Hey, why not.

I’ve done a few trips since the last thread, but this one will be a month long drive around California and Nevada, meeting Pinsiders and playing pinball, so it’s worth documenting with some photos and words.

The previous threads:

1/ Hearse across America:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/rotordaves-route-66-odessy-is-underway

2/ KIWI Pincade tour around NZ:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/kiwi-pincade-2015-the-biggest-weekend-of-pinball-on-the-planet-

3/ LA to Vegas to NYC to PAPA to Tennesse:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/another-rotordave-usa-travel-odyssey-thread

4/ Texas or bust:
https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/yet-another-rotordave-usa-travel-odyssey-thread

(I actually forgot I did some of these lol)

Follow along!

rd

We landed in LA today.

I’d prepaid for a Full Size at Alamo car rentals for 35 days ... when I got there they had surplus mini-vans so they offered me one for the same price. Hey, why not ... it’s way too big for three people, but what the heck. We chose a Dodge Caravan GT. I don’t know what’s GT about it, the words GT and Mini-Van usually aren’t mentioned in the same sentence. Haha! It’s got 7 seats, leather, sat nav, sat radio (which unfortunately I haven’t got a subscription too or I’d listen to Eddie Trunk...) and almost enough horsepower to drag all that stuff around.

5 minutes from LAX is Randy’s Donuts, a LA landmark. Danni and I grabbed one “classic” donut each - $1 each. Always funny when everyone else is ordering a dozen donuts for themselves and we order one each. Lol!

rd

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We hit the highway straight up the coast.

First stop - Malibu.

Lovely day in LA today, about 27c/80f, with a nice breeze. It was really nice up the coast.

The store on the Malibu pier had a cool Bally speed boat ride, and they also had a really tidy Gottlieb Surf Champ pin inside the store. Retro!

rd

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Welcome aboard team.

After Malibu, we headed up to Santa Barbara.

This is the area where the big fires are at the moment. The highways are covered in a smokey haze.

The photos don’t really capture it very well ... as we got closer to Santa Barbara, you could see flames in the hills and fire planes and choppers dumping water and retardant on the fire.

Santa Barbara is a lovely little town, all done in traditional mission style. We will look around in the morning and take a few more photos.

rd

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Yeah man, Tennesse was real fun, made better by you guys of course. We will be back again ... maybe next year, we shall see.

rd

We are on the way for this weekend Gene! Sorry, meant to send you a message weeks ago ...

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We saw that theatre last night, and went back for a look this morning. What a cool building!

I used to be involved with the Save the Civic Theatre Trust which saved the classic “atmospheric style” Civic Theatre in Queen St, Auckland ... so theatres are sorta my thing.

Unfortunately we couldn’t look inside the actual theatre, the ticket lady was there by herself but invited us to come back when a movie was playing and we could have a look through. Alas we needed to make tracks, so we will look through next time!

Even the outside was cool. You can see the ash from the fires on the tiles.

rd

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“Yous” will be there.

Yeah, you need a car. The location is about 90 miles out of LA in Banning. You could also fly into Palm Springs, it’d be a bit closer. But you’d need a car either way.

rd

Odins back!

For those who don’t remember, that photo was taken 1 second before Odin dropped the stinkiest Mexican food fart the planet has ever smelt. Even the locals were holding their noses! Haha!

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Oh, it was ...

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After we went to the Arlington Theatre, we walked around the rest of State Street in Santa Barbara.

As I mentioned before, they’ve done all the buildings in traditional “mission style” so all the new buildings match the old ones. Very cool.

The streets were pretty deserted, due to the fires in the hills. Most people were wearing face masks to ward off the smoke. These photos were taken around midday .. check out the lack of people ..

There were a couple of other theatres in the street too. Very nice area!

rd

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There was a cool little store called Rocket Fizz, with candy and funky sodas. Some of them we had seen before at Pops Sodas over on Route66.

They even had a John5 soda for SpookyCharlie

Bacon soda and Bacon Cotton Candy for all!

rd

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Leaving Santa Barbara, there was a road sign for all you Slayer fans out there ...

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We headed to Solvang ... a small township founded by Danish immigrants around 100 years ago.

All the buildings in the Main Street are built in the traditional Danish style. There are windmills, Carlsburg beer bars, all sorts of stuff.

Interesting place to pass through.

rd

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It dawned on me today that the mini-van will swallow a pin ... so maaaaybeee!

rd