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 Well… put in more time that I wanted to at the fair booth and with points on the map [along with using an outdated map to boot] seeming a lot closer than they are in real life, had to make some adjustments along the way.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racing at Mid Ohio, back to their base in Indiana since they left at the US 33 exit at Upper Sandusky, and again, the outdated map said that US 30 had not been completed yet [and even verified it with the satellite map that the road had not been built, but could see the roadbed being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
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