photo by Jerry Cotten from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 27 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, starting with another hour and a half or so to drive from Graham to the Town and Country Drive-In Theatre in Abilene TX. Here in Texas, I’ve seen brand-new drive-ins, and over the last two days, I’ve seen ancient, pioneering drive-ins. The Town and Country is somewhere in between.

The Town and Country wasn’t really a pioneer. When it opened in 1956, there were already six other drive-ins in Abilene: the Chief, Crescent, Elmwood, Key City (two screens), Park, and Tower. What the T&C offered was size; its 1500-car capacity was more than half of what the other seven screens in town could handle together. The T&C had two screens of its own, plus a playground with an electric Ferris wheel. It closed in 1981, but was resurrected in 2000 and has been rolling along since.

The T&C sure isn’t like the Coyotes I visited earlier this week. There were no alcoholic beverages to be found at the concession stand. On the other hand, the prices felt reasonable again; a bacon cheeseburger and the largest fountain drink they offered were only $3.50 each. This place felt a lot more like the drive-ins I visited when I was growing up.

After two dark nights, I was happy to return to a drive-in that’s showing movies in January. Of the four early movies, the only one I hadn’t seen was Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, so that was my Friday night show.

Miles Today / Total:  94 / 3158 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Resident Evil: The Final Chapter / 19

Nearby Restaurant: I found another chicken dinner house a lot like the one I visited two nights ago in Granbury, but this one is called Belle’s Chicken Dinner House. Same deal though, great chicken (or chicken-fried steak) and unlimited green beans, mashed potatoes, and other fixin’s. Yum!

Where I Virtually Stayed: There were several close hotels along I-20 of the inexpensive, expedient type that didn’t match what I was looking for. It was only another mile or so to a cluster of my type of lodgings at Lake Road. I picked the newest, the Hampton Inn, because the only thing more reliable than a Hampton Inn is a brand-new Hampton Inn.

Only in Abilene: There are several sculpted items of interest clustered near Business I-20 as it runs through central Abilene. There’s the world’s largest (really) paper airplane, a flat buffalo for photo-op rides, the second-largest faux animal skull in town, a park full of Dr. Seuss character statues, and the world’s largest faux buffalo skull.

Next Stop: Stars & Stripes Drive-In Theatre, Lubbock TX.

photo by robert e weston jr, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 26 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and it only took about an hour and a half to drive from Granbury to the Graham Drive In Theatre in Graham TX. For the second straight day, I experienced an old-time classic single-screen drive-in that happened to still be closed for the season. The Graham’s web site says it will reopen “TBA in February.”

The Graham was one of the first five winners of Honda’s Project Drive-In in 2013, scoring a digital projector to help future-proof the place. Back in 1955, it was part of a Life Magazine feature on Blondie, a local pet lion, and her adventures in Graham. Graham’s CinemaTreasures profile says it was opened in 1947 with a capacity of 180 cars, but the Graham first appears in my Theatre Catalogs in the 1949 edition, in a listing noting that it can hold 300 cars. It also ran 12 months a year, so there’s another change.

Miles Today / Total:  86 / 3064 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 18

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurant is the Dinner Bell Cafe, right across from the cemetery. It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but I always love great biscuits and chicken fried steak.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Wildcutter Ranch is supposed to be the best hotel around Graham, but it seemed a little far away. So I settled for a more convenient location and a better rate at the Best Western Plus Graham Inn. A good bed, a mini fridge, and a microwave make almost any room the best room in town.

Only in Graham: South of Graham, near the entrance to Possum Kingdom State Park, is a large, homemade steel wheelbarrow in a field. Next to the wheelbarrow is a sign proclaiming it to be the “World’s Largest Wheelbarrow“. But it isn’t. Consider these larger examples from Australia and New Zealand. Sorry, Possum Kingdom.

Next Stop: Town and Country Drive-In Theatre, Abilene TX.

photo by Rob Sneed, from the Carload Flickr pool

It’s Day 25 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey, and although the distance from the Coyote in Fort Worth to the Brazos Drive-In of Granbury TX was about the same as the distance I’d driven the day before from the Coyote in Lewisville, it felt very different. I went from vibrant modern multi-screen urban theaters to an old-time classic single-screen.

According to CinemaTreasures, the Brazos opened in 1954, although Preservation Texas puts the date at 1952. For what it’s worth, my 1952 Theatre Catalog doesn’t include the Brazos in its drive-in census, but my 1955 version does. That Preservation Texas listing, which included the theater in its Most Endangered Places list for 2010, said the Brazos was built “with local materials by businessmen to lure people into town.” Some commenters at CinemaTreasurers added that the theater converted to digital projection by 2014, but was up for sale on eBay that November. Still, the Brazos endures.

I had a run of seven straight movie nights snapped by the Brazos, which is still closed for the season. One goal for this Odyssey is to catch at least 200 active movie nights in the 365-day year, about 55%. Picking up seven in a row in January has got to help my chances there; so far I’m at 72%.

Miles Today / Total:  40 / 2978 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 18

Nearby Restaurant: I do love that fried chicken, and Granbury has an excellent example of the farmhouse-style chicken restaurant: Babe’s Chicken Dinner House. Babe’s is a small regional chain, and it reminds me of metro Denver’s White Fence Farm – a comfortable, family-friendly setting, an emphasis on fried chicken, and all the green beans and sides you care to eat.

Where I Virtually Stayed: Not only is Granbury’s Hilton Garden Inn full of the usual HGI amenities, it’s got a superb view of the Brazos River. It’s a real bonus when the view from the hotel room window isn’t just a grassy field, the building next door, or somebody’s back yard.

Only in Granbury: According to KTRK, former Hood County Sheriff Gene Mayo, freshly defeated in a 2009 re-election bid, was criticized for writing “lost election/fired” on his application for unemployment benefits. A spokeswoman for the Texas Association of Counties said, “When you are elected, you are elected for a certain amount of time. That term ended.” A Texas Workforce Commission spokesperson said that serving as an elected official is not considered “employment”.

Next Stop: Graham Drive In Theatre, Graham TX.