It’s Day 253 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I left a comfortable pit stop barely across the border in Madawaska ME and resumed the Canadian portion of my trip. Once across the St. John River, it took almost four hours of driving lonely, tree-lined highways to reach the Cine-Parc Satellite in Paquetville NB.

This is normally the place where I recount the history of my drive-in of the day. This time, I’ve got almost nothing to tell. Mike Rivest’s Movie-Theatre.org pretty much guessed that the drive-in was open from about 2002 to 2005, owned by Paul Marcel Albert. I’ve found other references that Albert owned the nearby Ciné-Parc Bellevue, which closed after the 2012 season, but nothing else linking him to the Satellite. And obviously, the Satellite must have reopened at some point, if it was ever closed.

My strongest source is a September 2012 article in Acadie Nouvelle, which says that the Satellite’s owner at the time was Gabriel Foulem. He was pondering the expense of switching to digital projection. “On est en période de réflexion,” Foulem said. “Tout le monde s’attendait à ce que (le passage au numérique) ait lieu en 2014. Puis là, subito presto, on nous dit qu’à la fin octobre (de cette année) il n’y aura plus de 35 mm.” Which might translate to “We are in a period of reflection. Everyone expected (the switch to digital) to take place in 2014. Then suddenly we are told that by the end of October (this year) there will be no more 35mm.”

I barely missed a meeting of the Mustang Owners Club of the Acadian Peninsula, which got together at the Satellite on Sept. 9.

The Satellite started a Facebook page in June 2013, and that’s where it posted the above video just last week. Maybe if you dive deep into all the posts and photos there, you might be able to uncover a few more clues about its origin.

And that’s about it. I’m not even sure what municipality claims the Satellite. It’s in a settlement / neighborhood / something called Bois Blanc between the villages of Saint-Isidore and Paquetville and just south of Paquetville Parish.

After a week in Quebec, I thought I had missed the opportunity of a French-language movie night, but I got it this night. Since this was my sixth viewing of The Hitman’s Bodyguard, it was pretty easy for me to keep up.

Miles Today / Total: 194 / 29278 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Mon Meilleur Ennemi (The Hitman’s Bodyguard) / 163

Nearby Restaurant: The closest restaurants are in Paquetville. Since I’d already used up my Tim Hortons visit, I chose La Crêpe Bretonne. The menu had a little bit of everything, but I was overdue for a healthy meal so I tried “Salade Bertha,” which came with vegetables, parmesan cheese and shrimp.

Where I Virtually Stayed: There aren’t any hotels really close to the Satellite, so I ended up in Caraquet, home to that closed Ciné-Parc Bellevue. I was glad to see a Super 8 there, a familiar sign in a foreign land. It had an indoor pool with a little corkscrew water slide, outdoor views of Chaleur Bay, and a clean room with a full set of modern amenities. The continental breakfast was enough to get me going for another Canadian day.

Only in Paquetville Caraquet: The Super 8 is across the street from Musée Acadien, a small-town museum dedicated to the history of Caraquet Acadia. It’s inexpensive, and it’s all in French. Thank goodness for Google Translate on my phone.

Next stop: Brackley Drive In, Brackley Beach PE.

It’s Day 250 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. This was a very short drive to go just a bit farther east from Montreal. It took barely 20 minutes for me to go from the Cine-parc Boucherville, in Boucherville of course, to the Cine-Parc Mont St-Hilaire, in Mont-Saint-Hilaire QC of course.

The Ciné-Parc Mont St-Hilaire opened in July 1972, added a second screen in 1981, and has stayed in operation every year since. Those two screens are adjacent to each other at an approximate right angle. I can’t think of another double-screen drive-in I’ve seen with that configuration.

The drive-in has survived at least two fires. On the night of August 21 2010, thieves tied up an employee, stole the night’s proceeds and torched “the drive-in building” according to CTV News. No one was ever charged with that crime. One year later to the day, fire broke out on a Sunday afternoon in the main building and burned through the roof, as reported by Zone911.com.

After recovering from those fires, the Mont St-Hilaire worked through a more common issue, converting to digital projection. TVA Nouvelles interviewed then-co-owner Clément Longpré in 2012 about the upcoming off-season transition. “Les gens viennent nous voir et nous demandent si on va fermer à cause du numérique … On est là pour rester,” Longpré said. Google Translate says that means, “People come to see us and ask us if we are going to close because of digital … We are here to stay.”

In July 2017, Kevin Patenaude became co-owner of the Mont St-Hilaire. He told Les Versants that digital projection has led to an increase in customers. “C’est la même technologie qu’au cinéma, ce qui nous permet de commencer nos films plus tôt, avant la noirceur totale,” Patenaude said, which I hope translates to, “It is the same technology as the cinema, which allows us to start our films earlier, before the total darkness.”

Patenaude’s new acquisition was also featured in L’OEil Régional. “(J)e savais que le ciné-parc allait être vendu, j’ai sauté sur l’occasion. J’avais le goût de posséder mon entreprise dans le milieu du divertissement. Je me suis rendu compte que c’était ma passion,” he said. Again, I believe that’s at least close to, “I knew the movie theater was going to be sold, I jumped at the opportunity. I had the taste of owning my business in the entertainment business. I realized it was my passion.”

I’m so glad to have another YouTube drone video to embed here. It’s the longest one I’ve seen so far, and it shows just how remote this drive-in really is.

The Ciné-Parc Mont St-Hilaire is still open for a few more Fridays and Saturdays this season, but Thursdays are right out. I hope to find a few more weeknight programs in the weeks to come.

Miles Today / Total: 14 / 28677 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 160

Nearby Restaurant: For some gourmet burgers and beer in a fun setting that’s easy on the budget, my choice was Shack Attakk. My Hors-piste (off-road) burger had mushrooms, some maple-y bacon, and duck, I think. Add a “chic-choc” chocolate milkshake and some fries, and I had a perfectly tasty meal. I’ll eat healthy next time, honest.

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Motel Le Transit is the closest hotel to the drive-in and seems to be the only hotel that is actually in Mont-Saint-Hilaire. My room had a fridge and free wifi. There was coffee in the lobby and a bar with video poker machines. For breakfast, there’s an adjacent McDonalds, and the price of the room left plenty of cash to get whatever I wanted. This motel is well-suited for a quick stop on the Trans-Canada Highway, and that was just what I needed.

Only in Mont-Saint-Hilaire: La Maison Amerindienne recognizes the Native American way of life in Quebec. On cultural Thursdays, it hosts guided tours through its exhibition featuring “son du tambour, un chant de bienvenue et une cérémonie de purification,” which is what I would call the sound of the drum, a welcome song and a cleansing ceremony.

Next stop: Cine-Parc Orford, Sherbrooke QC.

It’s Day 249 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. I circled Montreal from the northwest to the northeast, from the Drive-in Saint-Eustache, in Saint-Eustache of course, to the Cine-parc Boucherville in Boucherville QC of course. The drive only took about 40 minutes.

The Ciné-Parc Boucherville was the first drive-in to open in Quebec in July 1970, but that wasn’t this Cine-parc Boucherville. Thank goodness for Mike Rivest’s Montreal Cinema History page and his note on a Cinema Treasures page, because this is very confusing. The old one, which closed in 1985, was just west of the Boulevard de Montarville at Route 20’s exit 95. The new one is just east of the Boulevard de Montarville at Route 20’s exit 95.

The current Boucherville opened as the Ciné-Parc Odeon, owned by Odeon Theatres, in 1974 with the same two screens it has now. It changed its name to Boucherville in 2006. This drive-in is still huge, with a capacity of about 2000 cars, and it’s still surrounded by acres of farmland.

From everything I read, what I can make out of it, the Boucherville is doing great. Daniel Séguin, general manager of Cineplex, which owns the drive-in, told Radio Canada in 2015, “Le goût d’aller au ciné-parc est souvent lié à la première visite quand on est jeune. On y est allé avec ses parents, et plus tard, on veut le faire découvrir à ses propres enfants.” Google Translate says that means something like, “The taste of going to the movie theater is often linked to the first visit when you are young. We went there with his parents, and later we want to make him discover his own children. ”

The YouTube video of the day show a fun-looking festival hosted by the Duval Scion car dealership in early 2011. There are just enough glimpses of the drive-in to make it worthwhile to embed here.

The Cine-parc Boucherville showed its final movies of the season last Saturday. This is the first time I’ve run into three dark days in a row since late May. I guess summer really is over.

Miles Today / Total: 32 / 28663 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: dark / 160

Nearby Restaurant: For one evening, I wanted to just stick around close to my hotel, but I found a real winner close by, Le Tire-Bouchon. I didn’t tell them that I thought the name sounded a lot like Tirebiter, and the food was much better than steel-belted rubber. The appetizer, entree and dessert were all one package price, so the columns I picked were green salad, duck magret, and Cru du Clocher cheese with walnut bread. Yum!

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Comfort Inn in Boucherville is a lot like most Comfort Inns in the states, and that’s a good thing. My room had the full set of modern amenities, and the hot breakfast in the morning was another Comfort standard. Just another solid place to stop for the night.

Only in Boucherville: This city is home to the Brasserie New Deal Brewing Co., a microbrewery that’s also a benefit corporation. That’s one of the three reasons I was happy to visit. The other two are fresh beer (of course) and the coincidence that it sits on the site of the original Ciné-Parc Boucherville.

Next stop: Cine-Parc Mont St-Hilaire, Mont-Saint-Hilaire QC.