photo by Kenny from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 53 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It was time for another long haul, over five hours through frequently yucky weather from North Las Vegas to the Basin Drive In Theatre in Mount Pleasant UT. Sure glad I’ve got snow tires!

According to Cinema Treasures, the Basin opened in 1958 and upgraded to digital projection in 2013. It’s apparently the only movie theater that Mount Pleasant has ever known.

DriveInMovie.com tells a great story about the Basin. “The Basin Drive-in was originally located about 300 miles from here in the Uintah Basin of northeastern Utah. In 1958 it was purchased and then moved to its present location – and everything, from the projection booth equipment, to the old screen and the sign out front was carried over, including the old name.” I love that story, but no one ever says what city it came from. The farthest point in the Uinta Basin is barely 200 miles away. There are no drive-ins named Basin in Utah in the 1955 Theatre Catalog. Despite that, that same story was told by the Deseret News. “In the 1960s,” the News wrote, the owners “bought the Basin Drive-In, which was located in Uinta Basin, and moved it to Mt. Pleasant.”

The Basin folks were kind enough to fill this hole in my knowledge. “It came from the east side of Roosevelt,” they wrote, “(yes, they had two drive-ins in that little town!).” The other is the Echo Drive-In on the west side of town, which is still going strong.

Even as the theater was pelted by a mixture of rain and snow, the Basin Drive-In Facebook page reassured me that the place will reopen for another season this spring. When, exactly? “Usually the first week in April!”

Miles Today / Total:  354 / 6776 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 37

Nearby Restaurant: You’ll never guess what I had to eat at Cavalier Pizza, just two miles south of the Basin. Not the pizza, but the soup and salad bar. The unlimited soup, like meaty chili or their special chowder, was the secret quasi-healthy alternative I needed after going full carnivore the day before.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There are no hotels in Mount Pleasant, but since the Basin is on the north side of town, the best choice is probably the Skyline Motel in Fairview less than six miles away. Just a small sign, 10 units, and a large tree out front with picnic benches underneath. Then again, my room had wifi and a mini fridge. It worked, but the culture shock after staying in Las Vegas the night before was pretty extreme.

Only in Mount Pleasant: This small city is home to Wasatch Academy, an independent, coeducational, college preparatory boarding school for grades 8-12. It was founded in 1875 by a Presbyterian minister who had come to the mountains of central Utah to do missionary work among the Mormons.

Next Stop: Tru Vu Drive In Theatre, Delta CO.