the roadtrip continues ...MAIN COURSEwakeup-call at 5 o'clock in the morning - after 3 1/2 hours of horrible sleep (i was very cold from the long nightshot). rise and shine, time to hit the road!
the statistics: almost 700 kilometers to go. have a look at the travel estimate. without spoiling too much i can say this: it's way off!!!
and as always a nice little overview - doesn't this already look crazy?
still very early and my eyes don't seem to be able to focus anymore, so i decide to take a rest - no wonder after such a short night and an exhausting day before. but better late than having and accident!
after taking a short nap, i'm back on the road again. countless hours (and construction sights) later, i hear my tummy's calling. although i'm on a diet at the moment, i can't go without food and so i'm picking up a nice snack while refueling my car.
i haven't seen this before, but the shop assistent tells me that it is bought by a lot of people, so i go for it. i tear it open right before i hit the autobahn again, so that i can easily eat it while driving. with my eyes on the road, i take the first bite. "hmmm, this doesn't taste too good", i think to myself, "perhaps it'll get better once i hit the "pizza stuff" in the middle". next bite isn't convincing either, so before i take my third bite i take my eyes off the road and examine that thing a little bit closer ...
jesus christ!!!
MOLD - f****** M-O-L-D !!! and i've already eaten half of that thing. i'm thinking about hitting a parking area and getting rid of that stuff inside of me (FINGER
MOUTH), but decide against it! "this is not going to kill me", i'm telling myself, so i take some huge gulps of water and continue north.
UPDATE: i'm still alive!
some hours later (my navigation device tells me only 1 1/2 hours to go) IT happens: traffic jam! 12 kilometers!
sometimes the traffic isn't moving for 15 minutes, most of the time it's going veeery slowly. after 3 (=THREE) hours i finally spot the reason for the jam:
a simple construction site where the roads narrow from two to one lane. that's it!
not even something spectacular
but unfortunately i'm not done yet, because the next obstacle is waiting for me in hamburg ...
the so-called elbtunnel which guides the traffic underneath the river Elbe
inside one of the four tubes
finally i've cleared that thing, too, and there are empty roads ahead of me!
the sun is already setting ...
... but not a lot of road ahead of me. the seller's location is close to flensburg! kolding is already far into denmark
the scenery alone justifies the long trip up north
and because of the proximity to the sea, there's a lot of "green energy standing around"
finally, after almost 12 (=TWELVE) hours on the road, i reach the little village where congo bongo, michael and the bulk deal seller günther are (hopefully still) waiting for me
first order of business: take a short trip with michael's car to a nearby location where günther has stored some cabs. we have to get an overview about all that stuff! note to myself: it'a nice not to be the driver for once
in a rented shed there are some universal games waiting for us. 16 to 18 all in all.
back at günther's place, it's on to the next order of business: loading the congo bongo. while günther is "carrying" the game, i'm preparing my car
congo bongo is a huge game, so we're not sure if it's going to fit into the car completely
let's try it!
"push guys, PUSH!!!"
fits like a glove!
let's see if i'm still able to drive. after all, we had to push the seats forward to fit in the game. luckily, everything's still under control
time to give günther the money back he had covered for me when he picked up the game in hamburg. once again, i'm imitating mick jagger
after loading the game, günther shows us what might be in store for us (and what is in storage
). he has brought a lot of games back from the usa and they are still wrapped up from the move. so there's not a lot to see, but judging from the shape one can see that there really is a tempest and a tron underneath all those cardboards (and many more of course).
we're moving some stuff around to get a peak at what's hiding in the back
what looks like there might be some good items ...
... is only boring token stuff
it's hard to tell from the picture, but günther's real love are pinballs (that's why he wants to sell off his video game stuff). can you spot some of them?
welcome to area 51
because his whole garage is full of arcade stuff, günther has two greenhouses outside where he also stores games. here's michael in one of them
here's the other one with both an outrun and an asteroids cabaret
all in all, günther has more than 50 universal games plus 12 - 15 dedicated cabs (along with a couple of pcbs, marquees and bezels). we don't talk about prices yet, because first of all michael and i have to agree on what all that stuff is worth to us. so we say goodbye to günther and head for a nearby burger king
i've coped with the pizza snack trauma and therefore i'm good again for some
great stuff!
we didn't take any pictures of our burger king negotiations, but we both had the same idea money-wise! before you ask: we'll keep that to ourselves for now
it's shortly after 8 o'clock in the evening. well fed i realize that i still have some kilometers of road to kill, so i head home back south! it's a long and exhausting journey and i'm really tired now. fortunately, i know my body very well and each time before it's about to shut down, i take a break on one of the many parking areas to have a short rest. it seems as if the last 400 kilometers won't end, but eventually i manage to make it home safe and sound! have a look at this
one country, six counties, 1438 kilometers, 23 hours 39 minutes on the road - this roadtrip is OFFICIALLY OVER and i have GONE APE!AFTERMATHthe next day i gather some friends for the unloading of the cab. you already know patrick
and here's myself along with markus - one of the strongest men alive (although he doesn't look like that)
as always, the "bottlenecks". this game is extremely heavy (i didn't have the time to remove the screen)!
but finally, we have the game up in my apartment. the condition of the cab is very nice, it needs some new t-molding and only minor improvements. because there are no reproduction sidearts available, i can call myself lucky that one part of the artwork is complete ...
... the other one is only missing a small part! yeah baby!
and i'm even happier that the control panel is in nice condition, too, because there are also no reproductions for sale (and NOS is impossible to find). only a small cigarette burn at the upper right corner, but all in all this will look great after "mr. magic eraser" was here
everything that's left to say now is:
CONGO BONGO IS IN DA HOUSE. hope you enjoyed my roadtrip - it was a borderline trip for me
