30 minutes from my hometown

While in Nebraska, I had promised Dash we would go to a "movie out of doors". "A movie on a big screen outside, where you can sit in your car and watch."

He thought the idea was absurd, and I do think he thought it was one of those fantastical stories Moms make up.

The town I am from, used to have a drive inn. I used to go ocassionally. Sometimes with some farm boy from the country who would try and steal kisses, a couple of times with city boys who were less shy with their motives. Ussually, I would pack 2-4 girlfriends in my trunk and drive in, only to be busted about 15 minutes later after 4 girls giggled and climbed out of my trunk.

The drive inn theater in my hometown has been closed for about 18 years, but there is one 30 miles away in the town of Neligh. It is one of 3 in the state. The Drive Inn, still has the original concession stand, a faded shade of aqua-marine inside where the counters seem squatty compared to todays ginormous movie complex standards.

The Starlight Drive Inn, may be the cheapest date in the United States. Mind You, it was a DOUBLE feature.

Over The Hedge
RV

Dash~ free
Pink Ninja ~free
Sister~ $4.00
AWTM~ $4.00

*we also recieved 2 tickets for free popcorn, because it was Wedesday!*

A Grand total of $8.00


So we sat and ate our free popcorn, on the prarie, and watched the sun setting, which was worth the price of admission.

50's do-wop tunes blaring from car radios, the speakers are still there, just not working. Pink Ninja dancing and steering to Jail House Rock, and making the silliest faces imaginable. Dash giggling so hard at her antics , that pieces of popcorn are flying out of his mouth.

We giggle, and dance and sing until the sun sets. I watch carloads of families pull in with picnics, blankets, chairs, coolers, pizzas. Pickup beds with tents in the back, little heads with fresh farm summer haircuts poking out. A team of little boys in baseball uniforms, celebrating the end of the season playing catch in front of the screen. Parents holding tween kids on their laps in old faded lawnchairs, sharing free popcorn, laughing. Sweatshirts being passed around, hotdogs being grilled on a hibachi.

The sight, was better than any movie, better than any story. No parents dropping a kid off at a large multi-plex, no screaming. It was such a beautiful sight to me, I wanted to stay forever, because that is what I want.

That romantic, American ideal is not lost. It is still there. 30 minutes from my hometown, even if it only lasts as long as a double feature. Oh, and the cost of admission is $4.00 on a Wednesday.