FF2: Filling in the Suburbs

[krigl]

This time - the long drive north from Kittila to the Norwegian border.


It's a really nice trip!


The entire Kittila - Karajok (Norway) trip, alongside Kittila - Utsjoki (the northernmost town on the map in PM Finland), is also amongst the longest trips unbroken by mapped towns in the whole of ETS2, and possibly ATS as well. The two routes may be the longest, actually. Really long, unbroken routes, through beautiful northern countryside. The climax of the PM Finland tour.










For most of the images in this set I have literally no title identifying where we are - just 'Northwards'.


Oh... what are these? Cones? Well, I can't see anyone ahead on the road, so I guess I'll just go through them.


Krapfen. Damn my eyes. What now? Ohhhh.... I'm supposed to take that... oh, okay.


Alright, alright. Hope my nice shiny HCT gear doesn't sink into the mud or something.


Northwards, northwards.






-Miss, miss!! (Frantically holding hand up as high as possible)
-You've already been to toilet twice this lesson, Anni.
- No, no, I know what it it is. It's the Ivalojoki River.
- Yes that's right Anni, good girl. It's the Ivalo River River.


Northwards.




Overtaking with two trailers. Better be very careful with my rearview.






Oh, oh, a town! Not sure of the name, don't remember seeing it. But we're turning left here.




Crossing the Juutuan River.




Rare motel en route.




Awesome trip. Next time - over the border to Karasjok in Norway.
Anni

[krigl]

Up to Karasjok this time.


Crossing the Kaamas River.


Approaching the border with Norway.


That's it up ahead.


No police this time, and a truck service point. Considerate of them.




Farewell to Suomi... for a moment.


And hello Norway for a second time.


It's not far to Karasjok.


Here it is. A colourful, picturesque town.




Great little bridge.


Slowww dowwwwnnn, steeeppp.


Charming spot.






Still Karasjok, heading for the delivery point.


Just love the yellow bushes.






Our destination. Looks like the driver had a lucky escape.


Back in northern Finland now, in Sodankyla to start our final trip up to Utsjoki via Ivalo. Another long haul.
It seems quite common in ETS2 that lorries with double trailers have accidents - you can see one on the left,
and the traffic jam it caused. It made it impossible for me to get out of here without teleporting.


The whole town was blocked with cars in all directions.


Lol. What do Bethesda and SCS games have in common? It's hard to manage without console commands.


Actually, mods are another thing that ETS2 and Skyrim have in common. All praise to modders and the work they do to fix, improve and prolong the lifespan of well-loved games!




Next set - up to Ivalo.
Anni

[krigl]

Driving up to Ivalo this time, in the penultimate part of the ProMods Finland tour.




Great (Brutal) weather and nice scenery abound.


No settlements at all, except for one named river crossing and a rest stop. A real wilderness route.


With reindeer.


Looks like muddy water, actually a dark earthy field.




Loved the views on this route.






Crossing the Vuotso Canal.


Didn't catch the name of this place.




There was a rest stop some way before Ivalo, so we stopped for a break.


Spotted this AI truck parked with unusual wheel arches.


We were low on fuel, so good job we pulled in.


Manoeuvring with the two trailers again a little challenging.


Roundabouts need extra care, too.


Closing in on Ivalo now.












After a very wild trip, here we are.


You know you're far north when there are signposts for Murmansk.


People sitting outside enjoying the summer warmth.


We'll finish the tour next time.
Anni

[krigl]

Finishing the PM Finland tour today with a trip up from Ivalo to Utsjoki on the Norway border.


Ivalo.




One last trip north.


This was just Part 2 of a five part tour of (almost) the whole PM northern region, without N. Russia and Iceland.


In Part 3 I'll be checking out PM central and northern Sweden.


However, I'm feeling like having a little bit of a change. I'm going to try putting up a second thread for touring the American Mid-West, and start a tour of Texas, do about 1/7th of it before returning to Scandinavia. Hopefully the moderators will allow me to run two threads, other people do, after all.




Not sure what this place is called.




A last few shots enjoying the Finnish vibe.


I recognise this place, we passed through here on the way to Karasjok.


Heyy there!




The other langage is Sami, I think. Often it looks similar to Finnish, sometimes quite different. Both look completely alien. Swedish and Norwegian are a lot closer to Danish, so looking forward to seeing things I can decipher in the next parts of the tour.








One last logging operation. Or, actually, maybe not. Construction work, perhaps?




The landscape is changing, opening out. We must be getting close to our destination.




And here we are - Utsjoki. Its been another great trip!


A picturesque location. Beyond lie the mountains of Norway.


And there's the border. We'll be back towards the end of Part 5 of the tour. Hopefully I'll be allowed to post my first Texas shots, and will return to this thread to tour ProMods Sweden in a couple of weeks' time.
Anni

[carpediemorfail]

Just wanted to say I enjoy these posts (and your new thread), particularly the running commentary. Thanks for sharing.

[krigl]

Carpediemorfail: Thanks very much for the comment, I'm glad to hear you enjoy my 'work' and appreciate you taking the time!

[Morawatz]

These landscapes are eye candies

[krigl]

They are indeed, Morawatz, and thanks for the comment!

[krigl]

Well... that was summer! More or less. Had an absolutely absurd 2 months, failed to get back in here between holidays due to reasons, back again now, I guess and hope.

Next on the menu is a shortish tour of ProMods Sweden, specifically the part outside of the SCS Scandinavia DLC. It's going to be fairly straightforward, starting in Tornio, Finland, at the top of the Gulf of Bothnia / Baltic Sea, and heading down the coast all the way to Uppsala, where the DLC starts. I've toured that already, so then we'll pop over the water to Fasta Åland, and explore there a bit, before driving from Sundsvall west to Ostersund. That will end Part 3 of this five part tour, with Central and Northern Norway left to do.


Here we are in Tornio, Finland, having just taken charge of a Scania truck in company livery. It's evening.


Parked up for the night.


Empty bus station standing folorn.


Overview of Tornio as people get ready for sleep.




The morning comes, and what will it bring?


A drilling rig by the looks of it, picked up from Eddie Stobart.


I've conveyed several of these in Snowrunner, but they were much more massive and it was a hellish task. This one's titchy, and the challenge zero. Well, I don't play ETS2 for the challenge.


Leaving Finland behind us and entering the first town on the Swedish side, Haparanda.


And we're off.


Better be careful, it's a tad windy right here at the top of the Baltic.




Small scenery town of Kalix.




Fine place, lots to see.










On the way to our first main destination now, Lulea.


From what I've seen so far, the scenery in ProMods Sweden dates back to 2015 or so. Scandinavia and Finland have been a staple of ETS2 driving since at least that date, though ProMods veterans probably remember the parts of the region that were driveable even before that - of course, it's where PM started out after all. This part of the tour will attempt to capture all the typical features and quiet magic of this well-loved, well-driven area of the map, which PM conjured up back in the day from a very limited palette of resources.










That's it for today, Lulea and Skelleftea to come next time.
Anni

[krigl]

Today we deliver our itsy-bitsy-teeny-weeny yellow polka-dot drilling rig to Lulea, and then move on to Skelleftea.


Arrival in Lulea.




A lot of double trailers in this region, which is mildly worrying given their propensity for accidents in ETS2 and the lack of alternative routes on the way down the Baltic coast... well, I can always teleport.






Delivery time.


Now to check out Lulea and pick up a different cab.




Mmm, holidays. Only 11 months to go.


A quiet wood for dogs to poop in.




A relaxing centrepiece for the city.




Alright, where's the new cab?


Great. Next, the jobsite.


Goods train rumbles overhead.


Ah, a big yellow thing. Now for just a short hop down the coast to Skelleftea.


It was an even shorter hop than expected, as shortly after this picture was taken, the game crashed. I tried it twice more, and each time it crashed, so it must be something with that road.


Well, not to be perturbed, I 'flew' to a point on the road safely distant from the crash location, and we continued our journey.






Rest stop here, I think.


Skelleftea greeted us with a large traffic jam.


Took a couple of minutes to clear. Turned out to be these lights.


Getting to the drop-off point turned out to be quite an involved process, so will cover that next time.


Back tomorrow, I hope. Anni.