I'de like to thank Rotordave, Fiona, Danni, Nimblepin, Joy, RobT, Tony,and Shazia for stopping by tonite. It sure was fun.

Dude, it's 3 AM right now. I think Knotts is a direct possibility. Call me in the morning,

Cool, a German Fireball going to New Zeeland...

Thank a God for no flash on the camera and to underwear!!!

It's been a long LONG time since I laughed so hard! Tears rolling down my eyes, and stomach hurting from laughing so hard. Good times!

Thanks for having us! My wife says thanks for the Green Gold too.

How could I not? Sometimes the perfect song seems to come on at just the right time!

Another beautiful Saturday morning here in Fullerton. Did someone say Knotts Berry Farm?
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Let's do it! I'll be ready.
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It makes me happy seeing a Big Hurt in that gameroom O-din!

Omg, I lived at KBF in the 70's, and THAT coaster was NOT there! That thing is sweet. Is it as big as the one at great America up north? It looks like more big drops.

Sure does look like VV, maybe this explains where he has been since he's been "lost" for some time now.

VV Invasion - one of the best metal albums from the 80's.

And neither is the Corksrew anymore. They took it out in the early 90s. But they have added several great coasters since then including the Silver Bullet.

We finished up our day at Knott's and after having dinner at Portillos, we dropped Dave, Fiona, and Danni off at their car, and now they are on their way to the airport. This has been one of the best weekends I can remember, and I now feel like I have not just made some new friends, but like part of the family. And a great family they are!

Thank's guys (and gals), see you next time around!

Thanks again RD (+family) for letting Pinside live vicariously through you in your epic journey across America!
Glad we could clog your arteries one last time at Portillo's too! (I'm sure the people next to you on your loooooonnng flight will love you as well! ) I hope we provided some "Centerflank-esque" hospitality to make your stay here in the OC a little bit more memorable. O-Din's screen won't miss you a bit but, the rest of us that got to share in the fun will definitely be sad to see you go!
I've already started saving my pennies to be one of the first Americans to attend the LOTR RD Pinstravaganza tour next year! Fingers crossed my ramen stockpile will hold past winter.
Kiss the girls for me and as always, godspeed Rotordave!!!

I'll finish my last Trooper in your honour!

Also,
Keep sharpening up those flipper skills Danni; I'm sure we'll see you on PAPATV in no time!
(You are a worthy foe! )

Yeah buddy!
As I told you, I haven't been in a few years since my daughter lost interest, but today was great fun! I've got lots of great memories of Knotts going back to my childhood, and this also becomes one of them. I couldn't help but feel as the day went on, that you are never too old for this kind of fun, and in some ways it makes you feel like a kid all over again.

It was great meeting you and your family Rotordave! I'm glad that I was able to participate at least in a small way in one of the most epic threads on Pinside in a long time.

It might take awhile for me to get that image of you crashing through Odin's screen door (and without missing a beat, immediately blaming Nimblepin for it) out of my head. That was pure comedy gold!

There! Fixed it for you!
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Yeah, unfortunately now that you guys are gone, tomorrow will be just another day.

It is actually WAAAYY deeper than that. Deeper than a human can dive. They blocked off the entrance to the cavern at about 90 feet. That is the best place to learn to SCUBA in the Rockies. Certainly beats a pool or a murky lake.

Well, I guess I should have checked this thread out earlier. lol
I am glad you had a great time in the Wild Wild West.

Epic thread! I can only hope to have such a family vacation someday, meeting fellow pinheads along the route!

Thanks for letting us all share and be part of your adventure!

Safe travels home and hope to see you on the flip side someday.

Can you still pan for gold, lol? Knotts was so chill back in the day. I remember when the corkscrew opened! And now it's gone. It was never as exciting as the revolution at Magic Mountain, but it was good enough at the time.

Safe travels RD! You've joined Lewis and Clark and Jack Kerouac in the annals of American exploration! Well done!

havent been to knotts since the early 80s. would love to go back and revisit.

How is the hearse holding up? Such a sweet pinball mover...great seeing you at Banger Jays previously.

Great RL-story to follow, with great pic's and in most of them .... proudly the Hearse Guy!

Thanks for tagging us along.

Happy to be a part of this epic journey

Will be doing a somewhat similar drive in a few weeks with BallyKid; Detroit to Reno to Seattle to San Francisco taking the PCH down to Los Angeles to San Diego where we'll stay for a bit with family. A quick trip to Disneyland (Did California Adventure a few years back) then to Vegas for a day then through Glenwood Canyon & I-70 in Colorado so he can experiece I-70 mountain travel and the Eisenhower Tunnel. Then will see more family in Oklahoma City but that depends on time. Main pinball purpose is to give Minnesota's pinfixer who now resides in SoCal an unobtainium backglass that I promised him I would somehow get eight+ years ago. I will deliver by hand so only I can be blamed for breaking it. May stop at Bally Brian's on the home stretch of the trip as well. And you never know if Sam Harvey might be home so we could drop in on him. The Seattle leg of the trip is subject to cancellation depending on trip start date but we're still talking one helluva drive.

BallyKid, being a motorhead is looking forward to it as well. I did a similar trip with my late dad in '89.

Yep, pan for gold is still there, although they moved it to make room for Ghostrider.

I, like you spent a lot of time at Knotts during the 70s when I was a young teen. When they first opened the Roaring 20s area, there was no better place to spend a summer evening. But long gone are the Corkscrew, the Motorcycle Chase, the Loop Trainer, and the Parachute Jump (although the tower is still there). Jungle Island is also long gone, and now there is a water park over there.

But progress marches on, and although some of the charm and great attractions from our youth are now distant memories, they have tried to upgrade the place with some serious thrill rides, and I think they have done a real good job.

Great reading!
Now waiting for the epilogue: getting the Hearse back from suspicious custom officers !

Thanks Dave , Fiona, and Danni for a great thread and a fun visit. You are welcome to come jam and play pinball any time you are in the area(country). Loved odin's Angel concert add, one of my fave somewhat unknown early hard rock bands. Thanks Danni for showing me how to play some of my games properly .
Take care guys,
Kevin , Carole, and Roxy

I actually went to both of those shows on the flyer. I brought it out because I knew rd was a big Dio fan, and we had talked about that Rainbow show in the past. Angel was great and Helluva Band was one of my favorite albums at the time, but on that evening it was The Godz that stole the show.

Here is another flyer that I brought out from my early days as a concert promotor.
I don't know how it got all spotty.
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Very Nice!

Did you ever hit any of the house parties in The Anaheim Hills that Van Halen played before they hit the big time? I can only imagine!

No, but they did play at our high school. I remember a lot of great parties out in Yorba Linda and New Years eves out in Carbon Canyon.

The story behind that Social D. flyer is that I was working at Carls Liquor at the time, and one of the older guys that I worked with was looking for a band for his daughters birthday party, and Mike Ness had told me they had just formed a band and needed somewhere to play. So I hooked them up, and we had one raging party right here in Fullerton.

SD actually did Van Halen covers when they started out, but on that night they introduced us to a new song called Amoeba. One that the Adolescents would end up turning into sort of a hit later on.

Yep. I think that Angel was on Casablanca Records with KISS. Not sure but the two bands had some connection. Was it Gene Simmons or the manager for KISS at that time, roughly 1975?? Because of Angel was being used, that other band from Aus. had to alter their name to Angel City. Thats some trivia, for you.