It’s Day 192 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Once again, I went driving north along the coast of Lake Michigan another two hours or more to go from Muskegon MI to the Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre just west of Honor MI.

What a success story! The Cherry Bowl was so All-American that it opened on the Fourth of July in 1953. They widened their single screen in the late 1950s. According to Wikipedia, longtime owner Jean Griffin ran the business after the death of her husband (listed as L.O. Griffin) in 1959, and was known for working in high heels. Laura and Harry Clark purchased the property from Jean in 1996. Harry Clark died in 2012, and Laura continues to operate the theatre and diner.

Laura caught a big break in 2013 when the Cherry Bowl was the second winner of Honda’s Project Drive-In promotion, scoring a free digital projector to keep the movies coming.

The Cherry Bowl web site says, “Our sound system consists of the original vacuum tube motiograph amplifiers, that still power our speakers at the speaker posts.” The drive-in also has FM sound, but I do love those in-car speakers. Harry Clark installed sculptures next to the theater’s vintage speakers and 14-foot neon hot dog. One sculpture is a pink and blue Volkswagen with a clown head on it, another is a pink cow with cherries for spots, and there is classic Chevy positioned to look like it is coming through a fence.

I just had to embed Jeff Goss’s YouTube video because he shot it just two nights before I arrived. It’s the closest thing to seeing what I saw, and since my visit was only virtual, we have to rely on these real-life people to document it.

After a round of mini-golf, which every drive-in should have, I gathered up my popcorn (made from the original 1953 popper) and pizza and settled in for my seventh viewing of Despicable Me 3. On the plus side, all these back-to-back-to-back movie nights have brought my pace from a serious deficit to 205, over my 200 target for the year. We’ll see how close I can get by Labor Day.

Miles Today / Total:  121 / 24183 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Despicable Me 3 / 108

Nearby Restaurant: At the Platte River Inn, they serve breakfast till 2 in the afternoon, which I love after being on the road for a while. I went for a Denver omelet to remind me of home (near the headwaters of a longer Platte River), and a side of biscuits. Add enough coffee to keep me awake through a drive-in movie, and I was all set.

Where I Virtually Stayed: When you’re staying in Honor, you’re probably staying at the Honor Motel. This was one of those mom and pop classic motels run by people who care about the place. My room had the full set of amenities, including solid wifi. I was on my own for breakfast, but the location near the Cherry Bowl was perfect.

Only in Honor: Just like the Spud Drive-In in Driggs ID, the funkiest thing in town is the drive-in itself, or at least its set of decorations. Roadside America has some photos of the unusual painted fiberglass cow, the 8-foot fiberglass rooster, and that huge hot dog.

Next stop: Hi Way Drive-In Theatre, Carsonville MI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7v2fCi7I8Fk

It’s Day 191 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Driving north along the coast of Lake Michigan, it took me less than two hours to get from the 5 Mile Drive in Movie Theater to the Getty Drive-In in Muskegon MI.

According to the Getty’s about page, the drive-in opened as the single-screen NK Drive In (named for then-owner Nick Kuris) in 1948. It was the second to open in Muskegon, preceded by the Auto Drive-In the year before. Loeks Theatres purchased the NK in 1966 and changed it to the Getty, named for nearby Getty Street. They expanded to four screens in 1978, added radio sound in 1993, and converted to digital projection in 2013.

Some of those points get mentioned in the really nice 2016 YouTube video I embedded above. Loeks president J.D. Loeks gives a tour of the Getty while talking with folks from WOOD, Grand Rapids’ News Leader.

In an Mlife article from this April, general manager Kevin Sims said the Getty draws all ages. “You may see some teenagers, and some that are 65 reliving the past,” he said.

Another point I was proud to see Sims make was that outside food is permitted, but patrons should check out the excellent concession stand. “We have the best popcorn in the world,” he said. I wish that all drive-ins could adopt that spirit of relaxed confidence in their product.

With four movies to choose from, I relented to watch the latest Spider-Man film. I’ve wanted to see it since it came out, and sure enough, it’s a good movie and a great drive-in movie. I had hesitiated only because I might be seeing it a lot more over the next month.

Miles Today / Total:  89 / 24062 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Spider-Man: Homecoming / 107

Nearby Restaurant: Though I like the part about saving money, I look for little hole-in-the-wall restaurants for the kind of meals that aren’t available anywhere else. Such is the case with Fatty Lumpkins’ Sandwich Shack, which serves up wonderful combinations on Italian hoagie buns. I had the signature “Fatty,” of course, with roast beef, ham, turkey, and provolone, and that was before all the toppings. The place isn’t impressive on the outside, but the sandwiches are definitely worth the trip.

Where I Virtually Stayed: It’s nice to find a good Rodeway Inn such as the one in Muskegon. It was an older two-story motel, half the price of the nearby Hampton Inn, but I still got a mini-fridge and microwave, a clean bed, good wifi, and more than enough savings to take advantage of the adjacent Whitlow’s restaurant for a full breakfast.

Only in Muskegon: Near downtown, there’s a 10-foot statue that’s a salute to snowboarding. According to Virtual Globetrotting, ‘The Turning Point’ by Jason Dreweck is a monument to Muskegon native Sherm Poppen’s 1965 invention of the Snurfer. His daughter Wendy rides the original board at the top while the figure at the bottom is a modern day snowboarder at the Olympics.

Next stop: Cherry Bowl Drive-In Theatre, Honor MI.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=its4w15_cr0

It’s Day 190 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Staying in the Sister Lakes area of southwest Michigan, it took me barely 20 minutes to drive from the Sunset Drive In Theater, halfway between Hartford and Watervliet, to the 5 Mile Drive in Movie Theater north of Dowagiac.

The 5 Mile was built in 1961 as a single-screen drive-in with a capacity of about 450 cars. It was purchased by Glenda and Neal Edwards in 2006. That’s the same couple that has owned the Sunset since 2003.

There was a nice article about the 5 Mile in The Detroit News in July 2013, available online in a report (pdf) by the city of Dowagiac. “The lot was grass and not gravel,” wrote Tom Greenwood, “footballs and Frisbees cut through the air, kids did tai chi on the monkey bars and lawn chairs sprouted like mushrooms after a rain.”

A trip to the concession stand around midnight that night also delighted Greenwood. “It was like nothing had changed since I was a teen,” he wrote. “Hot popcorn spilling from the sizzling popper, pizza whole or by the slice, hot dogs, nachos, candy and a three-gallon brine-filled jar of pickles the size of a turkey drumstick.”

Just like my last report, I added a YouTube video by Outdoor Moovies to show you a few scenes from the drive-in. This one’s from September 2013.

The weekend-only 5 Mile had a great double feature, the same as the night before at the Sunset: Despicable Me 3 followed by the new Spider-Man movie. Too bad I can never stay up late enough for the second show. This was my sixth DM3 viewing, so I’m starting to memorize longer stretches of dialogue.

Miles Today / Total:  15 / 23973 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Despicable Me 3 / 106

Nearby Restaurant: Usually, when I read about folks buying a 50-year-old drive-in from the original owners, it’s about a theater. Last January, the story (in the Dowagiac Daily News) was about Lutz’s Drive-In restaurant next door to the 5 Mile. New owner Scott Scherer and his family must be doing okay, because Lutz’s still served up its signature chicken ranch pizza.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Scathing reviews on TripAdvisor drove me away from downtown Dowagiac to a cute little place, across the street from Round Lake, called The Bed-No-Breakfast Resort. The room was great, the price was better than I’ve seen lately, and they told the truth – there really is no breakfast included.

Only in Dowagiac: Dowagiac gained national attention in June 1964 after police began investigating multiple reports of what became known as the Dewey Lake Monster. According to Wikipedia, the beast had already been known to locals in the area for several years prior, and was rumored to dwell primarily along a 15-mile stretch of swamp-land extending from Dowagiac/Sister Lakes toward Decatur (along Dewey Lake Street). The mystery remains to this day, as do the sightings of the bipedal 10-foot creature.

Next stop: Getty Drive-In, Muskegon MI.