funflick.com/midway.html
FM(102.7, 104.7)
2736 SR 59Ravenna, OH Portage County
Going to Kent State U. just up the road from the Midway during the early 90’s was actually the first drive in I ever went to, and yes, we did pile 3 cars worth of kids into one car [with me ending up in the trunk after parking just down the road from the theatre!] and “sneaking” in, although it was by the carload back then. Don’t remember what we saw that night, since, well, I was concentrating on other “endeavors” at the time, but have been back several times in the last couple of years and always keep track of what is playing there in hopes of returning their someday in the near future [and yes, had to figure out to get all of us wild and crazy kids stuffed back into the car once the movie was over and back to KSU.
Blue Sky Drive-In
www.blueskydrive-in.com/
FM 103.7 $16/Car - $8 Single
959 Broad St
Wadsworth OH Medina County
July 3
I don’t know why [since Wadsworth is so close to Brunswick] that I have never visited Blue Sky Drive-In after all of the many years that I have been cruising to Drive-ins – maybe its because I could never find the right combination of movies to see, since it is only a single screen movie theatre [it is also kinda hard to locate if one is not looking specifically for it since it is nicely tucked away in a nice cozy atmosphere on Broad Street just inside the Wadsworth city limits]. Never the less, finally made a point to go there after finding the right combo of movies to see [Ice Age 3 and Night at the Museum 2]. The weather looked “iffy”
[and was going to go the previous evening but rain was predicted – and it did: always like to pick an evening that the weather is going to be favorable, both precipitation and temp wise but have seen movies in the rain but prefer as most do to roll down the windows and get the full drive-in experience for the full value of the great admission price drive-ins do afford] and the grey clouds still hanging around tonight did look like it would rain all day, but after several consultations with The Weather Channel radar, it looked like another perfect night, along with brief fireworks just above the trees from someone’s July 4th celebrations.
After an evening of cruisng over to Summit Motorsports Performance store over in Montrose to pick up some Summit Magazine swag for next weeks meeting of the United Ford Owners, I briefly cruised on back via 532 and US 422/I-76 over to Wadsworth to get in line before it opens [always easier to show up early and get a “primo” parking spot in the center of the screen, usually in row 3, 4 or 5, depending on how far back the rows begin from in front of the screen, as I usually recline anyways – tonight was in row 2 right in front center, and in front of the concession / projection stand -- before all the good spots are taken, eh?], and since the lot is vaulted in a giant steel blue frame, I was totally surprised as to what was awaiting on the other side.
Blue Sky Drive-In is one of the smallest venues I have so far visited [no wonder I have missed it so many times driving by, even when I was trying hard to locate it several years ago [I still had to turn around and go back just to find it since the marquee is not prominently displayed as it is right up against the screen wall, and only a hundred feet or less of actual frontage, only a total of 5 cars can fit in the drive] the amenities that the ownership includes makes it worthy of any big lot drive-in! With only 4 rows for cars and the other 10 or so for the ever increasing SUV and mini-van family contingency [including a handicap space near the concession stand] Blue Sky is among the very few remaining drive-ins that have the old style speaker hookups [two at a pole, one for each side of the pole for the pull up patron], and for the first time ever, I decided to not use my stereo system and listen to their speakers for BOTH movies [although with today’s movies being sent out by studios in that Dolby THX surround sound, I could definitely hear the mono speakers were having trouble with the distortion and splitting the decoded signal, although no one was to my right so got a pretty good “stereo” sound]. Although Blue Sky is small, it also has a small playground like many of the old time sites [slide, swings, a spinning go round] and something else unique that I have found no where else as of this writing – benches right up in front of the playground WITH working speakers for those who don’t want either sit in their cars or have brought chairs to sit in front of their cars. Exceptionally clean and well maintained place [with red and yellow litter bins dotting the establishment and a well graded gravel lot] it is equally enjoyable to enter and leave a clean theatre, knowing the hard work that goes on before and after folks enter, including a small but well provisioned concession stand will place Blue Sky easily into my Top Tier of single screen theatres.
The movies were good as expected [I hadn’t seen the first two Ice Ages – although FX networks just had them on last night so caught up with the “Herd’s” antics in the first two, and hadn’t read the plot before hand but did see the movie trailer at the other movie – which is where I get most of my movie 411 and CAN’T WAIT TO SEE the new Johnny Depp in the John Dillinger Movie!] but having seen Night at the Museum 2 for now the second time, it was an enjoyable way to kick off the Fourth of July Weekend!
Magic City Drive-In
www.magiccitydrive-in.com/
FM 103.7 102.7
5602 S Cleveland-Massillon Rd
Barberton OH Summit County
Elm Road Triple Drive-In Theatre
http://www.elmroadtripledrivein.com/
$7.00 FM 93.7 89.5 90.5
1895 Elm Rd. NE
Warren OH Trumbull County
Skyway Drive-In
www.skywaydrivein.com/
$6.75 FM 88.7
1805 N Leavitt Rd.
Warren OH Trumbull County
Cruised on over to Warren today to the Skyview Drive-In on the west side of town. Stopped in over at Summit Racing for some magazine swag for the United Ford Owners Car Club , and headed on over to Kent to cruise thru the town and KSU campus to see Aliens Vs. Monsters [again] and Fast and Furious 4 [again]. Drove past the Midway Drive-In up Route 5 and past Ravenna, including the Ravenna Arsenal, with its miles and miles and miles of barbed wire fencing. Was looking forward to going to this Drive-In ever since I looked up its website while doing research for this project and found it really informative and from at least the website it looked like it was going to be an enjoyable evening, but when I got there, it looked closed and although I did get there a bit early [had time to cruise around Warren for about an hour – and every time I got back around to when it was supposed to be open, it looked like it was totally abandoned, so went out and cruised around some more [true, it was REALLY early in the Drive-In season and it being a Sunday night (about 10 cars were there) AND a single screen Theatre with movies that had already been out for three weeks] it was kinda disappointing and will leave it at that, since granddad always said if you ain’t got nothing nice to say then don’t say it, but will place it in my second tier of favorite single screen Drive-Ins and maybe if I have the time will give it a second chance to make a first impression, but have a lot of miles to burn between here and sunup so will keep on rollin’.
The movies were great as usual, and got to crank up the stereo on my way back home via US 422 in the late morning hours!
Pymatuning Drive-In
440-293-7757 (S)
FM 90.7
6352 Marvin Rd
Andover OH Ashtabula County
NW Ohio Drive-In Theatres
Star View Drive-In
www.starviewdriveintheatre.com/
FM 88.5
2083 US Hwy 20 West
Norwalk OH Huron County
Tiffin Drive-In
419-447-2551 (S) 419-443-1889 (Ph.)
$6.00 FM 88.1
4041 Hwy. 53 North
Tiffin OH Seneca County
Field of Dreams Drive-In
www.fieldofdreamsdrivein.com/
$ 6.00 FM 87.9
V602 County Road 6
Liberty Center OH Henry County
June 14
Sunday is another beautiful day for a Cruise and a Movie! Filled up the tank the rest of the way in Medina and headed out Route 18 to Field of Dreams Drive-In Theatre in Liberty Center Ohio in NW Ohio. Passed Norwalk / Summit Dragway and got on US 20 and continued heading East, and although I have been to Bowling Green before and looked on the map several times [always preplanning each trip way in advance so that time isn't wasted on the side of the road looking at maps] I did get lost momentarily when I mistook a Route 6 heading 'East' exit -- knowing full well I needed to take Route 6 'West' all the way over to Henry County to Liberty Center -- and I knew it wasn't right so got off and found an empty parking lot and got back on heading in the right direction. After passing I-75 for a few miles, I saw 6 of the ugliest wind propellers alongside the road, placed appropriately in the Wood County Landfill two hundred or so feet up in the air and are what I consider a complete eyesore -- thank goodness it would be dark when I passed them again!Finally got to Field of Dreams Theatre just north of Liberty Center after a 140 mile cruise -- its intereting that Henry County is one of the only counties here in Ohio that uses letters of the alphabet for it's north-south county roads, and numbers its east-west back roads, but it is nice that they have nice big green square placards marking each road for us "foriegners" -- and like in the movie "Field of Dreams" it literally is "Build it and they will come" as someone actually build a small drive in theatre in thier backyard as a screen was built on several telephone poles and the projection house was made of cinderblocks!Several cornhole boards were available, as well as a volleyball sand lot and net were also available and a game was well underway, with folks welcomed to join in as more cars [including a white Ford Torino Convertable] made their way to Field of Dreams. Concessions consisted of a utility truck converted for food service, and before the movie started, the owner invited anyone who wanted to see how the projection booth operated to come on over see inside the inner workings of the theatre. The movies, btw, were NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM and STAR TREK, and both were well worth the drive all the way over in far NW corner of Ohio [in fact, I rank Field of Dreams Drive-In #2 overall of drive-in theatres I have so far visited!]Before heading back, had the inevitable dead battery of a group of folks parked just in front of me, so had the drive-in staff with their portable charger [but the guy was driving a Saturn, and for some reason their battery is in the trunk] and offered up my flashlight as well, but their charger wasn't working so went into AAA mode and got the jumper cables out of the trunk and opened up the hood and after a couple of good revs of the engine, got them started and on their way! Headed back out out Route 6, but headed south when I got to Route 53 towards Tiffen [to find the Tiffin Drive-In [when the UFO Ford Club heads up to Fords at Summit in July so I can go their after a days worth of All Ford entertainment] but can't really find anything in the dark so did a brief cruise thru Tiffin and picked up Route 18 and took that back to homebase until the next Great American Cruise!
Movies: A -
Cruise: A +
Overall: A[wesome!!!]
Sundance Kid Drive-In
www.greateasterntheatres.com/sundancehome.asp
$7.50
4500 Navarre Ave.
Oregon OH Lucas County
Gotta Hurry Gotta Hurry Gotta Hurry! June 24th
Started out late kinda cruisng out to Oregon, Ohio to the Sundance Kid Drive-In theatre this evening to see Transformer 2: Rise of the Fallen and Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 [mostly since I was going to take in all three of the remaining NW Ohio Drive-In Theatres Sundance Kid, Tiffin Drive and Star View over the July 24th Fords at Summit Raceway Park with the United Ford Owners, but after reconsidering that after 3 days of drag racing, driving 1.5 hours round trip back and forth from Norwalk to Brunswick that the extra 3 hours of movies each night will prove the Toby Keith song “I Ain’t As Good As I Once Was” a little too much, so even though having already seen Transformers 2 just last night at the early morning showing at The Aut-O-Rama, I had some extra miles to “Turn and Burn” [and wanted to see Pelham 1 2 3 and thought this combo would be a good show] so started out criss-crossing routes 303 to 252 up thru North Olmstead, getting on I-480 to the new cut through just completed of Stearns Road up to I-90 Westbound and splitting off to Route 2 which the Sundance Kid Theatre was locates on [Navaree Road]. Now that Route 2 is completed [although for at least a decade, still remembering getting off on a country road up to Sandusky’s Cedar Point and passing all of the local bait and tackle shops – haven’t been to Cedar Point since High School Graduation, but cruising the local back roads here in Wayne, Medina and Ashland Counties [especially the Lincoln Highway there in Jeromesville] makes all of the rides at both Cedar Point and Kings Island combined seem like little more than speed bumps, especially Abbeyville Road in Medina County between Route 252 and Hamilton Road [although more house building means more traffic -- and bicyclists -- and more folks not wanting to brave the zig zag curves]; Route 604 [between Route 83 and Congress, Ohio] where one has to double check their power steering fluid since it goes down in a deep valley and back up the other side with several twisty turns -- one time a few years ago came right up on an 18 wheel semi which had a little “trouble” getting back up the “hill” and eventually stopped and started rolling backwards right towards me so after throwing the car in reverse [and being fortunate no one was behind me] and got far enough away from the slowly rolling semi [and hoping beyond all hope] no one was coming from the other way] turned on all my flashers and gunned it around the semi since I was going to get crushed either by the trucks trailer or a head on, but driving in the hills, especially if you can see the crest of a second oncoming hill that is higher where you can at least know if someone is going to pop up on the other side [which is why I always have cab lights on the car [though I am going to have to reposition them and drill new holes in the roof next year since they are too high and need to be more towards the front and rear window, but that also means at least 10 new holes that I need to fill AND reposition the Chrome Shop Mafia logo in the rear as well, but that is 2010 summer project] so that folks can see the cab lights lighted first coming up on a hilly section of roads. Smithville-Western Road between US 42 and Route 83 is one of the worst “roads” that I have ever been on and is only 1.5 lanes with a wicked “Z” bend in the road down in the valley that is another “Up and Down” hilly power steering challenger. For an easier challenge, either Route 301 [between US 42 and Route 302] or Route 302 [between old 30A and US 42] are just as much fun, something that the amusements parks just can’t compete with.
Heading out to Sundance Kid Theatre on Route 2, it was another beautiful Northern Ohio day, crossing the causeway at Sandusky Bay [it must have just rained or something that kicked up the algae since something smelled really “fishy”] but this was the farthest west on Route 2 I had ever traveled, and with the occasional “State Flower” [i.e. construction barrel] popping up, was still behind schedule so gunned the engine only to see 5-0 come roaring up behind me while passing a semi, but was out of its jurisdiction [had to back it on down just in case] since it passed me and was actually Toledo PD but was still running behind to get to the opening of the box office. With the road now narrowing to two lanes [and the occasional glance at the map to see how many miles further it was to go and according to the time and posted speed limit] saw and passed Davis-Besse Nuclear Power Plant up close and personal for the first time -- don’t know why there was a waterfall of water dripping out of the cooling tower, so if I am seen ever glowing, be best assured it isn’t my personality -- and finally arrived at Sundance Kid while folks were still waiting back onto Route 2, and did have time to get gas and all, but since today was the first “day” that they were showing Transformers 2 here, turned around in a local business and got in line on an increasing wait line on the roads shoulder, reminiscient of the Skyview Cruise-In down in Lancaster I witnessed over Memorial Day, and with this being the day of release for Transformer 2, like I said in the opening: Gotta Hurry, Gotta Hurry, Gotta Hurry!
With 3 lanes of ticket booths, wouldn’t it just be my luck [with everyone behind me waiting] that the credit card machine broke down after I used mine -- especially since the car sticks out like a sore thumb and actually thought about taking off all 5 years worth of stickers since I was holding up the line and hiding the car is definitely not an option and after 3 minutes I finally got waved thru since Sundance Kid, along with a growing number of drive-ins now accept credit cards at the gate and concession stands, but can understand in their small business model how cash is more important, and many now have flea markets on weekends to subsidize an ever troubling economy. As for the experience itself, Sundance Kid is a double screen, also well kept by the ownership and also an urban drive-in theatre [being right outside of Toledo], and in addition to the customary concession stand, it also has several stand-alone vendors in parked trucks outside of the stand to accommodate a vast acreage of vehicle spaces, which was filled to capacity for both screens, another reminder that bears remembering is to ALWAYS GO SLOW and always watch out for the little ones, especially between cars since many are thinking only of the movie and what treats are awaiting them at the concession stand, but again, arrive early and don’t have to worry so much, but always being attentive wherever one is.
As for the movies, Pelham 1 2 3 was up first and never saw the original with Walter Mathau [though I suspect with this being the remake with John Travolta and Denzel Washington, they pretty much stuck to the original script with the same beginning, middle and ending, though the story never appealed to me much to go out to the library and check it out the first time, John Travolta plays a wickedly bad guy that I could never accept as a bad guy after watching all of his years in Welcome Back Kotter as Vinny Barbarino as well as Danny in Grease -- and no, I never saw any of the Saturday Night Fever movies -- and although he is on a recent tear of playing the bad guy, his first movie I saw was Broken Arrow with him as a renegade nuke stealing Air Force pilot and his ambiguous good cop / bad cop role in Basic Training, it is hard for me such a sweat, great guy that Vinny Barbarino was in “Kotter” could do anything wrong to anyone, and even rooted for him in Swordfish when his character got away with bank robbery, hostage taking, etc -- maybe it is my failure as movie goer to look beyond the person playing the character in the movie: got mad that they even thought about shooting at Frank Sinatra let along shooting him in the back at the end of Von Ryan’s Express since he is FRANK SINATRA after all and will never see Man With The Golden Arm with him playing a recovering junkie and don’t have time to go through all of the Humphry Bogart movies {The Caine Mutiny etc.} where he plays the bad guy, although that is what is called “typecasting” I guess which Edward G. Robertson always fit that gangster mold to a “T” {although playing the typical gangster, he broke out and expanded his gangster typecast role some in Brother Orchid and Larceny, Inc. }] and event hough I had not seen the original, one thing I don’t like about remakes is that again they have the same exact beginning, middle and end, and except for a few technical tricks that are available to filmmakers now, I would like to see a different ending like they did in the movie Clue [based on the board game] a decade plus ago, where they made 4 different film, 3 with different endings and the fourth with all 3 endings [and yes, the butler did it in one ending -- although the best murder mystery comedy is the classic Murder By Death where all of the worlds famous detectives gather at Truman Capote’s House of Mirrors and at the end Peter Sellers character, when asked if there was an actual murder committed, he answered “Yes, It Killed Perfectly Good Weekend”.
Cruised back down Route 128 to US 20 back home via Route 18 and put the car back in the barn awaiting another double feature to cruise on down to!
Central Ohio Drive-Ins
Lynn Auto Theatre
http://www.lynndrivein.com/
$5.00 FM 103.9 90.3 9735 SR 250
Strasburg OH Tuscarawas County
Lynn Drive-In Theatre
Driving down US 250 after cruising thru Wooster, the overcast skies looked like it should rain, though weather reports on the radio and TV had a cold front just clipping the Strassburg area, which the oldest Drive-In theatre in Ohio was locating, and after looking on their website, going to the Lynn is my most anticipated Drive-In to cruise to this summer, and I definitely was looking to seeing a movie there, as this is my Third drive in this season. Even though I had driven past the Lynn countless times, I never even noticed it as I cruised on by on my trips back from Dover, and even missed it several weeks earlier, but thanks to Google and Mapquest, I now always do a computer check and get an ariel visual of the terrain before going.
The Lynn was originally a single screen theatre, but was partitioned into two screens with one now in the rear, and when I pulled up to the box office gate, I knew that I was going to have great time this evening. Unlike the previously attended Drive-Ins, the entire lot is grass covered between the gravel alleys, and the pride and details to which the owners pay close attention to reflects on what I consider to be the best place to go see a movie [never mind the $5 admission for TWO movies, which I submit could be more] so far this season.
One of the owners came by and chatted me up about all of the logos on the car, and I complimented him on such a fine establishment he was running, and got ready for the movie, that consisted of “Race to Witch Mountain” and “Monsters Vs. Aliens” which both were a great way to end a great evening and the Lynn Theatre will make my Top 10 list of favorite Drive-Ins.
Springmill Drive-In
www.greateasterntheatres.com/springmillhome.asp
FM 88.5 AM 830
1040 Springmill Rd
Mansfield OH Richland County
June 13
After a morning and afternoon of assisting the United Ford Owners at their annual Ricarts / Earth Angel Foundation Charity Cruise-In, fired up the engine and made my way back up I-71 North to Mansfield, Ohio to the Springmill Drive-In Theatre [thought about heading over to the Sunset Drive-In located near the Springmill, but since they were both showing the same movies (UP and STAR TREK) the old art deco type front on their web page made me lean towards Springmill]. Got there a little too early again, and in the interest of gas mileage cruised thru Mansfield, them past the theatre on Springmill Road and up thru Shelby and doubled back and got there just as cars were starting to line up. Another one of these double screens that were converted into two from just the one main one, and the front deco marquee was in need of some paint, but overall was a very pleasant experience!
Went inside the concession stand to stretch between movies [they even give door prizes from the last digits of the admission tickets they have listed on the board behind the counter, and giving folks a chance to smell the popcorn, so to speak, and maybe purchase a drink or two] and again, for the smaller [and probably original single screen theatres] the building and interior were set up like all of the others, though it was just a little bit bigger, but on the same floor plan with the food on one side and management [along with the projection booth] on the other side. Security was around and chasing the SUV’s and pick-ups back to their designated areas, and the weather held out and had an overall pleasant experience, with the exception of a new coat of paint for the marquis, I look forward to a return trip and another fun evening at Springmill Drive-In Theatre!
As for the movies, just wanted to see Star Trek for a second time and also saw UP, which felt like they concentrated more on the animation more than the story, and in the end, both of those negatives ended up dragging the movie UP, DOWN
Sunset Drive-In
www.sunsetdrivein.net/
FM 89.1 AM 530
4018 Park Ave West
Mansfield OH Richland County
South Drive-In
http://www.drive-inmovies.com/
FM 91.5 90.9 3050 S High St
Columbus OH Franklin County
South Drive-In
Was in Cbus Saturday for business, and stopped at the South Drive-In on High Street in Columbus and saw STAR TREK and I love you man [absolutely the worst movie ever made – but on Friday’s and Saturday’s they replay the first movie twice, so it was worth seeing STAR TREK for a second time, so although the ACLU might declare the second feature “cruel and unusual punishment” – and was thankful that the power went out on the projection screen for 5 minutes as to not to have to endure any more torture -- and had a hard time even mentioning it the first time, but I digress, per usual] and nothing real special, except for the fact that they show the first feature over, which is kinda a triple feature – only if you like the first feature [which I absolutely did, not having seen the previews or read any of the plotline, the way I pick movies are usually familiarity with the actors, the theme of the movie, and then any TV trailers that makes it worth cruising on down, and since I only see movies in the summer, I try to pick out two that I really want to see, breaking that rule this time since sometimes I go and just jump in and take a leap of faith that it’ll be good, this time I got burned, but I did get to see the much anticipated STAR TREK which seeing it a second time tied some loose ends together that I missed the altered time line concept the first time, which makes a clean break from the William Shatner ‘60’s TV series (with the exception of Leonard Nemoy reprising his role as Spock) timeline and I foresee two to three more movie possibilities, which in Hollywood nowadays sequels are always a given and is now the norm.
Security was busy chasing the SUV’s and mini vans back to the back row of the theatre, and had local Cbus 5-0 on duty to a packed house, but got in early enough to get my usual 3rd row center of the aisle, but that can change from theatre to theatre as well, depending if the rows are “sloped up” on a rise or not. An all stone lot (like the Aut-O-Rama in North Ridgeville) and overall was another relaxing time after a hectic day at the office. Not many stayed for the Star Trek replay, and had another late late drive back home to the barn. The only negatives of the South Drive-In was the excessive amount of litter that was left behind [had a cat poke around a bag left behind] and also the rear screen where I was at had an apartment complex behind the drive in without much of a wall that let an annoying street lamp shine all the way through the thin tree line during both movies, so it kinda dampened the overall ambiance I am used to, but this being in literally in the middle of an urban setting and unlike the Auto-O-Rama where it is situated in a corner of literally unusable land for anything else commercial or residential with CSX tracks on one side and the Ohio Turnpike in the other corner, most of the now closed theatres were originally built far away from the towns out in farm country, but, like the 42 Drive-in [now a closed lumber yard, but the single screen still remains standing] just up the road from me up here in Brunswick Hills Twp. and the Pearl Road Drive-In in Middleburg Hts. [now a golf driving range and Saturn Dealership now I guess for 20 years or so now] the land became more valuable for the owners who got a deal that they just couldn’t refuse and sold the lot to developers [as in the case of the drive-in now closed in Delaware, although Memphis Road Triple Drive-In just sold out period to American Greetings card company for the company’s need for “Green Space”, but it was only a matter of time anyways for it to be forever gone], but I have found through my research that some just lie completely abandoned [as of the person who did the pictures and the website postings] with the last movie poster that was shown at that drive-in still in the weed covered projection booth, which as a history lover I find sad, and still pass the “Last Screen Standing” here in the township almost everyday, and if I don’t get to all of them here in Ohio I’ve been to a lot of great ones so far in my quest, and by seeing folks paying anywhere from $5 each to $16 a carload [have found with going solo all of the time that it si half a carload price, though after this journey of going to all of the ones in Ohio will probably only go back to those accepting credit cards or are at the $5 level depending on their location and fuel prices etc. in the future, but just want to complete this mini “Bucket List” before any more drive-ins go under since once they are gone, they are gone forever!] to full capacity lots each evening -- and with the low overhead and mostly kids who are family or friends who are working the theatre lots and with the taxes on the land remaining where they are for the time being, the future at least looks a little brighter at least in one corner of the universe where all may go to enjoy a little family fun filled evening of escapism at a great price!
Cruise: C [for cruisn’ downtown Cbus& OSU]
Movie: A/I/A [Awesome / Idiocy/ Awesome]
Overall: OK
Skyview Cruise-In
www.skyviewdrivein.com/
$6.00 FM 100.1
2420 E. Main St
Lancaster OH Fairfield County
June 28
After leaving the United Ford Owners monthly Cruise-In at Quaker Steak and Lube at Poloaris there in Cbus about 5ish for a trek down to Lancaster to the Skyview Drive-In Theatre to see Night at the Museum 2 and Star Trek, taking I-270 to south US 33, but as soon as I came upon a two mile long backup on Route 22 just east of Lancaster and as I neared the theatre I forgot it was Memorial Day weekend so I doubled back and went back and visited with my cousin back in Cbus since the local 5-0 were already starting to turn folks away from the theatre [about a mile up the road from the theatre entrance], and it was too late to get to another theatre in time to get primo parking so I called it a wrap and hope to catch a flick there later this summer!
West Central Ohio Drive-Ins
Auto-Vue Drive-In
937-492-5905(S)
1409 4th Ave
Sidney OH Shelby County
Melody Cruise-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/melodyci.shtml
$7.50 (D/Amex/V/MC) FM 107.3 103.3
4025 E National Road
Springfield OH Clark County
Hi Road Drive-In
www.metheatres.com/hiroad.shtml
$6.00FM 99.3
8059 SR. 68 N
Kenton OH Hardin County
Lake Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/lakedi.shtml
$10.00 / car
8477 Hwy 703
Celina OH Mercer County
Starlite Drive-In
419-925-4944 (S)
1889 Route 127
Maria Stein OH Mercer County
Van Del Drive-In
http://www.van-del.com/
$6.00
19986 Lincoln Hwy
Middle Point OH Van Wert County
SW Ohio Drive-In Theatres
Holiday Auto Theatre
www.holidayautotheatre.com/
$8.00 (cc- V/MC) FM 95.5 [Open All Year]
1816 Old Oxford Hwy
Hamilton OH Hamilton County
Started out going down to the Holiday Drive-In Theatres 2009 New Years Triple Feature in a blizzard after getting an oil change up at Yorktown Automotive in Parma Hts. and after the traditional stop at the TA at Lodi for their buffet before every major cruise, made my way down South to Hamilton, Ohio. With limited time and finding a gas station before they closed for the New Year Celebrations I found it necessary to get gas ASAP and fill up before the stations closed and make sure I had a full tank since I was going to run the heater during the 3 movies shown with below freezing temperatures predicted and be able to get all the way back home, sometimes just have to throw the book out of the window 3 movies shown with below freezing temperatures predicted and be able to get all the way back home, again with New Years Eve early closing for businesses it was time to get there.
Although I have gone to Drive-in Theatres for over a decade, going to a New Years Eve triple feature was definitely a first, with the Holiday Drive-In being my fifth different one I had gone to out of the 33 which still "survive" here in Ohio [down from 270 original] and the Holiday celebrating its 70th year of continuous operation! I always find drive-ins to be a great value [$8 for a double feature where the megaplex cinemas charge even more for just one], and saw Adam Sandler's Bedtime Stories [with the obligatory Rob Schneider “cameo”] along with Bolt and Twilight [a movie I admit I knew absolutely nothing about and the first time that I went to a movie and not have had an inkling about what I was about to see – though safe to say that it is a “Cross” between “Dracula meats Juliet” without the typical ending of either Dracula or Romeo and Juliet, but hey, I had never been to anything this fun on New Years Eve in years, so was pleasantly surprised, and was worth getting frozen], with a special midnight "toast" of apple cider [between the second and third movies] along with party favors and special cinematic "Countdown to Midnight" on the big screen, and although the temperature was well below freezing and not your typical drive-in movie summer evening, it was none the less a great atmosphere provided by the owner and staff of the Holiday which made me looking forward to heading out after one of our UFO's Quaker Steak Cruise and head back on down to Hamilton Ohio this summer for another fantastic evening of fun entertainment and this single screen Drive-In gem definitely makes my top 5 Drive-Ins, which if all of the Drive-Ins are this cool and fun, may have to expand my favorites list!
Skyborn Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/skyborndi.shtml
$7.50(cc-D/Amex /V/MC)
Rte 235 & Haddix Rd
Fairborn OH Greene County
Dixie Twin Drive-In
http://www.dixietwin.com/
$7.00 FM 107.3 103.3
6201 N Dixie Rd
Dayton OH Montgomery County
Starlight Drive-In
www.starlitedriveinohio.com/
FM 90.5
2255 Ohio Pike Rt. 125
Amelia OH Clermont County
Melody 49 Twin Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/melody49di.shtml
$7.50 (cc-D/Amex /V/MC) FM 103.3 107.3
7696 Pleasant-Plain Rd
Clayton OH Adams County
East Bend Drive-In
937-373-1307 (S)
Hwy 125
Decatur OH Adams County
Wilmington Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/wilmingtondi.shtml
$10.00 / car
1129 N Rt. 134 Wilmington OH Clinton County
SE Ohio Drive-In Theatres
Kanauga Drive-In
http://www.kanaugadrive-in.com/
740-446-1088(S)
1483 SR 7 N
Gallipolis OH Gallia County
Scioto Breeze Drive-In
www.chakerestheatres.com/sciotodi.shtml
$7.00(cc-D/Amex /V/MC)
9959 US Route 23
Lucasville OH Scioto County
Winter Drive-In Theatre
www.winterdrivein.com/movies.htm
FM 100.1 102.1 104.1 107.1
400 Luray Dr
Wintersville OH Jefferson County
cc- D / V / MC / Amex [Credit Cards Accepted – Discover / Visa / Master Card / American Express]
(S) – Show Times phone hotline
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