Drive-In Memorial Days

Memorial day is the time to take a trip. Always has been and always will be. I can link Memorial day with endless hours on the road passing through all sorts of small towns, nestled on the fingers of innumerable country and state routes all over the country. I always have liked the back roads, away from the super highways packed with millions racing to their destination. In my mind, the backroads are like a slide show of real American history because I can see the images of how a town was, the traffic leading to and from, and the small mom and pop stores that defiantly clinged to their businesses to spite he K-marts and Wal-marts that haven't deemed the local communities worthy of an utter onslaught, bringing the iron rule of total comsumerism, seeking slaves to chain to their form of economics, granting a discount in exchange for identities for more efficient marketing. I've seen the Orv's Gas and Snacks of the world fade on distant horizons and taking the COLD BEER signs on the side of the buildings with them. Orv never cared who the hell I was, it wasn't his business. He business was selling Gas, COLD BEER and Snacks.

I guess that is why it was so great to slick out of my local area this weekend to hit Mendon, MA. Why? Because this is the home of the Mendon Twin Drive-In! The wife and I dig Drive-ins the most. They are great! The Mendon Twin had more people actually out of their cars, setting in lawn chairs and partying than any place we have been in the past. There were ice cream faced kids running around everywhere tossing frisbees and footballs. It didn't matter what was playing on the screen (In his case it was "The DaVinci Code" & "RV") because the atmosphere was great. It was everything I remember a Drive-in should be.


The Mendon Twin Drive-in was built in 1953 and opened on June 14, 1954. The drive-in has been in operation for 46 years. Which explains the feeling of authenticity that this place has. If there was such a thing as drive in bingo, I think that I could have cleaned up. Why? I saw it all: Families leaving after the first movie, teenagers moving into the back seat, prepubescent snack bar hang-out crowd, The pervasive aroma of stronger smokes coming from the vehicles parked in the back row (someone must have lit up a stogie).

All in all the whole deal was great fun. We got there at 7:00 PM and didn't leave until 1:30 PM. That's some entertainment dollar value! If you aren't buy on Memorial day, or any other traveling weekend for that matter, you should get to know this country and go off the beaten path.