TOWtally Random Thoughts

Schools are out which means SUMMER is officially here.   What are your plans?

We love cars at Santa Fe Tow, as you can imagine… and where better to find all kinds of cars and the people watching that comes with it… than at the drive-in.  Personally, I used to go to this drive-in a lot as a high schooler, then I took a long break, then I had kids and suddenly the drive-in was a perfect solution for weekend entertainment for all of us… once again.

There are not many actual drive-in theaters left nationwide and we’re fortunate to have one right here in Kansas City.   It brings back a nostalgia I didn’t even know I had.  The Boulevard Drive-In at 1051 Merriam Lane, Kansas City, KS  (913) 262 2414.   You can’t miss the brightly lit up marquee arrow pointing you down a winding tree lined driveway to the entrance of your evenings entertainment.  Many features and benefits of The Boulevard are still the same as they were when it began,  unknowingly taking you back to a simpler slower paced time.  We could all use a little of that these days.

Wes Neal has owned and operated this drive-in for several decades now. You can find him during showtime either sitting in the permanent  theater seats in front the concession stand or driving up and down the rows of cars, in  his low-lit golf cart.   Make sure you say “Hi” and he’ll probably want to visit for a little bit… which makes this experience even more delightful.

The concession stand is bluntly, a bit of a pit, but the food/drink prices are out of the 70’s!  Perfect… we’ll put up with the dirt for that.   Better yet, we tend to throw some sub sandwiches in a cooler, along with ice cold beverages for all ages.  Then we toss in the back seats our coziest blankets, pillows and a few light weight aluminum chairs so we can sit outside of the car if we choose.  We’ve seen some folks bring a pickle barrel filled with ice and use pull their drinks from there… kind of brilliant.  Whatever you do, make sure you pull your vehicle in backward, if you have a door in the rear or some way to kick back and enjoy the show as if from your own couch at home.  And yes, we’ve seen actual couches in pick-up beds… also on the verge of brilliant.

For you technically inclined people, know that The Boulevard Drive-In was the first one in the nation to install digital sound (DTS) on it’s field speakers… for clearer, crisper and a rattless sound. PLUS, you can dial in with your car stereo to 89.7FM and enjoy the movie through your own rock’n system.   That alone makes our little Kansas gem feel a bit coastal.   Nice trend you set Mr. Wes Neal.

This year, pricing goes as follows:  $8 for adults, $2 for children age 5-11 and kids 4 and under are free.  Not to mention the ridiculous low prices for drinks, candies, popcorn and the like at the concession stand or the crazy low price of bringing your own meal to nosh on during the movie.  You’d be hard pressed to find that kind of deal with an indoor theater charging $10 per adult and $6 for a child (sorry to call you out like that AMC) plus triple that for beverages and snacks.  Yikes!

We are particularly fond of this experience because it’s always friendly place, the movie-goers are excited, we can see first run movies, there’s very rarely any kind of disruption or trouble and it’s about as wholesome as Midwest living can get.  Go early, bring a frisbee or football to toss around before showtime and make some memories with your friends and family this summer… roll back time and dive in at the drive-in!

The clear photos are courtesy of www.americaswonderlands.com and the fuzzy one’s are provided by moi’, the author.

Recently I had the fortunate opportunity of hanging out with the crew of Santa Fe Tow as they worked at the Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, KS on a race weekend.  I had two delightful hosts…   Bob and his lovely wife.   I wasn’t sure what I was going to be getting in to.  Santa Fe Tow is contracted to remove illegally parked cars, cars in the way of the race day process, even the RV’s who got stuck in mud.   I learned right away that this might be an interesting weekend, because the ground was still very soft from the 27″ of snow Kansas City received over the winter.  The KS Speedway has free parking because the lots are, for the most part, unpaved… they are gravely or dirt fields.  Great for the visitor, unless you’re in a big ol’ RV or truck that just sunk into the ground 12″.   So Santa Fe Tow was revved up and ready to help.  Keep in mind, this is NO CHARGE to the race fan.  Santa Fe Tow takes the towed cars to a different lot where the patron is shuttled there when they are ready to leave.  That’s a very kind strategy on behalf of the KS Speedway and Santa Fe Tow.  They want everyone to have a great time.

Bob didn’t want me to just see vehicles being towed or hoisted out of mud,  he really wanted me to enjoy the whole Speedway experience.  I told them I was not particularly a fan of going fast. *insert gasp here*  I’m just not.  I’ve been on the back of enough motorcycles where the driver bolted without telling me to hang on.  I grew up with two brothers who would do anything to get me to potentially cry, because of their need for speed.  It makes my palms sweat just typing about it.   So I got my “pit credentials”  ( I’m not even sure that’s what its called) and got on the back of the slow golf cart (aaaahhhh) and we headed to the infield.

OK, first of all, it’s not what I thought.  It’s a party.  A constant party!  The families and friends of the drivers and their crew are partying and the fans, separated by a chain link fence, are partying in their RV’s.  It’s some of the best people watching I’ve seen in a long time!  Plus it was loud.  I do like loud. Bob winked and said “I told you you’d like it”.

To keep from droning on and on and on about all the fascinating things and people I saw, I’m going to present my facts in pictures and one sentence remarks. Hang on… here we go.

First of all, fans aren’t just flying freak flags above their RV’s and re-purposed school buses, but rather they are showing pride for their country and their favorite drivers.

Next, race fans are very clever.  Not just are they using all shapes and sizes of RV’s but they have re-purposed old school buses!  Brilliant. I’m all for reusing products in new ways.

I learned that even if your re-purposed school bus doesn’t have the luxuries of some of the gigantic RV’s, the KS Speedway is going to take care of you.  I present, the Mobile Shower.

I met mostly people working or volunteering the days event.  Here are the emergency service fire fighters…

And thank goodness because there are a LOT of wrecks in racing!  I had no idea! Here are some from the IRL race on day one. (Yes yes, I know IRL is not NASCAR.  All of you on Twitter reminded me that several times as I was posting photos. LOL!)

The next day was the NASCAR Truck series… and wow, that was a royal mess on the track from the start!

I found the pre-race inspections very interesting.  All the cars line up and run through this opened up garage and are quickly measured all over, for required specifications and to make sure the cars were not pimped out before the race.  People can even watch.

Then, they immediately shoot them through the same process when they are done racing, to ensure there were no hidden advancements placed on the car in pit stops during the race.  I like that.

I also like the huge trucks that the cars and trucks are transported in.  Like two story semi trucks with pneumatic lifts and good looking men working those lifts…

I watched the truck series race from way up high on the second day.   The roar of the engines rattled me to the core…  did I mention I like that.  I was taking a few photos and turned around to Bob and his wife and smiled.  Bob said, “There she goes. She’s now hooked”.  I think he might be right.

Immediately outside of the Speedway entrance is an entire city of merchandising trucks.  It was like Barter Town… a city of fans getting everything from devices to listen in on the teams radio frequencies, to a sporty jacket from your favorite driver. This was Bob’s favorite…

We had a storm roll in on the second day during the truck series.  I wish I got a photo of the huge truck with the humongous jet engine on it, that drove around the track, post storm, for an hour and a half using the engine to dry the track off.  That was the loudest noise I heard the entire weekend.

There’s a lot of pomp and circumstance to race days events… and I’m all for fanfare and a lot of people rallying behind a common link.  I met some incredibly kind people that weekend and every soul had a huge grin on their face. What’s not to like about that?  Thanks Santa Fe Tow for allowing me to tag along. You have a cool job with awesome perks.

Yep… I think I might be officially a race fan after all.

Spring is definitely known as prom season and functions of all kinds. Mix in a little unpredictable foul weather and you’ve got one heck of an opportunity for a mess on the roads.  Identifying this pattern over many decades, Santa Fe Tow, along with emergency medical units, several city police and fire departments have created fake DUI car wrecks!  Santa Fe Tow provided two wrecked vehicles from previous drunk driving accidents, for a mock DUI demonstration at St. James Academy in Lenexa, KS at the beginning of April.  Not only did the high school age kids get to see these mangled wrecks, but they also got a first hand demonstration about how the accident might have gone down when a teenage driver fully under the influence of alcohol is the cause of the wreck.  They were needless to say, VERY attentive and rightly so.

The Lenexa Police Department, the Fire Department and the nearby hospital all worked seamlessly to show these kids what takes place with such an accident… how many people it takes to work on this kind of accident and what it takes to get it done. Even the Jaws of Life were taken out to remove a mangled door in order to recover a body. Very sobering.  Like out of the Scared Straight movie from the 70’s!

The victims and witness were 5 of the theater students from the drama club at St. James Academy and they did a very convincing job!  For a full view of the experience click here for Santa Fe Tow’s Facebook Fan Page photo album of this exciting re-enactment.  Special kudos to the firemen, policemen and Med Act employees of Lenexa, who volunteered their time and talents to bring such an emotional and teachable opportunity.  Bravo to Santa Fe Tow for supplying the cars for these efforts throughout the metro, to hammer home “don’t drink and drive” and “don’t text and drive” to teens.

These actors were fantastic!  As you can see, fatality is alive and well and smiling and ready to re-enact again!  Bravo!

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Originally Posted By Alexis Ceule to Confessions of a Social Media Mamapreneur at 4/08/2010 07:32:00 PM and tweaked up by Alexis Ceule for Santa Fe Tow blog 4/30/2010