An "INGLORIOUS" Labor Day Weekend

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”!