It’s Day 207 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It would have been just as fast if I’d driven to Indianapolis then back down, but I spent an hour picking my way due east from the CenterBrook Drive-In, seven miles north of Martinsville IN, to the Skyline Drive-In Theatre east of Shelbyville IN.

The Skyline was built by Robert Wilcox and a partner in 1950, just after he left the Air Force, and has apparently been operating ever since. The Switow family theater company acquired it later in the 1950s, then the Dewitt family got it, probably in the 1970s. Indianapolis Monthly wrote that Joe Gaudin bought the Skyline “from its original owners” in 2009; although Wilcox passed away just last April, I find no evidence that he ever repurchased his creation.

This is a fun place with a full arcade, which every drive-in should have. It hosts music shows and 35mm film nights in addition to standard weekend first-run movies. This June, it hosted a Dog-a-Palooza drive-in night to benefit Shelby County Animal Shelter. In July, it held a fireworks show during intermission. When you see the friendly, inventive faces in their RealSceneTV YouTube video, embedded above, you’ll get a good idea of what the atmosphere is like here.

The Skyline likes to host dusk-to-dawn monster movie marathons; the next pair are scheduled for the last weekend in August. According to a December 2014 report by Indiana Public Media, the Skyline stays open until early December, closing each season with a free Christmas movie event. “Christmas movies are the only genre of movies that people will watch over and over again. Every year they’ll watch A Christmas Story or It’s a Wonderful Life, and it becomes a tradition for people,” Gaudin said. “My plan is for this to become a tradition for people.”

The last Wednesday of every month is Indie SINsations month, showcasing a pair of drive-in-worthy independent films. This night’s first feature was Pool Party Massacre, released this April, which is a perfect low-budget slasher parody / homage. That movie, plus the tenderloin between pretzels “pretzeloin” sandwich, made it a night to remember. For the last nine nights, I’ve seen movies that are different from each other; that’s my longest streak since Feb. 1. I hope it continues.

Miles Today / Total:  44 / 25934 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Pool Party Massacre / 123

Nearby Restaurant: I like quirky, quiet places to eat sometimes. I like donuts most times. Put them together, and you’ve got Linne’s Bakery and Deli, just a couple of blocks south of the town square parking lot. I enjoyed the Shelbyville steak sandwich with roast beef, Swiss and onions for lunch, then procured a few cake donuts for sustenance on the road. What a neat old place!

Where I Virtually Stayed: The Comfort Inn in Shelbyville was a real bargain, keeping a few $20s in my pocket compared to my usual chain hotels. It’s a well maintained older Comfort Inn, and my room had all the modern conveniences. Breakfast was the standard Comfort Inn of waffles, eggs, fruit, and the usual suspects. It was all I needed, and I appreciated the price.

Only in Shelbyville: In 1981, the Indianapolis Star wrote “Charles Major, the Indiana author who brought fame to Shelbyville with his novels of English knighthood and pioneer days in America is perhaps best known today for The Bears of Blue River.” (News to me; I always thought of the city as the rival of Homer Simpson’s Springfield.) Anyway, a statue of protagonist Brent “Little” Balser with arms raised holding two bear cubs graces the north side of the Shelbyville town square parking lot.

Next stop: M.E.L.S. at the Starlite Drive-In Theatre, Thorntown IN.

It’s Day 205 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. Thanks to the interstate highway system, even though I never left Indiana, I required less than two hours to drive from Huntington to the Tibbs Drive-In in Indianapolis.

When the Tibbs opened in 1967, there were already 10 other drive-in theaters in Indianapolis: the South 31, Bell-Air, Lafayette Road, New Sherman, Northside, Pendleton Pike, Shadeland, Theatre Air Twin, Twin, and Westlake. (AXS says there used to be at least 18 drive-ins in town, but they’re probably counting suburbs.) The Tibbs outlasted them all, and is now the final active drive-in in this sprawling city.

United Artist Theatres opened the Tibbs with only one screen, then added two more screens in 1972. The current owners, Ed and Agnes Quilling, bought the place in 1995 and added a fourth screen in 1999. They also added a new marquee, and added other renovations including digital projection.

I embedded a nice 2015 visit from IN the Loop TV, which shows what the Tibbs is like these days. The drive-in also reopened in December that year to show Star Wars: The Force Awakens despite temperatures in the 30s.

I just missed the Tibbs’ 50th anniversary on July 16. Four screens offer a lot of choices, including a bawdy women’s movie, Girls Trip. I’d bet even money that I won’t encounter that movie again as I sample mostly small-town, single-screen drive-ins, so I was happy to give it a chance.

Miles Today / Total:  112 / 25868 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Girls Trip / 121

Nearby Restaurant: Those regional / local chain restaurants are so interesting. They’re big enough that they must be doing something great, but small enough to be quirky. That’s why I went over to Yats for some Cajun cuisine. I scored some chili cheese étouffée with crawfish that made my mouth water just from smelling it. It came on a bed of rice with a buttered baguette. Yum yum!

Where I Virtually Stayed: Indianapolis is sprawling, so I tried to stay close to the Tibbs, and that’s why I chose the Comfort Suites about a 10 minute drive away near the airport. My room was clean and comfortable, it had the full set of amenities, breakfast had sausage and eggs, and the price was better than the hotels downtown.

Only in Indianapolis: When I visited Boston last summer, I fell in love with candlepin bowling. There’s a place in Indianapolis, Action Duckpin Bowl, that features its cousin. As with candlepin, bowlers get three tries per frame to knock down the lighter pins with a fist-sized ball, but unlike candlepin’s tall skinny pins, duckpins are short and squat. If you get the chance, you should try it!

Next stop:  CenterBrook Drive-In, Martinsville IN.

It’s Day 204 of my virtual Drive-In-a-Day Odyssey. It only took an hour and a half on a quiet Sunday to drive from the Hummel Drive-In east of Winchester IN to the Huntington Twin Drive-In in Huntington IN.

The Huntington opened in 1950. The 1952 Theatre Catalog said its owner was Gail Lancaster, a man reported to have “two grand pianos in his living room”. According to Huntington County Farmers and Families, Lancaster also managed the Huntington Theater. By 1963, the owner was listed as Maurice Robbins. (There was a Maurice Robbins who was mayor of Huntington in 1980. Wonder if it was the same guy.) Later sources suggest that a group owned the Huntington.

By early 2001, the Huntington was owned by Syndicate Theatres and managed by Dave and Peggy Brooks. In August 2001, they sold it to John and Anilda Detzler, who soon began making renovations. In March 2005, most of the screen tower blew down, but the Detzlers rebuilt in time for a Memorial Day Weekend opening. They also added a second screen for the 2011 season.

In July 2013, the Detzlers put the Huntington up for sale. I didn’t see the digital projection issue mentioned then, but it had to be a factor. “There are two major reasons: I’m 61 and my wife is 68, and we’ve tried to do most everything ourselves, including the long, late hours,” Detzler told The Journal Gazette. “Our primary plan, dream and goal has always been to relocate (to Colorado) permanently.”

That’s when Bob Goodrich, owner of the Goodrich Quality Theaters chain came in. He agreed to buy the Huntington in December 2014 and closed on it the following April, at a signing apparently witnessed by WANE, Fort Wayne’s News Leader, in a report that’s now on YouTube. Goodrich installed digital projectors, added a credit card system, and generally made the place better than new. The YouTube drone video embedded above shows how nice it looked late last year.

I was a little surprised to see the serious movie Dunkirk leading off one of the two screens here. I don’t know whether I’ll get another chance to see this, so I was happy to get another break from animation and comic book heroes. I’ll have plenty of time to catch up with them in the nights to come.

Miles Today / Total:  78 / 25756 (rounded to the nearest mile)

Movie Showing / Total Active Nights: Dunkirk / 120

Nearby Restaurant: When I’m on the road, all I really need for a meal is a good old fashioned diner such as Johnny’s. (Think greasy spoon, minus the greasy.) I brought cash to pay, and my reward was pancakes, sausage, coffee and homemade pie at a very reasonable price.

Where I Virtually Stayed: It’s nice to be back in a town with lodging choices, and the hotel I chose this time was the Comfort Inn. It felt freshly renovated, and the breakfast was a notch above the already decent Comfort standard. And my clean, comfy room had the full set of amenities. Just a nice, solid experience.

Only in Huntington: This one’s a no-brainer. Huntington is the home to the Dan Quayle Vice Presidential Learning Center. The converted Christian Science church is more than a monument to the hometown guy who famously argued the wrong side in a potato spelling debate, which he later called “a ‘defining moment’ of the worst imaginable kind.” It’s also about US vice presidents in general, “the unique and fascinating stories of each of those who have held the second most important office in our country.”

Next stop: Tibbs Drive-In, Indianapolis IN.