Torrance, CA
Quoted from rotordave:THEN we had to drive all the way down to Gardena
Damn, right next door to me, and you're still hiding your wife. No justice in this world.
(Topic ID: 231982)
Quoted from vicjw66:Do they not have 220 grit sandpaper in New Zealand or is it just prohibitively expensive?
That's for Dave to polish his dolphin.
Quoted from lancestorm:Curious what that is gonna cost to ship and how many days!
I have 2 machines there, they’re shipping next week hopefully - will cost around $500 USD for both plus some fees etc on top. Not too bad.
Once they hit the water, transit time to Auckland is around 10 days.
I’m hoping to have them both there for Kiwi Pincade - 7-10 March.
rd
Quoted from Aurich:Damn, right next door to me, and you're still hiding your wife. No justice in this world.
Haha! Maybe we hit up the Rock n Brews and have a couple of gluten free beers tomorrow?
I’ll even bring the Mrs ... promise ...
Quoted from vicjw66:Do they not have 220 grit sandpaper in New Zealand or is it just prohibitively expensive?
Haha! I had to get a couple of your wacky imperial tools at Harbor Frieght, and some other bargains caught my eye ... that paper was damn cheap,and I got some other really random stuff that I thought would be handy in the workshop. 
Quoted from Aurich:That's for Dave to polish his dolphin.
See Aurich, that’s where you’re going wrong! You gotta wax the dolphin, not sand the f**king thing off! What ya thinking man!!
rd
Quoted from rotordave:THEN we had to go to Fox rent a car to drop off the Caravan before 12, as they only rent for a max of 30 days. Fox are douches by the way - the car deal was good, but their service was terrible and the desk guys were really aggressive in the upsell. The last thing you need when you get off a 15 hour trip to America is some dick telling you you HAVE TO buy the extra insurance at $20 a day even when you already have it in your prepaid rental. Just skimming their commission.
I couldn’t get an answer on the phone a week ago after 30 mins waiting to try and arrange an extension - also sent them an email a week ago, no reply as yet. Up yours Fox!
THEN we had to get to Alamo to get a car for the remaining 3 days. Alamo are the go-to at LAX - good rates, and you just take whatever car you want from their garage. Always an upgrade. This trip I wanted a Mini van though, I’m case I found a pin, and Fox were $500 less than anyone else, so we went that way.
[quoted image][quoted image][quoted image]
I've rented many a car at LAX. The National/Alamo shuttles to the terminals are sparse after aboot 2 PM local time. Basically not many flights to the East coast until the red-eyes after 8 pm.
I've only rented from Hertz/National and a bit from Avis during my major traveling days from my career so I can't comment aboot Fox. Don't miss it a bit as I don't fly for work more than five times a year these days. Now I just burn off some of the accumulated sky miles with MsBally a couple times a year.
Quoted from rotordave:Haha! Maybe we hit up the Rock n Brews and have a couple of gluten free beers tomorrow?
I’ll even bring the Mrs ... promise ...
Tuesday nights are full for me, I host my fighting game night, where everyone ignores the pins to play Street Fighter. You want to come play some Third Strike? 
Quoted from rotordave:See Aurich, that’s where you’re going wrong! You gotta wax the dolphin, not sand the f**king thing off! What ya thinking man!!
What, your dolphin can't take a little 220? That's like astroglide, smooth as butter.
Quoted from Aurich:What, your dolphin can't take a little 220? That's like astroglide, smooth as butter.
Ouch!
Look ... I let Danni go out with the Finns for a day, and look what happens ...
rd
6EEB4A2E-4CC2-4729-A478-47FDBD7F05DF (resized).jpegQuoted from rotordave:Cool Mike!
Saw lots of familiar faces out at INDISC - Aurich, Kyle, Shane from Ayer, Adam, I’ve forgotten a lot more ...
rd
Always great to see you Dave! You did damn good for only your second time playing a Bally Harley Davidson 
-A
Quoted from rotordave:Haha! I had to get a couple of your wacky imperial tools at Harbor Frieght, and some other bargains caught my eye ... that paper was damn cheap
rd
Just a warning, if you're not familiar with Harbor Freight, the stuff they sell is really cheap. And I don't mean just in price. Expect any tools you buy there to break soon after purchase. You're probably good with sandpaper though. Just be careful polishing your Dolphin, you don't want to strip the paint off.
Quoted from vicjw66:Just a warning, if you're not familiar with Harbor Freight, the stuff they sell is really cheap
Oh, of course. I just wanted some cheap deep sockets in imperial pinball sizes and they’re really hard to get back home. They were $9 the set I think, the amount I’ll use them they’ll last forever.
My main tool set back home is quality Japanese ETC stuff I got used like 25 years ago from our second hand store, and it’s still going strong.
It’s “dolphin repair” tough.
rd
So we found Danni and some random Finnish guys after 6pm, they had a sweet time at Universal.
Time for Roma’s ribs! The boys love to have ribs when they hit the USA so we took them to Tony Roma’s, where the ribs are falling off the bone.
988D65B2-8F4F-4D4E-858B-C047EF1F0D5C (resized).jpeg
Then we took the boys over to Ayce Gogi to check out the pinballs.
If you’re not familiar with Ayce Gogi, it’s a Korean bbq restaurant out in Van Nuys, with a cool pinball bar out the back. Every time I go there, the restaurant is pumping.
We showed up about 8pm, and Shane doomid (the owner) was there, which was cool. He was nice enough to give us all some beers and we talked pinball for a while.
Shane said he is opening another Ayce Gogi over in the western area of the city, and that’ll have pins too. Good work champ!
Danni played some split flipper Pirates with Olli, and Ari decided he definitely wants a TNA.
BB61C0C8-FDA1-4EA9-8E32-B92D85A104FE (resized).jpeg
Got some time in on Beatles too. Plays fine - Beatles music was cool. Won’t be paying $8k for one any time soon, but at Ayce Gogis crazy 50c a game, I’ll slot some bucks in it!
0F56237A-B0AE-4FA4-B86A-CDFE58618ED3 (resized).jpeg
16246B41-1D6B-4CEB-AF6C-7763F2504F6C (resized).jpeg8E9D6F3E-8E57-4B9B-9A04-8B4D810BD999 (resized).jpeg
Roth
OMG - I miss your actual trip completly, until now .
Thank you so much. All pictures and stories about your travel and experiences are so lovely made, you bring me to the end that I must visit this glory wide land by myself.
Have a nice backflight to NZ.
And congrats to Danny for 1st place on ifpa.
Sincerly
Roland, from another spot on earth.
Crappy old rainy day in LA today ...
We headed up to see Art MrArt2u in Pasadena.
We hadn’t been up there for a few years. Art is a cool cat with some cool old cars and some cool pinball machines.
We took the Finns up there too, and they and the girls played pinball while me and Art talked for a couple of hours. Lol!
Later local Pinsider Mark zh2oson popped over for a chat and some games.
Art showed us this funky twin player Italian EM he has - maybe the only one left.
56D50910-DF5B-48C9-9ABD-65526037AC82 (resized).jpeg
The Finns and Danni played some Punk .. close score!
BF7DA683-9C2F-4980-9E17-B84570634E97 (resized).jpeg
Good times at Arts place! Thanks for having us over buddy, and nice to meet you Mark!
Quoted from rotordave:Crappy old rainy day in LA today ...
We headed up to see Art mrart2u in Pasadena.
We hadn’t been up there for a few years. Art is a cool cat with some cool old cars and some cool pinball machines.
We took the Finns up there too, and they and the girls played pinball while me and Art talked for a couple of hours. Lol!
Later local Pinsider Mark zh2oson popped over for a chat and some games.
Art showed us this funky twin player Italian EM he has - maybe the only one left.
[quoted image]
The Finns and Danni played some Punk .. close score!
[quoted image]
Good times at Arts place! Thanks for having us over buddy, and nice to meet you Mark!
rd
[quoted image]
Punk is such a cool game and Art is awesome!
You're all too kind! It was a pleasure to see your family again. Gasp! Yes, we did talk the whole time. I didn't even have a chance to lose to Danni on my own machines!
Safe travels and hope to see you on the next go 'round.
Oh, and did the Finns have success in their endeavor last night?
Quoted from MrArt2u:Oh, and did the Finns have success in their endeavor last night?
So, the Finns wanted to go to the Staples
centre to watch the Lakers play the Bulls. There is a Finnish guy who plays for the Bulls.
Trying to get tickets was a trick - there were no direct tickets online, only resale ones with huge fees.
We suggested they just rock up to Staples and see if they could buy some at the box office, and that worked out, $45 per each. Why you couldn’t just get those online, I don’t know ...
Worked out good for them in the end.
Quoted from Aurich:Last time I tried to talk with Art he had a bullhorn
“AURICH CHECK OUT MY SCOPITONE!!”
How cool is that thing?
rd
Quoted from rotordave:So, big day at INDISC today.
I finally strung together 4 good games and made the playoffs in the classics. Nice!
[quoted image]
The first game was Joker Poker, which I won well. The second was Eight Ball, where I came second.
So, going into the third game, the only way I could NOT make the next round was by Jason Werdrick winning, and me coming last. Which of course, is exactly what happens. Lolllll!
I didn’t touch the first three balls. The other guys all went well over 100,000 which is a pretty mean feat. So on the last ball I went “risky strategy” for some lols and got up to 80,000 just hitting the centre target. Haha.
So I had to play a tiebreaker with Jason - he chose Laser Cue which I had never played before.
And that went poorly as you well may expect. More lollls.
And of course, the only two games streamed were the last two where I sucked. Haha!
Oh well! 17th is pretty good I guess. Better than last.
rd[quoted image]
Nice playing with you mate! Laser Cue normally comes with the biff bar between the two right flippers so scissoring doesn’t happen. Hope you and those Finns got to try that sweet Korean bbq too! See ya in Italy!
Quoted from Da_Topper:Nice playing with you mate ... Laser Cue ...See ya in Italy!
Next time can you please pick a game I actually know how to play....
No Italy for us this year, Danni is going hard at University so it’s a no go. 
rd
Quoted from zh2oson:It was like meeting Elvis!
Hopefully the “living” version. Lolll
(Art was thinking the same thing ...)
“Ahhhh a haaaaaa yeaaaahhhhh all shook up!”
rd
Long last day in the States!
Plane didn’t leave till 10:45 pm, so you sort of have to fill in the day as good as you can. It was raining hard all day, so you can’t go to Knotts or anything exciting like that.
Art tipped us off to a good thrift store in Bell. This place gets a lot of samples and overstock from the fashion houses. It’s obviously well known, as the place was packed out.
Fiona got a sweet brand new Calvin Klein $300 dress jacket ... for $9.99.
BB7B56E9-B0C2-4B82-AE56-FA2DBE7FB07D (resized).jpeg
72C9EE60-396B-42E6-8D2C-9FCD04A2EF64 (resized).jpeg
When we were in Memphis a couple of years ago, we went to the original Gus’ fried chicken, a famous Memphis place. At the time, a sign said they planned to franchise it out. Two years later, there are 3 in Los Angeles. I got 2 pieces for lunch, it was the same as Memphis (and just as spicey) It’s good, because it’s not greasy at all. Hate greasy food ...
rd
78DFECAB-2411-4D83-80BA-872D7AB2BA34 (resized).jpegC4501956-14D7-4CAB-80E7-348DB9BF0B80 (resized).jpeg2507A0CB-20EF-4354-82A3-18B5AF5BDDD0 (resized).jpeg5F4BDAE4-A81F-4611-9772-C9330670E09A (resized).jpeg
Leaving Los ... Angeles ...
86B1189E-27C7-49DC-85F1-560C5720D876 (resized).jpeg
Please don’t do that ...
030C4610-55B2-4A93-B40F-4000EE33822C (resized).jpeg
10 1/2 hours to Fiji. One of the smoothest flights I’ve had.
A490FBCE-624B-4B7E-9D7A-9FF1D9776D2F (resized).jpeg
You’re always met at the airport with a good Fijian sing song ... and a flower behind the ear if you’re lucky ...
Quoted from eagle18:Your Travel Odyssey showed me places in America that I have never seen.
That’s always the plan.
rd
So what would you say are the differences between Australia and America? Similarities? What’s the difference/similarities in people between the two countries?
Leduc, AB
Quoted from Pinballlew:So what would you say are the differences between Australia and America
Maybe an Australian could answer better.
But from my NZ view, Australia is just like a mini America ... except they swear a lot more, drink a lot more, and don’t wear helmets or padding in football. All descended from convicts don’t you know...
Quoted from Darcy:Did they (N.Z.) change the flag while you were away?
No, that was a couple of years ago. The public voted for the existing “everyone thinks it is Australia” flag to remain, as clearly we want to confuse everyone.
One of the front runners up for the referendum was LASER KIWI!! So rad ...
I tend to lurk here more than post, but have to say I really enjoy your travel threads. You give a slightly different perspective compared to a cliche “holiday” thread.
Cheers for posting.
Quoted from Pinballlew:So what would you say are the differences between Australia and America? Similarities? What’s the difference/similarities in people between the two countries?
Gilligan's Island
Unknown City
https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBSzjdX.img?h=360&w=540&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f
Hey Dave,
A British cousin of mine is vacationing in New Zealand and he asked me if I knew anyone he could crash with. I mentioned your name and he looked you up. He's planning on stopping by. Here is a picture of him and his family.
Quoted from vicjw66:https://img-s-msn-com.akamaized.net/tenant/amp/entityid/BBSzjdX.img?h=360&w=540&m=6&q=60&o=f&l=f
Hey Dave,
A British cousin of mine is vacationing in New Zealand and he asked me if I knew anyone he could crash with. I mentioned your name and he looked you up. He's planning on stopping by. Here is a picture of him and his family.
Hahaha! You’ve heard of those morons?
They’re all over the NZ media.
For those who don’t know, if you’ve seen Brad Pitt’s character in Snatch, there are basically 15 of those guys travelling around New Zealand causing bogan chaos wherever they go!
Today they crashed their car and just abandoned it on the side of the road.
What dicks!
rd
Thanks guys.
The whole event got a big 2 minutes on the Saturday night TV news where they covered the event and talked up dad vs Danni ...
Then the other media jumped on board and reported that she beat me in the final on Sunday.
Stuff.co.nz is the website for the largest national newspaper group, so that story has been printed in most newspapers around the country.
So some pretty good coverage for pinball.
Ideally, I’d rather it appeared in the sports section - but, like video games, if it doesn’t have a rugby ball or cricket ball involved, it doesn’t really qualify as a sport in NZ. Lol
It was pretty cool to see Danni (and our little NZ scene) in 3 articles on the front page of IPFA as well.
rd
A6CFC975-65DA-47EA-8855-B77821124198 (resized).pngE1450689-4096-44ED-BFB4-E3DFB5795CD9 (resized).png
Quoted from Darcy:Or have the opportunity to get kicked or kneed in the groin, or hit in the head.
I have damaged my groin on my Indiana Jones gun by walking into it ... that might qualify ...
rd
Looks like you made it to Bedrock City just in time
Flintstones Bedrock City closes; Raptor Ranch is coming
Quoted from generalgman:Looks like you made it to Bedrock City just in time
Boom!
Good news for Danni though ...
“New owner Morris is well aware of people's fondness for Bedrock City. That's why visitors will still be able to slide down the brontosaurus. He also purchased the statues of the saber-tooth cat and woolly mammoth, planning to use them as centerpieces in a children's playground”
Danni can go back and do some more slide stunts!
Thanks for posting that info, cool to see what happened to the place.
rd
Reply
Wanna join the discussion? Please sign in to reply to this topic.
Hey there! Welcome to Pinside!
Donate to PinsideGreat to see you're enjoying Pinside! Did you know Pinside is able to run without any 3rd-party banners or ads, thanks to the support from our visitors? Please consider a donation to Pinside and get anext to your username to show for it! Or better yet, subscribe to Pinside+!
