In responding to TGlover's "GNR wanted" post, a number of members somehow fell into "bragging" about how far they have been willing to go to pick up a machine...with each poster claiming to be a bigger idiot than the last one.

So instead of continuing to hijack TGlover's thread, how about a thread devoted to the insanity of pinball ( or arcade ) retrieval.

Summarily put, "What is the furthest you have gone, or greatest effort you have ever made to get a machine ? "


I'll start....

I'm torn between two equally disturbing stories :

1)  I drove with my wife and child through the worst snowstorm of last winter, and possibly of my life,  just to pick up my EBD from a guy in Michigan.  I already had a Mata Hari in the back, so my daughter had almost no room to move.  The storm was so bad, it took about 4 hours to go from Lansing to Detroit and about another 6 hours to get home.  Cars were flying off into the ditch everywhere.  Did I attempt to stop and get a motel ?  Nope.

2)  In the summer of 2008, I picked up a Playboy pin in San Diego while my family and I were visiting my brother in Los Angeles.  The day my wife and I left to pick it up was the day they had the 5.8 earthquake.  My daughter was left alone with her older cousins, something which we had never done previously.  We called home and discovered that she was very scared.  I took my wife back to be with her.  Did I stay too ?  Nope.  To Hell with the earthquake.  Down to San Diego I go to get my pin.  One week later, all 3 of us are in the van heading 2500 miles across the U.S. with a Playboy machine in the back.  My daughter has hated me ever since.

A truly horrifying tale to be heard.....On my way to an Auction west of me....I had to drive through Scarborough.....my knees are still shaking and the doctor has doubled my med dosage.

I dont leave the house but the last time I did I had occurrence to visit a public toilet, while there I urinated all the time standing next to an older gent and a 5 year old boy.

Wooo, glad those days are behind me.  I`ll stay in from now on and leave the traveling up to military types.

I bought a bunch of games up in Sault Ste Marie, about 45 of them. Guy forgot to tell me they were all in a commercial basement, about 20 steps, just narrow enough to get up the stairs with an inch on each side. Luckily the "help" he had arranged were crackheads too.They ended up smoking the cigarettes I supplied and watching after we told them to get out of the f#$@ng way. All the while my buddies wife( Who had to come , that was a condition of him being allowed to come) sat in one of the trucks, occasionally calling him names.Add to that , the 300$ high speed with extra PF I paid for on the way back, and then the guys house burned before I could return the next week

In hindsight, I wouldn't do that again.Ah who I am kidding, sure I would.

Hagersville Maryland the old coin-op warhaouse; there in back in a day for an empty ms pac man cabinet...

Hmmm.

Toronto - New Jersey overnight rtn
Toronto - Memphis MI rtn
Toronto - Ann Arbor MI rtn
Toronto - Montreal rtn (few times)
Toronto - Buffalo NY rtn (few times)
Toronto - Vermont rtn
Toronto - Cleveland OH rtn

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

Montreal-Hamilton round trip just to deliver a bowler to Shaggy.

Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto a few times

Montreal-Toronto a lot

Well sure we have all done the montreal/ottawa
mi/ohio runs WAY too many times..

I start looking at the time and now I know why I almost get to the point of begging people to palletize and ship things.

For the $200-$400 it costs to ship, it just isn't worth going.

Quoted from necro_nemesis

Hmmm.

Toronto - New Jersey overnight rtn
Toronto - Memphis MI rtn
Toronto - Ann Arbor MI rtn
Toronto - Montreal rtn (few times)
Toronto - Buffalo NY rtn (few times)
Toronto - Vermont rtn
Toronto - Cleveland OH rtn

Just to name a few off the top of my head.

You forgot Peterborough...for a big mother of a pop machine.

Quoted from Bish

You forgot Peterborough...for a big mother of a pop machine.

Yeah right! Peterborough to haul a 635 pounder up a flight of stairs rtn. Quite frankly on the drive back a few times I did question my sanity.

Mind you after it all got adjusted and calibrated up, it's sitting in the cafeteria pumping out cold pop like a good thing so I am somewhat relieved all that wasn't for a 635lb paper weight.  

Hmmm....

Some of the places I've either driven to pickup or had games shipped from;

Driven;

Ottawa
Rochester
Buffalo
Wisconsin (while @ Expo)
London

Shipped;

Texas
Connecticut
Nova Scotia
N. Carolina
Ottawa

Craziest deal I've ever done was 7 A-list pins in one shot from one collector.

Ahhh.... Good times!

D

I had a pin and a vid shipped to me from Utah.  

I went to Wisconsin (from Expo) too, but all I got was a lousy coin bucket.

The furthest I've driven for a game is Kingston, which is only a 2 hour drive.

Quoted from briguy

A truly horrifying tale to be heard.....On my way to an Auction west of me....I had to drive through Scarborough.....my knees are still shaking and the doctor has doubled my med dosage.

What are you caomplaining about?!?! I LIVE IN SCARBOROUGH!

I have no horror stories yet, maybe someday... but none yet.

Driving to Cincinatti(SP?) to pick up a back to the future pinball machine, ended up making a weekend of it, and staying in Lansing Mi overnight and ended up stumbling upon Pinball Pete's which was a really fun experience, and getting to the border, the guard said "you drove all the way from Waterloo to Cincinatti for a pinball machine? you are crazy, go on through"

hah!

Eric

I have done a few long not that far but crazy weather conditions.
Went to Montreal to do a trade and drop off a few machines on the way.
The first time I went to montreal I had a Crazy snow storm mixed with Freezing rain and very hard winds driving a santa fe with 5x10 trailer closed trailer
There where tons of cars in the ditch i drove slow made 2 deliveries in laval then to blainville then after went to downtown montreal to pascal printing shop then back home.
Another time bad weather my best friend was moving from Montreal back to Ottawa same kind of trailer but a 6 x 12 car and trailer.
I delivered 6 pins at various locations in Montreal and picked up one for myself this is when there was 40 to 60 cm dump  really bad weather.
Then went to pickup my friends stuff in Montreal and the roads had so much snow and they where removing the snow because there was to much had to wait 3 hours for snow to be cleaned so we could move him out.
Then back to town and get hit with freezing rain at about Hawksburry was a fun day.

Another Crazy Trip Was for a free lot of stuff playfields and parts out at Fort Earie no bad weather but was it ever a long drive and a long day.

Quoted from Sparky

Montreal-Hamilton round trip just to deliver a bowler to Shaggy.

Montreal-Ottawa-Toronto a few times

Montreal-Toronto a lot

Ahh... well, if you include shipped pins, I got some from Algeria and one from Germany. Got one coming from Cleveland now.

But yeah, my Shaggy run and my run with my cousin's E350 from Montreal-Ottawa-Keswick (arrived at 1:30am), then to Toronto-Peterborough-Kingston-Montreal with over 12 pins and vids in the truck were completely nuts. My last run with the trailer at the last auction was a close runner-up, having my van vandalized.

Quoted from axe

What are you caomplaining about?!?! I LIVE IN SCARBOROUGH!

I have no horror stories yet, maybe someday... but none yet.

I do have a tale, however it is not to get a pin , it was on my way to work. I used to stop in a coffee shop every morning on Kingston Rd on my way into work. On fine morning I went here and I guess it mustve just hapened....police hadnt arrived yet, but the front was all shot up...just lke a movie bulet holes in the front windows an a few cars shot .....needless to say . I never went that route again...

252 kms.

Thats the distance from my house to Sparkys.

I few long trips for myself as well...

A round trip from Ottawa to Baie St-Paul to empty a barn full of vids and other related stuff.

A round trip to Washington DC to pick up a Centaur...that the lady did not want me to pick up since I was from Canada. She left the pin outside, on the backyard porch, all night and not taken a part. I was at her place around 5 in the morning with my flashlight and tools to take it a part before I could carry it to my truck....

Same trip picked up a Rollergame for Jim in Baltimore...into the scariest and darkest basement ever....I swear I thought I wouldn't see the day light again... The lady, had some f&%$&&% crazy stuff hung from the wall (similar to pic1 attached, but hanging from the wall!!!)...and a collection of knifes in the basement...I thought to myself...that's it...I will be butchered!!! I had to haul the pin from the basement to my trailer all by myself....!!! The funny part was when she said to me: "Hey! Boy, just back up your trailer onto my backyard...." A look back and a reply to her...but Madame, you’re house is in a townhouse project and it is the last one of the 4 or 5 attached houses.....She said: "not a problem...just back right onto the backyards!!!!" I did!!!  A!H AH! H! That was something.

Then I got lost in this neighborhood (see pic2 attached) just outside Chicago....I was the only guy with a car (and a trailer) in the whole neighborhood...I drove for about 15 minutes before seeing other cars.....

An unforgettable trip to Allentown with other MAACA members. I Drove 22 hours straight, had a bad snow storm, delivered vid in Boston, traded pins in Rode Island...and then managed to cross 7 or 8 different States!!!!

Lot...lot more but will be part of another story....

tartagliag

PIC1

tartagliag

[quote=181]I few long trips for myself as well...

A round trip to Washington DC to pick up a Centaur...that the lady did not want me to pick up since I was from Canada. She left the pin outside, on the backyard porch, all night and not taken a part. I was at her place around 5 in the morning with my flashlight and tools to take it a part before I could carry it to my truck....

Same trip picked up a Rollergame for Jim in Baltimore...into the scariest and darkest basement ever....I swear I thought I wouldn't see the day light again... The lady, had some f&%$&&% crazy stuff hung from the wall (similar to pic1 attached, but hanging from the wall!!!)...and a collection of knifes in the basement...I thought to myself...that's it...I will be butchered!!! I had to haul the pin from the basement to my trailer all by myself....!!! The funny part was when she said to me: "Hey! Boy, just back up your trailer onto my backyard...." A look back and a reply to her...but Madame, you’re house is in a townhouse project and it is the last one of the 4 or 5 attached houses.....She said: "not a problem...just back right onto the backyards!!!!" I did!!!  A!H AH! H! That was something.



....


    I forgot about that experience!!  I remember you telling it when you dropped off the RG...glad you were still around to tell it!!!

    When I went thru all of my purchases a while back from the buying and selling years, I realized I bought machines from 37 states!  Also from 6 provinces, and of course the famous Gaucho Argentina machines..

    Sold to everywhere too...Many were shipped all over North America, but the one I won't forget was a guy who won an EBAY auction for a Cyclone, and then drove up from New Orleans to get it!

    Hi home had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and his insurance was paying to get everything replaced, including his   Cyclone Pin! They even paid for him to rent a truck and drive to Ottawa from New Orleans to pick it up when he told them he didn't want it shipped in case it got damaged!

I bring a old jukebox operator from jonquiere to montreal, to repair my first juke after the restoration. I past 10 hour the first day and everything was perfect. tommorow, I bring the jukebox to basement  to the first floor and after that.... nothing work. The gentlement work 5 more hour to make it work.

he go back to jonquiere the day after.

Quoted from shoeguy

    Hi home had been destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, and his insurance was paying to get everything replaced, including his   Cyclone Pin! They even paid for him to rent a truck and drive to Ottawa from New Orleans to pick it up when he told them he didn't want it shipped in case it got damaged!

I wonder how many pins were lost in New Orleans during Katrina.  

I drove from Las Vegas, NV to Seattle, WA just to PLAY pinball, at least the rest of you so called "crazies" got a machine out of all the driving you do   

Quoted from Vengeance

I drove from Las Vegas, NV to Seattle, WA just to PLAY pinball, at least the rest of you so called "crazies" got a machine out of all the driving you do   

You see, now that IS crazy....  Especially when the PHOF is already IN Las Vegas.  

Nothing spectacular . Got a wrecked centaur (Gheeze they ' re hard to get by) in Glens falls , New York , 12 hours drive round trip , non-stop . Then , got a CPR playfield for it shipped at the Ottawa bus depot . 10 hours round trip .

At that time , my wife and kids came along and we did some touring .

An other trip ' s planned soon , 20 hours round trip , but my wife ' s coming along and we ' ll spend the weekend over there ...

Not for a pin but i drove 32hrs straight back from Calgary...swerved around many exploded deer through Manitoba along the T.C. hwy, ran over something near Wawa at 2am, had a Linx come out of the bush while I stopped for a piss (which ended up more on me than the bushes), and slammed on my brakes to stop a moose from using my hood as a seat only to get a birds eye view of his anus.....I never pissed and mess myself so much in my life.  I never once felt tired though...

32 hours from Calgary?! Were you travelling at warp ten? I've travelled across Canada more times than I care to remember and I've made to Thundar Bay in 16...that was flying. Another 7 to 8 hours to WInnipeg.  6 more to Saskatoon, and I think 6 to 8 more hours to Calgary...yeah, I guess it's possible...crazy but possible!

Furthest I've ever gone for a pin was Burlington Vermont where I got my High Speed. Worth every mile.

Stan

How about 6 guys in my SUBURBAN - 20' INCLOSED TRAILER TO CHICAGO  - MILLWALKIE -SOUTHERN  ILLINOIS

OR
5 GUYS IN THE SUBURBAN - 16' INCLOSED TRAILER TO ALLENTOWN AND SOME DUMB a** gets me to take a short cut through the MOUNTAINS.

or 4 people in a MINI COOPER TO KALAMAZOO

OR......A BANANA EATING GUY TO TAKE PICTURES OF