Village Welcome, friends! After 18+ years of RVing and more miles than we can count, Jimmy had never been to a drive-in movie. Not once. So on the first leg of our 2026 FindUsCamping Midwest RV Crawl, we fixed that, and we didn’t even have to leave the RV.

Yes, you can actually camp at a drive-in movie theater, thanks to Harvest Hosts.

Night One: A Harvest Host Close to Home

We kicked off the RV Crawl at a Harvest Host just a few miles from our house in Virginia: an old tractor museum right off I-95. It’s one of our favorite launch spots for meeting up with friends before a big trip.

• Water and electric at the sites, plus a dump station on the way out
• A paved lot for extra vehicles
• Tucked behind the building, so it’s quiet even near the interstate
• A little restaurant inside for breakfast before you hit the road

(And yes, Lisa was very proud that she wasn’t the one emptying the tanks that morning.)

The Main Event: Park Place Drive-In, Marion, Virginia

Park Place Drive-In is in Marion, out in the far southwest corner of Virginia. It’s a Harvest Hosts location, so RVers can stay overnight and watch a movie right from their campsite.

Why it’s perfect for RVs

Most drive-ins are flat. This one is built into a hill, with the screen at the bottom and the rows climbing up like stadium seating. Harvest Hosts guests park in the very back row, so you’re not blocking anyone and you get the best view in the house. Our group took over the whole top row.

What else is there

• An arcade
• Mini golf
• Hershey’s ice cream (amazing, of course)

The Food Debate: The Dip Dog

A local told our friend we had to try the Dip Dog, a local favorite that’s been around since the 1950s. It’s like a corn dog, but with a different, non-cornbread batter.

Lisa is a self-proclaimed hot dog snob (all beef only, please), so she went with a burger. Jimmy did too. The verdict: not the best burger ever, far from the worst, and the crinkle-cut fries were a hit. The place was packed, so we may have missed the magic. Have you tried a Dip Dog? Tell us!

Drive-In Movie Night

People started rolling in around 5:00 to grab their spots for a 9:00 show. We set up our chairs, wrapped up in blankets (it was in the 50s, even in late June) and watched Toy Story 5 with our pup Paisley on Lisa’s lap. It was Paisley’s first drive-in too.

Tips if you go

• Bring blankets. Mountain nights get chilly, even in summer.
• Plan for a late night. Movies start when it gets dark. (Jimmy usually goes to bed at 8:00. He survived.)
• Check show nights. Movies run on select nights, typically later in the week, so plan your stay around them.
• Arrive with water. We topped off our fresh water tank before we left, just in case.

Should We Do a Village Campout Here?

We all talked about bringing a FindUsCamping group back for a little drive-in campout. We haven’t talked to them yet, but if you’d be interested, tell us in the comments. If enough villagers want it, we’ll make some calls.

From Marion, we headed to Tennessee and met up with the rest of the crew at a Blue Water park outside Nashville. Later on that trip, we visited the free Air Force Museum in Dayton and finished at North Trace RV Resort. Want to join the next one? Check out the FindUsCamping RV Crawl.
— Jimmy & Lisa, FindUsCamping