the roadtrip of the fittest continues ...after some wonderful days in Tuscany, it's time to pick up the JOUST 2 cab that is hopefully waiting for me somewhere in LUCCA.
setting the navigation device to the coordinates provided by Massimo (500miles) reveals what looks like a piece of cake to me: about 130 kilometers or one and a half hours on the road - just a small detour on my way back to Germany.
what i REALLY HATE
about italy is the fact that you have to pay road charge every time you're using the motorway - and believe me: THIS IS NOT CHEAP!!!
almost there! fortunately no traffic jam ...
having arrived at the given address, the house is there
, but massimo isn't
let's have a closer look, perhaps i'm at the wrong address ... NO WAY - i must be right, a PONG DOUBLES and a beautiful NINTENDO SHERIFF cab in front of the house. i would take them both ...
a ring at the door bell "reveals" massimo's mother. she calls him at work and five minutes later he's here (but doesn't want to appear on the pictures). let's start with freeing the JOUST 2 cab from its very narrow (and humid) storage. a first look ...
a closer look at the cab (pictures by massimo) shows that the control panel is in nice condition (a little bit dirty and rusty), the sidearts and the wood have some damages (don't know what to do with that yet, will examine it more closely later).
why don't we take the cab outside? man, this is very tight, how did you get the cab in there, massimo? taking measures of the cab and the width of the door prove that SOMEHOW this HAS TO fit through the door.
unfortunately i don't have any further pictures from the transporting / loading process, because two people have to carry the cab (massimo and myself) and there is no photographer to "borrow" around. so here are the pictures of the cab in its "loaded status"
now that the hard job is done, let's continue with the fun part: massimo's collection! i can't believe what's waiting inside the garage
not just ONE, but TWO wonderful COMPUTER SPACE cabinets - the holy grail of arcade collecting, how beautiful they are!!! CAN I HAVE ONE??? i have a JOUST 2 for trade
btw, we (the cabs and myself) look a little bit distorted because of the wide angle lens i'm using)
down the garage's stairway there is a gameroom-to-be with some more classic arcade cabs: Donkey Kong, Space Invaders, Dragon's Lair, Super Mario Bros. and a Super Sprint (not pictured, forgot to photograph it)
of course (who would have expected anything else?), we can't resist to play some rounds
looking at the watch i realize that's it's already past noon. there's still a lot of ground to cover before hitting home ground. Speaking of "hitting", I must hit the road
sitting inside my car i can't stop thinking of this Meat Loaf song: "objects in the rear view mirror may appear closer than they are". luckily, this object is PRETTY DAMN NEAR!!!
once again, i'm directing my car towards the Brenner mountain pass
the alps glow in the light of the evening sun
somewhere on a german autobahn
the last picture of the day: the tachometer signaling the end of this roadtrip
pictures of the unloading of the cab will follow!
to end this roadtrip posting for now, i'm quoting my favourite tv show:
one continent, three countries, 3316 kilometers - ully, you are the official winner of THE AMAZING RACE THE ROADTRIP OF THE FITTEST 
