Another Pinball Pick Up Road Trip

 Chicago, IL

Illinois State Line

Getting Cash

I found the table we wanted to buy on Pinside.  I contacted the seller and worked out a deal.  Many of these deals are "cash on the glass" to prevent scams.  We bank with Capital One and there aren't any real banks, only tons of ATMs so we had to get $7500 at ATMs.  The first ATM we went to only gave 20s so we ended up with $2000 in 20s and realized this wasn't going to work. I decided the best bet would be to go to The Mall of America and visit the Capital One Cafe.  Their ATM gave out 100s and I was able to bump up the daily limit to $3000 so 2 trips did the trick.

So many old brands survive at The Mall of America

A Swatch shop!

Donna found one she liked.

The mall has a compact amusement park in the middle of it.

On the 2nd trip I pulled my old Swatches out a box and bought new watch bands and got free batteries for them.

Chicago!

The drive to Chicago is about 6 hours from here.  I decided to do the trip in 2 days with a drive there on Tuesday, a pinball pickup on Wednesday morning, and then a drive home Wednesday.  I also got to squeeze in dinner and drinks with friends on Tuesday night.

A trip through Wisconsin usually includes a stop at Culver's.  I even stopped at The World's Largest Culver's in Edgerton, WI on the way back.

Kevin and Vicki planned a great evening of food, drinks and fun very close to my hotel.

We spent some time at Hala Kahiki, a Tiki Bar that opened in 1964.

And then we enjoyed a late night dog, fries, and a tamale.

This is the pinball machine I picked up sitting in its former home.  

The move was pretty easy as I got help from the former owner after the cash exchange.

About 7.5 hours later we were playing it at home!

We bought an Avengers: Infinity Quest Limited Edition by Stern Pinball.  The family we bought it from purchased it new and took great care of it and added some awesome mods.  It has 3900 plays, which is pretty low, and was a fantastic deal.  Now I will start trouble shooting 1 of the known issues with this machine, but it's a small issue that can easily be worked around but it's fun getting machines playing exactly how they should play.

That's it for today.  If you missed, Successful Eye Surgery, check it out!