MidAmerica tour

[krigl]

Finishing up in McAllen this time, and heading down to Brownsville.


More McAllen palms.


Hoping for a nice trout or bass, but all I keep reeling in are these stupid orange and white things.


New trip, new paint job. And other bits.


Electronic Components to Brownsville's port.


Leaving town.


Gloomy weather, hoping it clears up soon. Not exactly the tropical vibe I'd like.


McAllen park and church.


Properly under way now.


Brownsville is just down the road. It's similarly palm-encrusted like McAllen, and similarly ordinary otherwise, except for the fact that it has three awesome job sites, one of which is pretty much unique in either of the games right now. We're going to check out the port today.






Yep. We've arrived.


On our way to the port.








Seems like they're either building or scrapping (recycling?) an aircraft carrier back there. Hope it's not the Lexington, I was looking forward to seeing that in Corpus Christi.


Components delivered.


That must be the Keppel yard, where they make and repair oil rigs. And Lacky Arthur's in port, good to see the old girl again.




Wind turbine parts lined up as we head further parallel to the quayside to check out the grain silos.




Relatively small, but still epic in scale.




That's it for this time - next up, Brownsville's amazing Taylor Construction jobsite.
Thanks for taking a peek! Krigl

[krigl]

Today we visit the most unique thing about Brownsville, Texas - its Taylor Construction jobsite.


Delivery to and investigation of the dockyard complete.


Now let's check out that long road with Taylor Construction at the end. Might be a nice sea view or something.






Waaaaiiit.... what's that?? Could it be?




Hey, they ARE rockets! They have rockets here as well??


For some reason I was convinced that the SpaceX launch site was in Corpus Christi, not sure why. It took a while for it to sink in that the facility is actually in Brownsville.


Some nice sea views as well.


It's a very special site, so I took tons of pics.


I think that's the Taylor site. I was expecting family homes, not really sure what they are building here.


The fully assembled rocket is massive.




Sent the drone up several times and waited for nightfall.








Extremely cool place.


A couple more from the viewpoint video.








Off we go then. Sorry to post so many, but you don't get to visit a spaceship launch site every day.


A brief moment of history.


Next time - we see the last of Brownsville and set off on the road to Corpus Christi.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Visiting the southernmost drivable point in ATS Texas (and all of ATS so far, without mods) this time, and then heading north from Brownsville towards Corpus Christi.


Farewell to Starbay.


Let's check out the rest of Brownsville.




A last bit of local blocky style.


Respray with an audience. Went for a space-themed one, as it seemed... thematic.




Civic buildings in the distance.


This crossroads is the southernmost point that you can currently drive to in plain ATS, give or take a couple of metres. I could have pressed myself up against the XXXXXs across the road like Mr Bean with the hand dryer, but I declined.


The only place that's further south in the continental USA is the area around and below Miami in Florida.


The substantial highlights of Brownsville are now complete. Time to find a cargo and get out of here.


Let's go to the last cool jobsite. We haven't been to Tera Engineering yet.


They evidently make offshore drilling platforms and dismantle giant naval vessels, so Brownsville's Keppel yards, basically. I wonder what kind of cargo such a giga-engineering facility is likely to have for us?


Ploughs, naturally. Sorry, plows.


Get out of the ploughing way, I haven't got all day!


Heading back to town.




Lake and golf course, probably.


Now we're getting out of town.








...and then I turned off the sim and went to bed.


Turned it on the next day and was faced with this. Bleh.




Well, we're off on the last section of Part 5 - the coastal route from Brownsville to Houston via Corpus Christi plus some small but great scenery towns. The next set will see us travelling to Corpus Christi and delivering our ploughing cargo to a cotton farm. Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Making tracks to the last marked city in Part 5 of the tour - Corpus Christi.


Nasty spell of grey weather. I guess we'll have to find a rest stop and wait till it changes. Would be great if we could change the weather in-game, as if it were a sandbox-style simulator.


Rest stop found. It's between the two carriageways, so you have to access it from the fast lane. Sounds very safe, I like it.


Waiting an hour did the trick.


Preparing to rejoin the fast lane.


Lovely river. Not sure what it is.




Time to get weighed.




Riviera lies just before Corpus Christi. It welcomes you with the 10 Commandments. FFA stands for Future Farmers of America, apparently.


The sights of Riviera.


Corpus Christi. I think that's the local Truck HQ.


The food 'n' shops zone.


Not very impressive so far, but CC actually has some great scenery.


We're just passing by today, as we've got to deliver these ploughs to a cotton farm some way to the north.


We're now on that boring road that leads up to San Antonio.


The river that tells you the dull drive from SA is almost at an end as you approach CC.






And here's the cotton farm.


Seeing all this cotton for some reason put Rednex' ploughing Cotton Eye Joe in my head and I started humming it.


Hummed it to my wife to annoy her. She immediately added it to her Spotify playlist to play in the car next time we drive somewhere.


Where did he come from? Where did he go?


Ach, the misery.,


Back in Corpus Christi at sunset.


We'll tour this very cool city next time.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Touring Corpus Christi this time.


New spacey paint job. Getting some fuel before bed.


Next morning - time to go tour!




Wetlands.








Silos and docks.








The city is dominated by this partially constructed bridge.


There's the other side.




Viewpoint video spot. Here are a couple from the vid.






Up onto the current bridge.






Another shot from the vid, with the current bridge, aquarium and USS Lexington.


GARC advert.




Hi there!


Let's finish off with a night shot. We revisit the city next time, and pick up something from the refinery to take northeast.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Today's set - we finish our tour of central Corpus Christi and leave town with a massive tanker trailer full of refined petroleum for the oil rig manufacturing facility at the CC satellite jobsite in Fulton.


Looking back at CC's modest office block skyline.


Bridge and access ramp construction is heavily underway on both sides of the bay.




That's where we're going.




Complex and spectacular!






Setting off for Fulton.


Cold weather? Here?






Downtown again.


Back towards the bridge.






Well-created feeling of scale.




USS Lexington and aquarium. Hope they're both Shark Free.




Beach North.




A moment of calm.




We journey up the coast to Fulton next time. Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Moving on with the final stretch of Part 5 today. This time - petroleum to the TERA oil rig manufacturing facility near Fulton not far northeast of Corpus Christi.


Quarry not far from the sea.




Not sure what to think about this advert...




Iiiiiit's Howdy Town! Maaaam, can we go to Howdy Town?? No.


They really want us to stop, so I said, why not?


Big-roofed bungalows in Fulton.


Downtown. The seafront is probably just beyond those trees.




- Well, the last straw was when she wanted me to get in the car and it was levitating. Can you imagine that? I mean, I did in the end, but things just weren't the same after. In the end I just upped and left.
- I hear you, bro.


That is one big crane!


Reeling in and lifting fish - the same principle in miniature.


In real life you can see this thing from miles around - it's 550 ft tall (around 170 metres).




From what I've read this is the Kiewit Offshore Services HLD (Heavy Lifting Device) located in Ingleside, so not Fulton as I wrote. That just happens to be somewhere nearby.


I'm sure it runs on refined petroleum, or whatever it is we're carrying in our cistern. Or something does. The forklifts in the warehouses, maybe.


Apparently it can lift up to 13,000 tons!! It's rarely used, but can be employed to lift the habitable superstructures of offshore platforms, hold them while the lower structure is floated underneath, and then lower them for attachment. Must be awe-inspiring to see it in service.


These smaller cranes can apparently lift 'only' 400 tons.


Chilling in the La Quinta shipping channel.


What can you pick up at this giga-engineering yard? Giant buoys. Superb, I'll take them.






Good luck with that, looks like you might be about to get a soaking.




Fulton again, I think. Next time we travel through some beautiful coastal scenery up to a boatyard in Palacios.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

A lovely coastal trip in this set - Fulton up to Palacios.


Fulton's premier shopping destination.


Wow...


Copano Bay. A perfect example of how simply taking a route in the opposite direction and perhaps with different weather can offer a whole new experience.


One of the biplanes from the nearby airfield circles overhead.




Back through Tivoli. We came through here and Copano Bay about 14 or so sets back when taking an empty fuel tanker from Victoria to a drilling jobsite in a cotton field 'north of Corpus Christi'.




Half Moon Reef Lighthouse. No longer used, but was once somewhere else presumably more visible to shipping. It was put out of action by Confederate troops during the Civil War, according to the in-game sign.


Savouring every glance I get of the sea. Once we leave this region, it will be at least a year before we visit the sea again in ATS.


Lavaca Bay. There's never a good time to drive your rig and cargo off a bridge into deep water, but if such a time existed, it definitely would be now. Just think of all that buoyancy.








Heading for Palacios now.


Scenery only, I think. But what scenery!!






Here we are then - Sea Horizon boatyard. The perfect destination for these buoys. Everyone's gone home, but the gatekeeper let me in and I parked up as the last light of sunset dimmed.


Stayed in a local rustic inn frequented by fishermen. Spent the evening listening to old salts telling their tales.


The staff arrived, and it was time to do the necessaries.


Did a bit of explorin' after that. Lots of fishing boats around here.


The boatyard's telehandler.






A bit of a smaller scale operation than the previous drilling rig manufactory, but a great location all the same.

Next time - we tour picturesque Palacios and then pick up an Autonomous Tractor from a cotton farm to take on the final leg to Houston.
Thanks for looking in! Krigl

[krigl]

Penultimate set of Texas Part 5 this time - touring Palacios mainly.


Area around Sea Horizon.






Palacios's placid waterfront.


Parked at the 'video corner'.




House on saltwater creek.


Welcome sign.


From the vid.


Still no.


Back towards Sea Horizon.


One last view of the sea. The next in ATS will be from Washington or Louisiana, in about a year, I hope.


Leaving town for the Mary's Cotton jobsite.


This counts as Victoria, apparently.




Keep seeing examples of that building on the right hand side and wondering what it is. Some kind of cotton storage hall? Or for livestock? Not sure.


With this job, we turn our face from the south and start gearing up for the agricultural states of Oklahoma and beyond.


Autonomous tractor! Owl brand. Looks good. Original brands would be nice, but if it helps SCS push out more cargo packs, I'm all for them inventing brands for things we can haul and designing stuff for them, adverts too.


Titchy cargo linked up, off we go.


Feel like we're in the north of Texas already.


- I'm so impressed. Awesome yeet, man.
- Yes, officer.






I do love the sea, but there are many other cool things to enjoy inland. Like this yet another massive industrial plant.


We'll finish Part 5 next time, dropping off the tractor at Houston's GARC hub and then touring that city by night.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Finishing off Part 5 of the Texas tour - south Texas - this time, with a last look at Houston.


Inland south Texas countryside on the way from Palacios to Houston.


Another road pirate soon to be behind bars.






Kendall Lakes Blvd is just over there, apparently. A luxury housing development for wealthy Houstoners, I guess.


This place might just be for stoners.


The GARC hub is out here on the outskirts.






It was cool to see these cranes moving around by themselves.


Hopefully some kind soul is going to take that Autonomous Tractor and put it on a train for Fort Worth. I hope so, anyhow, as it's going no further with me.


Part 6 will actually start 'just down the road' from Fort Worth, in Texarkana, but I can't be bothered to drive all the way up there. Got tourin' to do.


Headed off somewhere to get some nosh and wait for the evening. We're going to circumnavigate Houston by night just to finish off Part 5.


Night is falling - let's check out one of Texas and all America's most famous cities in the dark.




Not much on the roads, as usual. I had almost no AI traffic mods the whole time in Part 5 because everything I tried to download seemed to offend my antivirus. However, I tried again for Part 6 and this time it worked out. Either I got lucky, or I got virus... hopefully the former.






Big City lights.






Choices, choices...


Even at this last possible moment before we move on, the DLC still came up with something I'd never yet seen.




Aaand that's it for southern Texas. Next time - we start the final part of the tour in Texarkana.
Cheers! Krigl