A Night at the Movies

This past weekend, Ward and I went to a drive-in movie.  I had never been to one before and a few years ago when I decided that I wanted to try one, they were almost extinct.  But the pandemic has changed that. Some very enterprising people in a nearby town set up a drive-in at the local fairgrounds. 

On an impulse, we loaded the car with sandwiches and popcorn on Saturday night and headed out to fulfill one of the things on my bucket list. Having never been to a drive-in, I only knew what I had seen in the movies. However, Ward remembers going a few times as a kid. His family had a station wagon and after the first kid friendly movie of the double feature played, the kids were supposed to go to sleep in the back while their parents watched the next movie. One night he remembers his mother was upset with the content of the second movie and told the kids to turn around and not look at the screen. Well, that got Ward's curiosity up and he watched every chance he got. He wasn't sure what his mother was concerned about, but he knew it must be good.

 So my vision was cars lined up in rows watching a movie. Well, it didn't quite work like that. While the cars were in a row, they only used every other space so each car had clear space around all four sides. And they asked if you wanted to be front facing or tailgating.  We hadn't even considered that option. As it turns out many of the cars had their backs lifted and sat outside their car in lawn chairs while listening to the speaker in their car during the movie. Before hand, there were several picnics going on,  but everyone stayed close to their group. 

All of that was well and good until the movie started and the raised car backs were blocking my view. However, that was only a minor problem which Ward fixed by adjusting the car slightly. And I say minor compared to what happened when we tried to leave after the first movie. Our car wouldn't start.

Some how the immobilizer got activated and it did its job. Our car was immobilized. Our first thoughts were how were we going to get a tow truck into the middle of the lot where we were parked and how that would totally disrupt the movie for all who were watching. But it didn't come to that. After numerous phone calls, a visit from AAA, and help from several security guards, we got the car running. Not before the AAA person said that he couldn't fix it and had called a tow truck. Luckily we were able to cancel the truck before it arrived. So all's well that ends well.

So what did I think of my first drive-in movie experience? It was enjoyable and I would do it again. The best parts were the people involved. First was the group who made the venue happen. They used the otherwise vacant fairgrounds to bring safe family entertainment to the area not to mention work for local food trucks.  Next was the very helpful staff that got our car started. They searched the internet on their phones for hints, radioed one another for advice, and didn't give up even when the person from AAA essentially said it was hopeless. And with all of that, the big screen movie wasn't too bad, either.