Ocala Drive-in Theatre

Ocala, Florida

Weather: low 70 degrees, high 89 degrees, partly cloudy skies

We were didn't do much this morning, choosing to rest up a little from our excursion yesterday to Lake City and back. About lunchtime, we decided to go to Sam's Club to pick up a couple of things, and go to the WalMart Mall so Carolyn could join the people milling around in the store. Not that she would be milling around, but many people appear to be doing that to me.

As soon as we walked into Sam's, I saw that they were much busier than I had seen that store since we had been here. That's good for Sam's, but didn't work out so well for Carolyn. The motion of all the people, flashing lights, and sound created an environment that is not good for her vertigo. Almost immediately, she started having problems with her balance, holding on to me so she wouldn't be staggering. We were able to finish what we wanted to do at Sam's, but the plan to go the Mall was put off for the day.

As a result of the vertigo attack, Carolyn was under the weather for the rest of the day. The afternoon was spent letting her rest and get back to normal. The Mall will be there another day.

We left Ocala about 30 years ago to follow careers and see the world. We had a lot of great memories of growing up here and raising our family, but felt it was time to get out in the world. Since then, we have been coming back at least once a year to visit family, and are usually surprised at how much the area has changed. The growth in population has had good and bad points, but since we've been back, we've found much of the old Florida and Ocala that we remember from our earlier life here. One of the oldest landmarks here is the Ocala Drive-in Theatre. When we lived here, we spent a lot of evenings there, both dating and later when we had our girls, enjoying movies in a way that was affordable to a family without much money. The screen for the drive-in is still there, and the property is not being used for anything at this time. It's kind of sad that something that people enjoyed so much has come to this end.

Speaking of the Ocala Drive-in Theatre, my brother Terrell and his wife Kathy sent me a link to some old pictures of Ocala. One of the first ones I saw was of Dyer's Drive-in Theatre, which eventually became known as the Ocala Drive-in Theatre.

Here's what the drive-in theatre looked like waaaay back yonder.



Then, here's what it looks like today. Can you imagine living in the screen?



Just a little blast from the past for Carolyn and me. By the way, giving credit where due, the pictures came from the archives of the Ocala Star Banner.

More later, be safe.

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