back on the (arcade) road again - this time i'm off to france to pick up not just one, but two games:
PAC-MAN and
GAUNTLET 
here's what's coming up ...
i won't be doing this roadtrip by myself, my best friend charlotte will be joining me. what's great about this trip is the fact that her father lives near paris, which means: free accomodation, a stress-free trip and the chance to spend some hours in paris.
getting up early to prepare some roadtrip foodie-goodies - BYOAF (build your own arcade food)
for statistics lovers
because i'm bringing two cabs back to germany and there's only so much space in my car, i'll have to use an additional trailer this time which my good friend patrik is providing. here you can see him in his full glory - well, i'd better say ALMOST full glory, because he didn't want to take off his visor for the picture
i'm getting a pallet for the trailer to put the "trailer cab" on in case of rain
however, until we've reached our first destination, the pallet will be transported in the back of my car so that it won't fall off the trailer during the trip. let's load it ...
picking up the trailer from patrik's shed and moving it towards my car
man, this is HEAVY (or not
). btw, have you realized that patrik agreed to take his visor off?
attaching the trailer to my car. seeing pictures like this always makes me wonder where my hair went
and finally, patrik is showing me how to use those tension belts - AGAIN. i don't remember how many times he has done this before (stopped counting), but there are some things i will never learn. where would the fun be if some day i would?
choosing the first stopover from the pre-programmed roadtrip favourites. the screen says 5 hours. does that machine know that there is a trailer "parked" behind my car? don't think so, otherwise the calculation would go up by a couple of hours
time to hit the road ...
... only to pause before crossing into france for a preliminary lunch break somewhere on an anonymous autobahn rest area. man, those sandwiches are just GREAT - i wonder who prepared them that well?
ladies and gentlemen, it's time to introduce you to charlotte - lovely roadtrip companion and official roadtrip photographer
rest in peace
the french border (or what's left of it)
by the side of the road we come across the "club 27", the french version of the famous new yorker "studio 54" - only half as good i guess
wanna party there???
the further we drive, the more desolate the landscape becomes. sometimes we get the feeling that we're going to fall off the edge of the world soon ...
... but just when we thought the program had run out of code, our first destination appears on the horizon!
ever been
THERE 
who would have guessed that a wonderful farm like this in the middle of nowhere would house one of the greatest arcade games ever?
the "grey guy" (t-shirt) on the right is cedric (the seller), the other "grey guy" (hair) on the far right is cedric's father. while we're unloading the pallet from to car to put it on the trailer, more and more people form cedric's family show up.
this is becoming an EVENT 
the next person to "appear on stage" is cedric's brother (featured on the right) - just in time for the "enwrapment" of the cabinet
here we go. let's wrap it up!
three men and a "baby"
nothing to do for me, they're doing a great job!
putting that "baby" on the trailer
protecting the "baby" against sliding and gliding
in order to protect the game from potential rain, we're covering it with waterproof tarp. two more people have arrived: cedric's uncle, who is a truck driver and therefore knows EXACTLY how to do stuff like that - and cedric's mum. guess who's who ...
the not-so-much-fun part of that hobby
but thanks anyway, cedric! i got a good deal on the pac-man and loading that game with your family was hilarious - i enjoyed every second of it
now that the game has been loaded, we can continue with our journey towards paris. the trailer with the pac-man cabinet will stay here on cedric's farm in the shed for two days. we will pick it up on our way back ...
no more slow going, time to hit the throttle like it's never been hit before ...
to be continued ...
