Even though the 4th has passed, it still feels like summer is just getting started. Maybe it's the current, hurried pace that keeps me from glancing at the clock too long, or the oddly cool weather we've been having the past week or two. Whatever it is, I'm not going to complain.
Cara and I set off last week for the annual N. Minnesota pilgrimage, and, leaving on the 3rd, planned our route accordingly to avoid the heavy holiday traffic around the twin cities. While we added a couple hours to the drive, never once did we find ourselves at a standstill or for lack of genuinely interesting scenery. Getting out of Iowa, we managed 57W to Sinclair, surveying the recovery of last year's tornado that destroyed their elevator and snapped hundred year old trees like twigs. Then on up 14 through Greene, eventually onto the 4-lanes "to make time" as far north as Owatonna. From there it was a laundry list of small-town Minnesota. New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Hector, Willmar, etc. Allowing plenty of opportunities to stop and snap pics or do some snooping. Walmart provided a) a new car battery and b) fixin's and an ice chest for lunch. After a few hours more we stopped for lunch at Sibley State park, found a nice grassy spot in the shade near a stone and timber shelter likely built by the CCC, and had ourselves a meal while being scolded by a red squirrel. Then onward another couple hours to our destination, the final leg intentionally taking some very back roads to see the scenery.
An after-thought before we set out that day, I cross checked several of the small MN towns against a list of closed Drive-in theaters to see if we had any hits. Indeed. But finding them without addresses, nor knowing whether there were any remains, was the challenge.
Sidebar: Drive-in cataloging is difficult work, given the great number, and short lifetime of some drive-in theaters, especially in areas that couldn't support such a theater for more than a few years. Having only screen and snackbar, mother nature can work fast recovering what was once there, and developers especially like already graded plats making it ideal to plant a megastore right on top of an old DI location. One gent uses Terraserver satellite images to investigate a locale once he knows a drive-in existed in the area. Sometimes you can make out the "baseball diamond" footprint of an old theater, though cornfield or walmart usually makes that very difficult.
Hector, MN supposedly had a DI but we couldn't find it. A gent in town pointed us to one he knew once existed in Buffalo, MN, so down the road we went. All that was left was the snack bar now storage building, and concrete piers that once anchored the screen. Wadena, MN had a DI and the towering tin of the neon sign/marquee still stands, though if it were to disappear, one would never know given the trees and brush that have taken back the land over the past 20 years.
The Long DI in Long Prairie opened in 1956 and is still operating today. I was able to snap off a few pics along a fenceline in the rain, but being the middle of the day, the gates at the road were locked and it was a long, wet approach into a wooded area to get to it. Must be something to see in the twilight...
So yeah, we found a few DI's.
Never a dull moment- boat rides, fireworks, the annual trip to the transfer station to stand in awe of appliances accumulating in the sun. And to date many of them, easily providing service for 5 or 6 decades continuously. Think about that for a minute. Even worked in a trip to the parents new place to help get a 300lb diving platform into their lake.
We made the mistake of taking 4-lane back to CF and ended up in stand-still traffic north of Minne, likely due to an accident as it was mid-day Tuesday. A sly exit and our 2-lane escape plan put us back on the road. Even with what must have been a 3 hour stop at IKEA, we managed to get home shortly before dark, Blazer loaded down. Now if only we could get a vacation to recover from our vacation.
The Cedarloo HyVee on top of the StarLite Drive-In outfield.
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