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For the last 5 years, DVD Drive-In and the Riverside Drive-in in Vandergrift, PA has been hosting the Drive-In Super Monster Rama, which is 2 nights of classic horror movies at a drive-in theater. And each of those years, we plan on going to this. And each year, we never make it. It is always the thought of driving 500+ miles to see some movies at a drive-in that seem to make it not happen. As cool as it sounds, that is a lot of time and money just to see some movies. So we never make it. Until this year.

I decided that if we make this trip more than just going to the drive-in, making it a little mini vacation, then it would be worth it. The Riverside Drive-in was offering the opportunity to camp out on the grounds there. I, for one, have never been camping, and it wasn’t something that I ever had craved. My wife Dawn and son Nick, on the other hand, liked the idea. While it sounded a little fun, paying $30 a night to camp there than whatever it was going to cost for a hotel room was a LOT more appealing to me. Yes, I am a cheap bastard.

So we looked at making several stops and destinations as we were traveling eastward. Since the Vandergrift was located right next to Pittsburgh, and my son is a huge fan of DAWN OF THE DEAD, I knew we could make a stop at the Monroeville Mall. And after a little more research, I discovered the location of the original cemetery from NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, located just north of Pittsburgh in Evans City. So we added these two places on our itinerary while we’d be in Pittsburgh. But on the road to the City of the Dead, we looked at places to stop on the way. Getting the idea from my buddy Joe Wallace, who is always making these crazy vinyl buying road trips, I thought it might be fun to try and hit a few used book stores on the way out there. Plus, since we are a huge fan of Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, we looked into what places that were featured on that show that we could hit along the way. So after much research and planning, we mapped out our quest.

After telling the aforementioned Mr. Joe Wallace about our plans, he thought it was such a great idea that he planned his own road trip to meet us up there on Friday. So the plans were planned, the routes were…routed. The van packed with sleeping bags, blankets, folding chairs for the drive-in, and a cooler full of Vanilla Coke Zero. We were ready.

Thursday, September 8th: We hit the road a little earlier than planned. So what better way to start our vacation than getting some Panera Bread for a little bit of breakfast before hitting the highway. But as we’re turning into the Home Depot parking lot to get to Panera, some older lady gives me the finger because I didn’t have my turn signal on! All three of us sat there in the van looking at each other seeing if everyone else just saw the same thing…then all started laughing. Too funny! But lucky for us, that was the only negativity that we experienced on our trip.

Along the way to our first stop, Nick and Dawn were watching NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD to prepare themselves for tomorrow’s stop at the cemetery. But for now, our first stop was Goshen, Indiana to hit a classic ‘50s dinner called Southside Soda Shop Diner. This was one that we had seen on Food Network and looked like a pretty cool place. Now, let me stop a second to mention that I was participating in a diet contest at work for the entire month of September. The idea of me trying to lose weight while we were not only making a 4 day trip on the road, but were going to be stopping at these food places along the way, not to mention spending two full nights at a drive-in theater, did not sound like the best environment for someone trying to lose weight. And you know what? It wasn’t.

We get to the diner which looked awesome. The booths and chairs had the silver metal chrome everywhere and just had this feeling of another era. It seemed that we each ordered something that was featured on the Triple D episode. I got a liverwurst and bacon sandwich (Yummy!), Nick got the crab cakes and Dawn got a Philly Cheese steak. Now at a little ‘50s dinner, getting good crab cakes is not something you’d expect. But according to Nick, they were the best ones he’s ever had. The cheese steak was nice, tender and juicy, and my liverwurst sandwich was great, though kind of tough to eat without it falling apart. But it was good. I thought I did pretty well since I didn’t over eat. Then they asked about dessert. I’m not a huge pie person, so when they brought this massive tray filled with about 15 different kinds of pies, all homemade, as good as some of them looked, I was able to say no. But then I see something called the Snowball on the dessert menu, which was a large scoop of vanilla ice cream, rolled in coconut, and sitting in a pool of chocolate syrup. SOLD! Dawn and Nick both got a slice of pie and I got my ice cream. They were all amazingly good. As we waddle out of the diner, Dawn quickly snaps a photo of Nick and me standing there, and as you can see, I apparently ate more than I should!

Next up, we traveled east into Fort Wayne Indiana to find an old book store that had been there for close to 20 years. It is called Hyde Brothers, Booksellers and is one of the largest bookstores in Indiana. As we walked into this place, as a book geek, I was like a kid in the candy store. There were books EVERYWHERE! These types of book stores are so much more fun and exciting to walk around in than compared to something like Borders or Barnes and Noble. These stores have character. And a shitload of books! So we made our way to the film section to see what we can find. We did find a couple of volumes that I need to add to my collection. We then went over to the large occult section to see if we could find anything interesting, which we did. We were able to acquire the infamous volume of lore, once thought to be just something from the imagination of H.P. Lovecraft, but alas was a real book! It was none other than the Necronomicon! And even better, it only set us back a mere $2.95! Now, all of that power at our fingertips, or less than $3!

As we walked out of the bookstore, Dawn saw a Mexican bakery across the street and wanted to check it out. Again, being on a diet for the month, this was not the best place for me to be going into. But I have a strong will power….well…most of the time. So I went in. This tiny little place was filled with 6-foot carts filled with all sorts of different baked goods. From cookies to cakes to breads filled with a variety of things, it was amazing. Each tray offered up some other item that looked very tasty. So Nick got a huge piece of chocolate cake, I got a sugar cookie (a very small one, of course), and Dawn got some sort of pastry. And the cost for all of that? A whopping $2.35. Couldn’t believe the price was that cheap for the amount of goodness we got. Guess that is what happens the farther away you get from a big city like Chicago.

Our last destination for that day was to get to Cleveland Ohio before we crashed for the evening. But there was going to be a meal in there before bedtime. An epic meal at that. Right when we first started planning this trip, Nick said that he wanted to go to that “cheese sandwich place” and take the 6 lbs. sandwich challenge he had seen on Man vs. Food. So we looked up the place and it is called Melt Bar and Grill. They have a 5 lb. cheese sandwich, which consists of 14 different cheeses, as well as a pound of fries and cole slaw. Nick wanted to give it a try, pretty sure that he could do this. Since I was trying to stay on my diet for the month, there was no way I was going to attempt something damn right silly like that. Nick is almost 19 years old. His body can handle doing something like that a hell of a lot more than me, being 46. But once we got to the place, and looking around while we waited for our table, I decided that I would do it as well, if only to give Nick some moral support. Right after we ordered our heart attack on bread (which takes about an hour to prepare), some other guy was going to attempt the challenge and was given his plate. He immediately dived into that montage of bread and cheese, showing everyone that he meant business. Then about 15 minutes later, things were starting to slow down. A lot. By the time our waiter brought over our two plates of cheese, I looked over at this guy and it looked like his eyes were about to roll back into his head. He looked like he was about ready to either pass out or throw up…or both. And as I sat there looking at this plate of oozing and melting cheese, and looking back at this fellow food moron, I realized that I didn’t want to look like that guy in about 30 minutes. But we tried anyway.

I’ve eaten my share of big meals before. Many times. I have even hit the food wall and really had a hard time moving forward (or moving at all sometimes). But after around 15 minutes, I hit a big pocket of feta cheese or blue cheese…not sure which at that point, but it was the turning point. The mere thought of putting another piece of that sandwich in my mouth was making my stomach threaten some serious repercussions. The only saving grace was the excellent cole slaw that was on the plate. Taking a bite of that really help clean the cheese from my mouth and gave it a little bit of moisture. But the second another bit of cheese went in; it was agony all over again. Nick who had started in full force was also hitting that same WTF wall as I had hit about 5 minutes earlier. I think I got through maybe a pound, while Nick probably came close to eating ½ of the sandwich before we both threw in the towel. At that point, the simple idea of eating any kind of cheese was ready to make both of us do our own version of Python’s Mr. Creosote. So we walked out with our heads down and hands on our stomachs, really questioning why the hell someone would want to do that to their body. But even feeling like we did, it was a fun experience…not that I’ll ever try it again. Well...at least not with cheese. We headed to our hotel to crash for the night, ending a very successful and incredibly fun day.

Friday, September 9^th: None of us were extremely hungry when we got up…can’t imagine why…so we decided to hold off on breakfast until we get into closer to Evans City, which is where the famous cemetery is. While the drive out on Thursday, we did hit a lot of rain. Mostly it was just a slight rain or maybe a heavy pour for only a minute or two. So we were really hoping that the weather would be better on Friday when we got the cemetery, since that would really hurt our chances for some good photos. As we were driving there on Friday, we didn’t have rain, but we did have a very heavy overcast. So we were keeping our fingers crossed.

Finding this little spot is a lot easier to find that I ever thought it would be, basically just off of where I-76, I-79, and Route 19 come together. Now, while the directions are pretty simple, Franklin Road, which is where the cemetery is off of, is laid out like someone’s lower intestine. It is one of the most winding roads, with hills everywhere, that I’ve ever been on. So even though the speed limit posted is 35, I don’t think we were going much past 20 or 25. The minute you’d have a slight open stretch to hit the gas, there would be a sharp turn down a steep hill. But eventually, we did find the entrance. There is a different sign than in the movie, but the look of the road still looks pretty much the same.

I have to say that the only other famous movie location that I’ve been to is the stairs from THE EXORCIST in Georgetown. I’ve never been one to be excited about such ventures. Not sure why, but just never seem to be that big of a deal. But for some reason, this was different. Being at the actual cemetery, the actual place where Johnny spoke those immortal lines of “They’re coming to get you, Barbara” was pretty damn cool. As you pull up into the cemetery, the old brick building that you can see in the movie by where they park is right there on your left hand side.

Now kids, here is where movie magic is made. In the movie, they drive a bit into the cemetery, before parking. When they get out of the car, the old brick building is behind their car. Well, when you first pull into the cemetery from the road they came in on, that building is the first place you past as you pull in! After they get out of their car, they walk through the cemetery a bit to find the grave. When they finally do, the graves that they come to is actually about 10 feet from there they parked their car. If they looked up at the camera, they would be looking at that building. They start to leave and walk back the way they came. When she is attacked, and Johnny comes to her aid, the tombstone that she leans up against is pretty much right next to the ones they were just at, even though they had walked a bit. Then she goes running off into the cemetery back to their car, which in reality was right there.

When we got there, we thought we’d be walking around the cemetery for a while looking for these specific tombstones that you can see in the movie. But because we we’re thinking filming wise, we actually thought they walked for a while before finding them, when in reality, all of those scenes were pretty much filed in one basic spot. Made perfect sense from a filming standpoint when you think about it. So we took a bunch of photos, thrilled that the rain had not come yet, though it was pretty cloudy. That actually made the day even better, since that is the same way it was in the movie.

By that time, we were already like zombies since we hadn’t eaten yet. We had past a Perkins on the way in and new that would be a decent place to stop for some chow. So after getting our photos, we staggered back into the van and headed out of the cemetery….just as it started to rain! How is that for perfect timing? It is funny how some things that people just either don’t know, take for granted, or just don’t see the importance of. While at the gas station that we stopped at just after leaving the cemetery, I wanted to go over to the woman filling up next to us and asked her if she realized that the cemetery from the original NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD was just a few minutes from there!?!?! Probably wouldn’t have the same impact as it did to me.

After filling up our bellies once again, we headed down into Vandergrift to find this drive-in theater. Between the maps that I had printed from Google Maps and using the map feature on my new droid phone, and Nick being my trusted navigator, it was pretty easy to find the place. As we pulled up into the parking lot, next to a vehicle with some yahoo smiling and waving at me. Just when I was about to question who this local goof was, I realized it was our buddy Joe Wallace who had said he was going to make the trip himself for the event. It was still early, but we headed into the drive-in area to find out how the camping thing was going to work and all the other details. We found one of the people in charge, who was about as friendly as you can get. We told her we were going to be camping there and asked what we needed to do. Which in turn, was just to go find a place to put up our tent or whatever we had, find a place to park in the drive-in and when they announce the box office opening, then we could go up and pay for everything then. Sounds like a good deal.

We drove out to the back of the area, where some people had already set up their tents. One of them was Tom Savini and his friends and family. It was pretty cool to see him, not as a celebrity, but just as one of us…another fan that came to watch the movies. We got our tent up without any issues, and decided that we should go find some food before the movies start. This was probably our only bad decision for the weekend. We didn’t want to drive around too far in search of a place because we wanted to make sure we got back in time before the box office opened. So we settled on a Chinese place in a little strip mall. Now granted, it could have been much worse. It wasn’t like any of us had gotten sick or anything. But the food that we got was completely void of ANY flavor, whatsoever!

So after that uneventful lunch, we head back to the drive-in to get ready for a night of fun. We pulled the van in backwards, opened the back, got out our folding chairs, blankets, and soda, and we were ready. Of course, even with being on our diet, I can’t pass up getting some freshly popped popcorn for the first feature. And that is BLACK SABBATH. But before the film starts we are presented with a bunch of great trailers, from obscure titles to classics. They also had plenty of old concession ads which are a blast. It really gives you a great feeling to be sitting there, almost like reliving your youth. The print of SABBATH looked amazing. The 2^nd feature was THE LAST MAN ON EARTH which had the title of THE DAMNED WALK AT MIDNIGHT. I don’t think I had ever heard of that alternate title for the movie. And just like the first film, the print was awesome. Even if you’ve seen a movie recently, there is nothing like seeing it on the big screen. And there is also a special charm about watching a movie outside, sitting on some folding chairs, with the family and friends, and eating some of the many, many, MANY choices from the snack bar. I think by the time LAST MAN came on, that foot long hot dog was calling my name.

The weather had been threatening rain that evening and did start to sprinkle a couple of times. Enough to climb inside the back of the van a time or two, but it didn’t stay that long. The 3^rd movie for the night was CASTLE OF BLOOD. Now, I have seen this one and while I did like it, I remember being kind of slow. But more importantly, the last feature of the night was ISLAND OF THE DOOMED, which starred Cameron Mitchell, who I’m a big fan of. Since I really wanted to stay awake for that one, my theory was that I would crash during CASTLE which should take the edge off enough for me to stay awake during ISLAND. So I climbed in the front seat of the van and tried to get comfortable. It didn’t take me long and I was out. The funny thing was that I woke up just as CASTLE’s closing credits started. Must be some sort of special power I have or something. In ISLAND OF THE DOOMED, Mitchell plays a mad botanist who has invented some deadly new species of plant life. While not the greatest movie ever made, we were thoroughly entertained by it. It is a lot of fun. Of course, now I need to try and find a copy of the damn thing!

Once the movie was over, we were more than ready to hit the tent to get a few hours of sleep before the morning. It was around 4am or so, so it was still dark enough to make going out to our tent a little fun. But we managed it. Only to find out that our tent had slightly leaked. The tent we were using is probably about 20 years old and is more mesh then nylon in some parts. Now, it’s not like we had huge puddles or anything, but there were a few. But we were camping! So ‘roughing’ it is all part of it, right? We finally got settled and all three of us were asleep in no time.

Saturday, September 10^th: The day light woke me up, as it tends to do. I figured it must be close to 10am since it was after 4am when we crashed. I find my phone and squint at it to see it tell me the time was almost 7am. So I lay back down and tried to get a little bit more sleep. But I think I was back up for good around 8am. Our plan for that day was to hit the Monroeville Mall, and one or two restaurants from Food Network. I woke Nick up, who was sleeping on one of the cots that we had brought. As he sat up, he said, “I think my feet are wet.” We pulled off the blanket to see that the sleeping bag that he was laying on was soaked at the bottom. Apparently the bottom of the cot was either wet to begin with, or had water dripped on it during the night. But again…we were ‘roughing’ it. So we pushed on!

Our plan was to get something to eat first, but we knew we wanted to find something a little bit more appeasing than that Chinese food place we ate at the day before. Our buddy Joe decided to join us since he did most of his site seeing yesterday. On our way into Pittsburgh, once again we noticed the slight difference in terrain that we are use to in Chicago. Meaning, there’s a few hills…scratch that…MOUNTAINS all around. It is amazing to see houses and houses lining the sides of some of these rocky hills. Thank the gods for our GPS and Nick keeping a watchful eye on our location, the next thing we knew was we were at the Mall. We had hoped to eat first, but since we were there, we figured we might as well stop.

A few weeks before our trip, I had discovered that there was an actual store in the mall that had a mini-zombie museum in a little collectible / toy shop, which also included some props from the original DAWN OF THE DEAD. But unfortunately, the store was closed for remodeling while we were there. But as we walked around a bit, it is very hard to tell this mall from any other mall. We did find the balcony with the Pennys sign in the background, which is one of the few areas that one might recognize from the movie. Most everything else is very hard to spot. And to be honest, not being a huge fan of that movie, and maybe because I’d been here before, 20+ years before, it just wasn’t as exciting as I’d hoped. Even Nick, who is a big fan of the movie, was more than ready to go on to our next stop. And that was for some food.

There was a Lebanese restaurant that we planned to hit, but it seems that it was closed for remodeling and would be re-opening the DAY AFTER WE LEAVE?!??! Oh well…guess it wasn’t meant to be. So we headed to the east side of Pittsburgh to find a breakfast place called the Dor-Stop Restaurant. We remember that there was a breakfast item that seemed to be just a plate full of everything. So that had me and Nick very excited. So as we are driving through this wonderful terrain, going through mountain tunnels, crossing rivers, trying to make sure that we are on the right road, we are finally sitting at a stop light waiting for it to turn green. From the back seat, Nick says, “Go straight through the light and kind of turn to the right.” I look ahead and see this road going up that had to have been at least a 30 degree angle. I replied, “That can’t be right. That is not a road. That is a mountain.” But that was the direction we were suppose to go. So the light turns, we move forward and turn onto this hill, expecting the front bumper to hit the road. As we start to turn up this hill, pushing the gas pedal all the way down, everything in the van slide to the back as we slowly started to accelerate up this incline. For a second I wasn’t sure we were going to make it, with maybe the car dying, but we finally did. We find the Dor-Stop and quickly go inside, since our stomachs were long overdue from being feed.

The place is packed, but with a huge family feel to it. We don’t wait long at all and are able to get seated pretty quickly. Nick and I find the item on the menu we want and order. It was pretty much like a skillet, with eggs and just about everything on the menu thrown in with it. Dawn got a Rueben sandwich, which also looked pretty good. Don't remember exactly what Joe got for his main dish, but he got a side order of the raspberry-stuffed French toast, which just happened to be a bite of heaven. He was nice enough to let us take a bit and they were incredible. Then again, Nick and I had our own plateful (literally) of food to take care of. As we are trying to clean our plates, I asked our server how the hell they get around these roads in the winter time. As if she said it a million times before, we heard, “You’re not from around here, are you?” Guess I won't complain about Chicago traffic anymore.

On our way back through Pittsburgh, we had to stop at a hardware store to try and get some plastic covers to try and help keep our tent a little dryer that night. We find a Home Depot and stop there. We are able to find some cheap plastic drop cloths that might work, with a bunch of clips to hold it on the tent. We also stop by the Lowes as well. They had some pretty comfortable lounge chairs, or a mere $15 each. Last night, trying to sit for any length of time in those folding chairs wasn’t the most comfortable time. So we figured this would be much better. So we picked up 3 of them and threw them in the back of the van, and headed back to the drive-in for round 2.

We get back a little early to the drive in, but it gives us enough time to try and make our tent a little more rainproof. There is talk of some thunder storms that evening so we were a little worried we might all be sleeping in the van. Once the tent was done, we sat around, relaxing, and talking to a few other people that were there already. Everyone was friendly and there to have a good time. Which we all did. We got to meet George Reis, the main behind this even, as well as the one who runs DVD Drive-in, a great review website that we are always checking out.

As we’re sitting there waiting for the trailers to start, we watch dark clouds slowly passing by, thinking that as each one approaches, “this is going to be it”. Only to have it keep passing us by. I think it rained briefly that evening, but not more than a minute or two. So we ended up with a perfect night. Finally the trailers start up. Once again, we are presented with an amazing collection of fun trailers from the kind of movies you just won’t see these days. Nothing can beat sitting outside in a comfy chair, watching some old entertaining trailers. I have to say that watching these trailers was just as much fun as watching the features. Such a great selection as well.

The first two films up for that night were THE ABOMINABLE DR. PHIBES and its sequel, DR. PHIBES RISES AGAIN. I’ve always been a fan of the Dr. Phibes character and just love these two films. Even with the camp factor, I still get a kick out of them. And such a great cast. The next film was COUNT YORGA VAMPIRE. Robert Quarry was an actor that just didn’t get the credit he deserves. While YORGA could have had a little more ‘70s T&A in there, Quarry really carries the film, along with some great atmosphere.

By the time that film was over, and knowing that we would be driving all the way back home tomorrow, we decided to call it a night and skip I, MONSTER. So we loaded our new comfy chairs back into the van had headed over to our tent in the back of the lot. Luckily, since the rain never came, our tent was pretty much dry. So we didn’t have to worry about sleeping in a puddle. Which is always a nice thing. We get ready for the night, really hoping to get a few hours of sleep before that long drive home. As we close our eyes, we can still hear the movie playing, but it sure didn’t keep me asleep, since I was out immediately.

Sunday, September 11^th: Just like the morning before, I wake up thinking I’ve slept most of the day away. Only to grab my phone to see that we’d been asleep for maybe 3 or 4 hours. But I was awake, and figured we might as well get packing and hit the road. So we start the dreaded task of taking down the tent, which actually went a lot faster than I expected. Before we knew it, the van was packed and ready to go. Joe was ready to go as we started taking the tent down so he got a good head start on us. But we planned on stopping for a good breakfast somewhere not too long after hitting the road. Turns out, we ended up at the same Perkins that we hit on Saturday. So with our bellies full, we start the trek home. The drive home was quiet since Nick slept most of the way, and Dawn was nodding out here and there. And coming home from a trip is always a little depressing. But it was still such a great weekend.

Unlike my wife Dawn, family vacations were not something that we did when I was growing up. Her and her family were always taking family trips. Even with Nick growing up, most of my vacation time was used going to conventions, so we never got around to doing that many of these. And that is something that I really regret now. After this weekend, I realized one thing that had been missing in our lives. Even if it is only a 4-day road trip, these things can be so much fun and so relaxing for everyone. This definitely is not going to be the last one for us. Thanks again to the George at DVD-Drive-in and the Riverside Drive-In for keeping these kind of events going for fans like us. Thanks to Joe Wallace who was crazy enough to meet us out here on our little escapade. And most of all, thanks to my family for making this trip the best vacation!