[Roadtrip] Hot Toobin' Summer Road

[Superully]

a couple of weeks ago i had posted a WANTED thread where I was looking for a TOOBIN' arcade cabinet because i had played this game like crazy while being on holidays in a belgium center parcs. with the help of petieken (thx again, man) i was fortunate enough to find a person in france who was willing to sell his machine. but the price he was asking was imho too steep, so we agreed on a trade and i volunteered to be the one bringing the two machines together. have fun - read how the roadtrip went down ...



because this is going to be a loooooooooooong trip, i have to take some provisions for the road: breakfast, lunch and dinner - here we go  



and because this is going to be a loooooooooooong trip, i have to leave early  



the typical roadtrip statistics (don't trust the gps estimate!)  



still pretty dark outside



rise and shine



let's have a look inside my car to find out which game i'm trading off. it has been sitting in storage for quite a while now and has never been one of my favourites, i simply got it cheap when i had the chance. sometimes you have to take deals to make better deals with it in the future. this was one of those cases! who can guess from the following picture which cab i'm talking about?



noone? i'm disappointed   so i'll give you the solution



(sorry for the shaky picture) indiana jones is a game which is not toooooo hard to find, so if one day i'm going to regret that deal (which i'm pretty sure i never will), i'm buying a new indiana jones kit and put it in my spare system 1 cab. that's what that thing is for!  



time to leave germany and head into france (direction lyon)



130 km/h on french highways really slows one down  



because it's friday and (as i was told) the beginning of holidays in france, the roads are CROWDED LIKE HELL   it takes almost half an hour to get through the péage station!



drinks for free?



finally, i got my ticket (not that i wanted it). have i told you yet that i HATE road charges?



after 8 (= EIGHT  ) boring hours on the road, i'm leaving the highway to continue my trip for some more time on country roads (which aren't takin me home yet). the landscape turns rural - what a beauty this suddenly is to see!





half an hour later, the first signs of my destination town - LA TOURETTE. have a closer look at the right side of the picture and see what's advertised there ...   SUPER U   coincidence?



nestled up against rolling hills ...



...  amidst lovely scenery



to be continued ...  

[Superully]

because the seller lives in a newly-constructed part of the town which doesn't show on the gps, he provided me with a detailed map of how to find his place. it's nice to drive with a map in hands for a change  

he also provided me with a couple of "personal pictures" of his house. it should be a piece of cake now to find it!

arriving at the seller's location i'm comparing the printed out pictures with reality: THIS IS IT!!!

before i introduce you to the seller, let me introduce you to the toobin' machine first  

left side, right side ...



front side, back side ...



the game in its full glory  



as i've written earlier in the WANTED thread: the sidearts have some damages, one of the gators is missing, there is no control panel overlay, the bottom t-molding is broken off in many places and - what's the worst part - the wood on the right side of the control panel took a HEAVY beating. i don't know what happened to it, but it looks BAD. this will need some serious restoration!

now that you've "met" my new arcade game, i want to introduce you to nicolas (more precisely: to nicolas' back)  



and now, ladies and gentlemen, nicolas' front (or one half of it  )



ready for the exchange?



let's see if the games are working first (which they are)  



say goodbye to your toobin cabinet, nicolas! this one's MINE now  



the loaded game inside my car. i'm thrilled!!!





before hitting the road again, i'm allowed to play a couple of games on nicolas' crystal castles arcade. i'm such a huge fan of that game (and the design is simply AMAZING), unfortunately i don't own it myself (YET). does anyone here have a spare cc for sale (or for free)?  



somehow i like that picture (although my hair looks worse every day - i HAVE TO get a haircut, HAVE TO, HAVE TO, HAVE TO)



time to fuel up the car - there's no better place like this! i simply couldn't resist  



the strenuous journey home is about to begin! stay tuned ...

[Superully]

at almost 3 o'clock in the afternoon, after trading indiana jones for toobin', i'm starting the the trip back home! there are worse things than sitting in a car for hours: sitting in a car for hours when it's freakin' hot outside, when your car doesn't have air conditioning and when your not driving at all, because you're standing in a kilometers-long traffic jam!



welcome to lyon 



it's getting hotter outside by the minute 



can a person sweat to death?



because of the heat, cars are breaking down in front of me by the minute - luckily mine survives the "terrors of the sun" and after what seems like hours i reach the end of the traffic jam - open roads in front of me!

i'm taking a break at one of the french motorway service areas - only to discover THIS!!! refreshment for free!!!



more wonders are waiting inside. what's that thing between the two sinks? looks like a tropical fruit ...



nope, it's a soap on a stick  i've never seen that before, have you?



i've had enough enough of the heat, i want to go home! so let's hurry up!



sunset boulevard



for some reason, the food i've prepared for the trip wasn't enough  , so i'm taking one final break to fill my empty stomach!



have it my way - the big 6 pack! i'm wondering what's inside ...



that should be enough 



back in good old germany, which means: no more speed limit 



the end of an incredibly long day 





one continent, two countries, 1626 kilometers, 19 hours 58 minutes on the road - this roadtrip is OFFICIALLY OVER! (and I have officially gone mad)

but don't go away, because the unloading of the toobin' cab is coming up ...

[Etienne MacGyver]

Like always from super ully , Super foto's !

Congrats with the cab.

about the soapstick, i've seen them alot , but not recently, in my opinion that is a little nostagic and oldfashion.
but as we like old games, maybe we can like old soapsticks as well 

[Superully]

i've never shown you pictures of how complicated and exhausting it is to take a game up into my rooms, but because this has been the most strenuous roadtrip i have done so far, it seems only fitting to do so now. but first, i want to show you which "obstacles" i have to remove everytime i'm bringing up a game. this part sucks the most  

shoes from my turkish sublessees  



more shoes, this time from my turkish subletters  



and the annoying white cupboard (also filled with shoes and always loaded with crap) which i have to carry up (and later down again) about 20 stairs every single time because otherwise the staircase would be too narrow  



ok, let's get this toobin' cabinet moving!

my helping hands for today are martin and patrik (who you already know). the latter thought it would be good to dress properly for this special occasion



martin and patrik in action!!!



up it goes - slowly but surely ...



man, this is HEAVY!!!



almost there!





DONE!!! the toobin' cabinet in my workroom where it will get the full restoration treatment  



let's unwrap it to see what's inside  



who would have guessed? TOOBIN'  



one staircase, five 180-degree turns, fifty-one steps, hundreds of shoes - this cabinet is officially unloaded!!!

[level42]

As always, great pics, I really like all the "non related" pics so much

Can't wait to see the waterfall work again

 

[Maverick]

Ully,

I think you superpassed yourself,

I've seen all the trip steps and I know much how hard it can be (travel, find the place, unload cabs and loading upstairs, sun & rain, night driving, etc..)

You really showed the strong german spirit

Really tough

My best wishes for your next games (.. When a DL?)

Maverick

[Superully]

Ully,

I think you superpassed yourself,

I've seen all the trip steps and I know much how hard it can be (travel, find the place, unload cabs and loading upstairs, sun & rain, night driving, etc..)

You really showed the strong german spirit

Really tough

My best wishes for your next games (.. When a DL?)

Maverick

thx mav! "strong german spirit" that's what it took, man, i was really exhausted when i arrived home and it took me the good part of the weekend to "reclaim" the sleep i missed!

btw mav, could you edit your post and remove "my" pics, please (or is it intentional that they are included?)? it takes forever to load the pics while at work - and i guess others might have the same problem. so cutting down in pictures might safe some time. hope you don't feel offended 

[Sonic 1992]

Congrats on your new game!  Games like this are much harder to find with that unique cabinet!   Yes, I hate toll roads too!    , like driving is a privelage or something.. I sure as heck can't ride a bike to work (realistically) 

[level42]

Ully, the German roads ARE toll roads...



If you drive a truck

[Valsimot]

Does this remind anyone else of Back to the Future?

Congrats on the new game.

[vib_ribbon]

the soap on a stick got me!! 

[level42]

I kept thinking: I've seen one of those ancient soap on a stick things recently but couldn't remember where.....then suddenly it struck me......it was at the Arcadebarn in the UK

I remember thinking: Wow, haven't seen those in ages !

I assume that they are not used here anymore because of hygienic reasons ? I don't know....

[petieken]

Nice road trip story!
First thing you have to do is show us a movie of a working waterfall

I know that soap on a stick too! The swimming pool where I used to go when I was a kid had those in the bathroom.

[DarthNuno]

Woow, this is an other AWESOME road trip' done by SuperUlly 

This story is a *perfect* example of what I name 'Arcade Life Style' ...a great story, funny details, a lot of 'non arcade' details (the soap for example ), a long and difficult journey... but what a *pride* for you, a game you're looking for a while  ... and you share all of it with us, THANK YOU 

Headline for sure   



PS : doing a road trip during holiday in France is just ... crazy