Author Topic: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe  (Read 23690 times)

ckong

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Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« on: January 27, 2010, 02:12:48 PM »


Here it is, another road trip story, my 5th one. Because of the bad weather this road trip didn’t quite go as planned. In fact I already postponed this trip 3 times during the last 6 weeks, but now it really was time to go. But it turns out that this road trip will have a part 2.


Statistics:
Date: 24 January 2010
Author: ckong
Target: Asteroids ( http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=6939 )
Trip: Holland – Germany - Holland
Total length: 1267 kilometers
Duration: 14 hours

Wake up boy, it’s time to prepare yourself for a long trip.



Oh damn, not again



No, this time a bit of snow wouldn’t stop me. I followed the weather forecast and I knew (or hoped)  that it would be not too bad. So I went along with the prep work for the trip







OK, it’s 6.30 AM and I am off





Oeps, I don’t like this, Hopefully it will get better real soon



After 45 minutes of driving on secondary roads I finally reach the German border. They don’t make them anymore as they used to be. And there is no snow any longer on the roads.





Strange lights in the sky. Or are these the last traffic lights before I reach the German Highway



Yes, finally. There is one thing that I like about the German Highways: NO SPEED LIMITS (at least, on some parts). There is also one thing that I absolutely hate about them: the road works which are scattered everywhere. As long as I can remember there always is a lot of roadwork going on. Fortunately most of the time that I pass them there is no one at work and therefore there is no reason to slow down.

But it’s time to put the pedal to the metal



Until Cologne everything goes OK, almost no traffic (sure, it is Sunday morning) and dry weather



But then, between Cologne and Frankfurt the road goes through higher terrain, hills and forest, and the weather is getting worse. But still there sometimes is a hopeful sign:



Rain, snow and slippery roads:





Finally, after 340 kilometers I reach Frankfurt and I have completed more than half of the (one way) trip.



Fortunately the weather is improving a bit and fortunately someone got my reservation for using the Highway (A7) for myself. It costs a lot, but it’s worth it:





I now left the highway for the final 40 kilometers to my destination. More snow again, but fortunately not on the roads. And the Germans built very nice sheds and houses:









Almost there, only a few kilometers left



I arrived at the seller at noon exactly. It was a 5.5 hour drive.

Unfortunately I was so busy and excited at the seller’s place (talking, admiring the cab) that I didn’t take any pictures!!!! But I will make that good in part 2 of the trip.

After 2 hours I left again, with asteroids loaded in the car of course. The weather was good until Würzburg, but after that it started to rain and to snow and it was no fun driving home. I had to concentrate on driving so I didn’t take any pictures.

As I mentioned in the After Burner road trip report I don’t have any room at home to store the cab, so Asteroids will also be put away for a few months in a temporarily storage facility. So after unloading the cab I drove home, where I arrived at 8.30 PM.





Now some information about the cab. The Asteroids cab is in great condition with only a tiny spot on one of the sides and a few stains on the bottom of the other side. But those can be removed almost completely with a bit of TLC. The laminated kickplate has two holes where a security bar was, and the laminate is a bit loose on the bottom left and bottom right. But the laminate is almost undamaged. I haven’t decided yet if I will replace it. The only thing which definitely will be replaced is the T-molding. I also got a few spare buttons and the original owner’s manual.

Technically the cab also is in very good condition. Everything works as it should be and the monitor has a nice and crisp picture. All in all it’s a really perfect purchase, I love the game and I love Vectors. Here are some photo’s of the cab:







































That’s it.
« Last Edit: January 27, 2010, 06:22:54 PM by DarthNuno »

ckong

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #1 on: January 27, 2010, 02:15:08 PM »
“Hang on! What do you mean, that’s it? What about part 2?”

OK, here is the story. I wasn’t only interested in Asteroids, but the seller also has another classic game for sale. And I wanted both of them. So, at first I decided to hire a small trailer wagon (for our Dutch members: een boedelbak) to put one cab in it and one in the car. But because of the bad weather I cancelled the hire of the trailer wagon (I don’t want to travel 1.260 kilometers through bad weather with a trailer behind the car. Besides, it would take me forever to get there), and I decided that I would make up my mind about the second cab when I had seen it. This would mean a second trip but that wasn’t a big problem because I had to visit a customer of me in Darmstadt, Germany anyway this week (actually today). This is already more than half the distance between my house and the sellers place!

When I saw the second cab at the sellers place I noticed that it was in overall good condition, although the artwork had fainted quite a lot and the monitor showed a real bad picture and also a lot of burn in. But the wooden shell was almost perfect. The seller includes a full set of replacement artwork with it, but I doubted that the color match was accurate enough. It probably means that I have to order new artwork. And there was a (probably slight)  problem with the sound (actually, there was no game sound).

We agreed that I would think about it one day as he had other possible buyers. Fortunately the seller was able to sweeten the already nice deal a bit more with an additional discount and with the addition of 3 spare Hantarex monitors with chassis for free (1 has a bit of burn in, the other two are in excellent condition). So I agreed to buy the cab.

And that is why there is a part two of the road trip. This part should have happened today, but again because of bad weather forecasts it has been postponed for another week. Then I will visit my customer in Darmstadt and afterwards I will travel further south to pick up the second cab.

Etienne MacGyver

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #2 on: January 27, 2010, 02:26:48 PM »
Finaly after all the teasing !

Congrats Ckong !

and thanx for the story !

petieken

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #3 on: January 27, 2010, 02:41:43 PM »
Now I'm still teased, there's a second cab coming...
Wanted: Cadillacs and Dinosaurs CPS1 Q-Sound pcb | SegaSonic The Hedgehog Art & instruction set

Muerto

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #4 on: January 27, 2010, 03:24:31 PM »
wow! congrats on the classic! - and in excellent shape too!!!!!!

Superully

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #5 on: January 27, 2010, 03:46:59 PM »
congrats on that fabulous looking asteroids - it should have been mine  :twisted: too bad you didn't take any pictures at macie's place, would have loved to see how organized he is ;) anyway, when you pick of the ga... eh the second cab, why don't you bring the night driver along for the ride and spend the night over at my place, have a little arcade chit-chat and play some games?
all i need is ... PONG - and a select few others: TOUCH ME, DRAGON'S LAIR, JOUST, ROBOTRON, MR DO, SAN FRANCISCO RUSH THE ROCK!!!

baritonomarchetto

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #6 on: January 27, 2010, 04:23:09 PM »
Nice trip ckong! the photo in front of your house gate is so evocative...  :)
"A true Gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved"

ckong

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #7 on: January 27, 2010, 04:33:52 PM »
Nice trip ckong! the photo in front of your house gate is so evocative...  :)

Evocative, there is a nice english word.  :) What does it mean (I found an explanation on the net, but I still don't understand.

@Ully, I sure would like to visit you sometimes, but unfortunately no can do next week as I am occupied with work related things. In fact, I hope that I won't be home too late next wednesday night, because I have to work the next day.

Besides, Night Driver isn't located nearby my place, I live in the East part of Holland, the cab is somewhere in the neighbourhood of Rotterdam I believe, about 180 km's away from me.

baritonomarchetto

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #8 on: January 27, 2010, 04:39:37 PM »
"Evocative" have the same meaning of "suggestive", man  ;): It let's feel the emotions you where feeling that morning... in your car... no one around... a big trip in front of you... a great cab waiting for you more than 1000 kilometers away... the snow... it's evocative!  :D
« Last Edit: January 27, 2010, 05:07:48 PM by baritonomarchetto »
"A true Gentleman leaves no puzzle unsolved"

scr33n

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #9 on: January 27, 2010, 05:01:31 PM »


Wooow nice condition !!!   :-* :-*

Thanks for the story  :spaceace:
PROJECTS FROM SCRATCH:

Galaga - PacMan - Donkey Kong Red Cab - Track & Field Upright - Tempest - Burgertime - Gyruss - Defender - Track & Field Cocktail - Robotron 2084

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Q*bert - Timber

DarthNuno

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #10 on: January 27, 2010, 06:26:01 PM »
Wow  :o Congratulation! Your Asteroids looks like new  :o  :-* :-* :-*

Already your road trip #5 ? Ouchh... you're going fast  ;) Thanks for the report  :-*

...and at least, the teasing is now over.... huh? Wait! There's an other one?  ::) NNooooooooooooooo!!!!  :ghost:  ;)

Homepage!  8)  :arrow:



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level42

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #11 on: January 28, 2010, 12:09:05 AM »
VERY VERY nice condition ! Congratulations !!!

But what's that blob on the AR-2 ?

ckong

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #12 on: January 28, 2010, 08:19:19 AM »
But what's that blob on the AR-2 ?

I don't know, looks like some hot glue. Will have to check it out later.

Etienne MacGyver

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #13 on: January 28, 2010, 09:18:59 AM »
But what's that blob on the AR-2 ?

I don't know, looks like some hot glue. Will have to check it out later.

I thought that you sneezed ;D
« Last Edit: January 28, 2010, 09:22:39 AM by Etienne [NL] »

ckong

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Re: Road Trip - Searching for rocks in the Universe
« Reply #14 on: January 28, 2010, 10:44:11 AM »
LOL