MidAmerica tour

[krigl]

It’s time for a new Texas trip, and this time we’re driving from Waco eastwards to Lufkin via Centerville.


Bobtailing out of Waco at full tilt as the sun rises.


Upgraded the light show a little.




Going off-piste to pick up the cargo from an oil derrick.


Wikipedia says the word ‘derrick’ originates from a type of gallows used by Thomas Derrick, a well-known executioner in Elizabethan times. Like them or loathe them, the English have given the world SO MUCH. Warms the cockles of me ‘eart, it does.


And here we bear witness to said derrick, except actually it doesn’t quite look like a typical derrick, does it? 'Pon my soul, poor Thomas is probably turning over in ‘is grave right now, to be sure.


Well, here we go, leaving that poor excuse for a derrick behind, carrying IBC containers (for the lamentably untutored: Intermediate Bulk Containers, or totes).


Looks like another shady Amish contract, but I’m not Dan and no delectable examples of the loading dock management’s hard-working wives’ cooking were provided. I had to make do with a stale baguette from a nearby gas station.




On our way to Centerville now.


My truck looks like an extremely butch and angry goth chick.


Starting to get misty – not good for touring.


Delightfully overgrown and be-slimed bridge. I expect the local libtards wanted to renovate it so that it doesn’t crash down onto someone’s vehicle in the near future but Abbot Said No. Alpha males don’t refurbish bridges. They let them fall on school buses, blame it on the Dems and then laugh about it with the other real men in Hooters.


Can’t have this, better find a place to take a break.










We found a place to stop. Some kind of fast food joint.


That did the trick – one helping of fast food and slow coffee later, and the fog was all but gone.


Getting low on gas, so that’s next.




Crossing the highway that stretches between Dallas to the north and Huntsville to the south (and below that Houston). Our final trip out of Waco will take us to Huntsville.


Ah, here’s Centerville.


An ancient traction engine which may just be the one that escaped from the zoo in Boise.


Rural living in Centerville. We’ll finish the trip to Lufkin next time.
Thanks for looking in! Krigl

[krigl]

Completing the trip from Waco eastwards to Lufkin this time.


Just leaving Centerville in my breathtakingly original all-black rig. We're about halfway through the trip between Waco and Lufkin. See that, Schulenberg? That's how 'halfway' is done. Watch and learn, watch and learn. You ain't halfway to nowhere, sucker.


“In 2022, Texas sawmills produced 1.5 billion board feet of lumber.” That’s plenny.


Local trucker’s pad. Check out what I'm drivin', bro. Goth Karen.


One of those muddy rivers.


And lotsa cows. A very east Texan drive…


…which is quite the coincidence, as east Texas is exactly where we are. Just look at that wide, long vista... a pasture for the eyes, as the Czechs say. And for cows.


Those mighty visors might look epic on the outside, but they do cut visibility a whole lot. I had to lower my seat to see out properly, and then I felt like a truck-driving toddler with my feet dangling and kicking and that huge wheel slap-bang in front of my face.


Got any dressing?


Lufkin. We’re here.




Fine line-up. Lufkin has quite a big ‘ring road’ which we need to follow southwards to our destination, so we’re not ready to deliver yet.






Not sure what these are, they look somehow old yet modern. Converted warehouses?












Ooooo, curvy.




Okay, this is it. A housing estate set in leafy surroundings for owners of discerning taste currently under construction by Taylor homes in south Lufkin.






Shall we do the hard parking again? Oh yes, let’s!


Well that’s it. Back in Waco for the last time for the next job – south then east to Huntsville and all the way to the eastern border.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

Today – a final trip out of Waco, heading first south to Cameron and then west to Huntsville, the final destination being the unmarked town of Jasper on the border with Louisiana.

It’s another glass-related job from Waco. They need it in Jasper for their butterfly festival.


Makes sense, right?


Passing the University High School on the way out of Waco.


Leaving the city behind. Cameron lies ahead.


So, we’re retracing our steps for the first short part. But with so much detail around, perhaps we’ll spot something new, or get a different perspective?


A ton of garages on the edge of Cameron.


View from the park.


Neighbourly banter. Or could there be something more sinister at work? The windows are all boarded up or otherwise blocked. It's gotta be a meth lab. Or some deranged sect? We're quite close to Waco, after all.


Okay, the step-retracing stops here, that’s the turn-off for La Grange.


Moving eastwards now, through flat green scenery, destination Huntsville.


These regions most remind me of the desert areas in Nevada. A big green desert.








Logistics base some way outside Huntsville.


What’s this?


An underpass, okay.


Modern church in Huntsville.


Another place where people go on Sundays.


The main defining feature of Huntsville is its strange highway intersection.




I wanna dance with somebody, I wanna feel the heat with somebody…


Don’t be an idiot Krigl, that’s a different Houston.


Bearkat Boulevard… sounds like a brand of vehicle.


These might be the Bearkats.


The strange, intersection-dominated town of Huntsville behind us, our journey almost to the eastern state line will continue in the next set.
Krigl

[krigl]

Continuing our journey eastwards across east Texas, we find a lot of great scenery between Huntsville and Jasper near the eastern state line.


The Ranch.


The View. Not bad at all.


Wh-wh-wh-whoa! Wasn't expecting this.


That's probably because I'm ignorant. Just as many Texans don't know the finer points of European geography, I was blissfully unaware of the existence of Lake Livingston. Until now.


It's rather large, actually, though not on the scale of the Great Lakes, of course. They are like little seas. Looking forward to reaching the lakeside states and their cities... I visited Bloomington-Normal and Chicago in Illinois a long while ago, so that will be a highlight.




Just when all I thought East Texas had was flat green fields and cows...




Full range of Happy Fisher colours on show here.


Where are we now, then?


Livingston, yes. A nicely detailed place lying, I think, on the highway between Lufkin and Houston.




The water tower dominates the town, but there are plenty of other things to see.


These smaller unmarked settlements often seem to have more to see than the major cities. It's just a shame they are not marked on the map. It would look a lot more impressive if they were. At least one jobsite would be great as well - give you a reason to start or end a journey there. I get it, SCS want you to 'explore and discover'... but even I, a dyed in the wool 'tourist' rather than a 'trucker' most of the time, don't find this system very appealing. I'd rather see the towns and villages on the map, be able to get jobs to and from them, and have some more cargo variety too, with better production chains for many industries...


Where's the railway line??? It seems to have been closed down and asphalted over, with only part of it left (visible behind the blue-roofed hut and also out of view round the corner to the right somewhere). But the signals are still there. I saw the red lights and actually stopped for a bit, wondering why the AI cars were speeding through...


Court house. I wonder why the spelling changed. It obviously should be caught.




Looked this one up, it's a great recreation of the site. Auditors can be found there.


Indian Springs... is not a village or town in-game, just some roadside decorations and a shop.


But nice.




A guy fishing in his private pond between Livingston and Woodsville. Looks like he's expecting to catch a lot.


Church at Woodsville.


That's it for today. The last leg from Woodsville to Jasper next time.
Cheers! Krigl

[krigl]

So, finishing our long drive through east Texas from Waco to Jasper on the eastern state border today.


Just passing through Woodville.


Interesting conversation, no doubt.




Some kind of totem pole?




Ahhh... this is the kind of scenery I'm expecting to see more of in the deep south.








Okay, we've arrived in Jasper, which sits on a road that leads all the way up the eastern state line from Beaumont in the south to Texarkana (and nearby Longview) in the north. Louisiana is just 40 km away, or something.


Being a scenery town, it doesn't actually have anywhere to deliver to, so I'm just going to leave the trailer at the local rest stop and call it a day.


Unlike Woodville, Jasper doesn't seem to have anything particularly exciting going for it in-game.


So, without further ado, let's get parked up and move on to the next journey of this tour.




An array of vanilla trucks are here to keep the trailer company. Still can't get any ai mods to work.


Alright, time to teleport..... zzzzzaaaaa....


...aaaappppp!!! Poom. We're in Huntsville.


Yep. Huntsville is one of two towns in the centre of eastern Texas which we're going to be taking a few jobs from, the other being Lufkin.


Looks like the teleportation process also changed the skin on my truck.


So, what are we up to, then?


Yeah, we're going to pick up some utility poles after seeing a bit more of the road-dominated town of Huntsville, and take them northwards up the highway through a sea of green before depositing them at an absolutely enormous freight yard somewhere south of Dallas.


America also loves its military memorabilia.




Local jail. There's a bit more to this rather bland-seeming town than one sees at first glance.


And a horse grazing by a muddy lake. That's it for this time.
Krigl

[krigl]

This time we're driving up the highway from Huntsville almost up to Dallas.


Huntsville. I can imagine what some English people might call that town, especially if it happened to have a football team they didn't like.


That's none of our concern, however, as we have utility poles to haul.


And in any case, such coarseness is not for the eyes and ears of the miners that frequent this forum.


We're taking the less direct 'scenic' route round the southern 'cape' of Huntsville (No! No capes!) just to see if there are any things we've missed. The Bearkats are lined up, watching.


Well, there's a Taylor jobsite here. Another one.




That's a terrible pun. I hope the writer gets their just desserts.








Incredibly, this is still kinda Huntsville. The town is one giant interchange, and I'm not entirely sure why.




Not much further north and we pass under Route 7, which is the road we took from Waco to Lufkin on the last trip.




Ah, that guy's finally finished fishing.




Just checking out the rest stop, not actually going to rest, I've hardly started for goodness sake.


The 'lone star' below the climbing frame reminds me of a 'Colorado propaganda' meme I recently saw on Imgur.








And this is Corsicana, which we went through in Part 3 when driving from Tyler to Waco.






Hmm... and this area is starting to look familiar.


Oh yes - the Cowboy Church. Back here again. Nearing the drop-off point south of Dallas now... we'll get there next time.
Krigl

[krigl]

Today we finish our delivery to Dallas (south of Dallas, really) and then begin a second trip from Huntsville, this time southwards to Houston.


A fine assortment of sheds and garages, to be sure.


Weigh station, bleh.


Rest stop and tune-up garage near the delivery spot.




And here is the said delivery spot. Look at that! LOOK. AT. THAT! It's absolutely humungous.


Some sort of scanner? Yeah mate, these utility poles are hollowed out and just stuffed full with the finest Columbian talcum powder. The mattress behind me holds the razor blades and mirrors.


They didn't find anything.


20mph? You could hold a drag race here.


I'm talking about the one with the cars.


Hmm. Containers everywhere. Containers. Are they really going to be able to deal with these utility poles?


Ah well. Not my problem.


Lifting off with the drone for an overhead shot.


Not great. Well, anyhow, it was a very cool place to deliver to. Back to Huntsville now.


Namiq have a quarry north of Huntsville.


Not trona, though. Looks like regular gravel or something.




The cargo is cement.





Leaving Huntsville behind. We won't be back.






IIIIIIIII - eeeeee - IIIIIIIIIIII - eeeeeeee - IIIIIIIIIIIIII, will always...


Two words, Krigl. Shut. Up.


It wasn't particularly funny the first time.


Approaching Houston now. I hope we don't have a problem.


Yeah, there's the building with the date palms outside on the horizon to the left. We'll arrive in Houston next time and then begin a new trip up to Lufkin. Hope you enjoyed! Krigl

[krigl]

In this set we arrive in Houston for the second time and see a little more of the city before departing for Lufkin.


There's the skyline. Houston is the fourth largest city in the USA by population, with about 2.3 million inhabitants or so, not much behind Chicago.


Such a city obviously needs a lot of cement, which is why we're hauling a double helping.










It's getting dark. Where are we going anyway? The Haddock Shipyard.




Dark waters ripple and gleam as we approach the shipyard.






Well, that delivery's done. A bit disappointed, though. I thought Captain Haddock would come out to meet us personally.


The next day arrives, and it's time to ride once more.


The second town in the middle of East Texas is Lufkin, which we've already visited once. There are four other roads leading in and out of that town, and we're going to take them all, one by one. The first one leads from Lufkin south to Houston. But we're going to do that backwards. Yep.


Waffletopia. We're picking up an aircraft wing of all things from Ultimus, so no time for utopian waffles today.


Pecans are the thing in Houston, not milk.


Hey!!! Is that - is that - the Lockheed Galaxy jobsite?? Finally we've found it. I think there was one in New Mexico or somewhere but I forgot about it and left the state without doing it. Wow... maybe we're actually going to pick up a cargo from INSIDE A PLANE!!! It's going to be WILD!


Err..... WHAT!!! It's NEXT TO the plane? But.............. why??? Marched over to the manager's office and after an hour of arguments later....


I'M PICKING UP THE CARGO FROM THE PLANE.
I'M PICKING UP THE CARGO FROM THE PLANE.
I'M PICKING UP THE CARGO FROM THE PLANE.
GOD THIS IS AWESOME.


After picking up the cargo from the plane we stopped for a moment nearby to do some final paperwork and answer a few questions from my secretary. Apparently someone called who was rather irate and had great trouble with the concept that I'm actually the boss of the haulage company they hired.


After that we drove away with the cargo that I PICKED UP FROM INSIDE A FREAKING PLANE.


Pecans again.


Houston's outskirts.




North to Lufkin we go.


We'll check out some more of Lufkin next time.
Krigl

[krigl]

Today we head up to Lufkin from Houston and see a bit more of this transport hub in the centre of eastern Texas.


North of Houston we cross this waterway, which seems to be getting quite a bit of use.


Still carrying this aircraft wing, which we picked up last time from the inside of a Lockheed Galaxy. Can you imagine??!!


Rest stop outside...


...Livingston, I presume.




Lufkin. We've arrived.


This place looks familiar.


As do these curvy roads.


Yesterday I saw an AI truck carrying an aircraft wing. Seems to be getting more popular - I think it might take off.






Lufkin is rather like Huntsville - low rise and understated - but somehow feels less bland. Probably it's the forest setting, and the fact that it is not quite so highway-dominated.






Time to deliver the aircraft wing at this jobsite full of loaders and excavators.


I'm absolutely 100% certain that another truck is going to come along later and take the wing elsewhere. Right?


Once again, none of our concern. We've got other fish to fry.


In this case, the fish would appear to be a Tub Grinder.


It's totally okay to only have Oversize Load on the back, right?




The destination for this fine piece of machinery is Tyler, a smallish place north of Lufkin, northeast of Waco, west of Longview. We've been through there once before.




Still negotiating Lufkin.






On the road at last. We reach Tyler next time.
Krigl

[krigl]

On our way up from Lufkin to Tyler through eastern Texas today.




The tub grinder is quite an imposing machine. It's good to be hauling something relevant to the region.






It seems that we're going to have to wait for Louisiana and Mississippi before we start seeing a lot of swampy wetlands in game, if such things appear at all, of course. I hope so, as it will be cool having another biome to drive through, and there is a lot of flat grassland coming up, beautiful though Kansas is. One dev did mention creating some swampy areas for Arkansas, but I doubt they will dominate. Anyhow, East Texas has shown itself to be primarily either open grasslands or conifer forests, so not quite the 'pilot episode' for the Deep South that I thought (in my ignorance) that it might be. Texas is Deep South in other ways which are not so visible in game. Arkansas is probably going to be quite big on conifers too according to the recent Arkansas Team blog - seems like Arkansas is going to have quite a similar vibe to Washington, but without the mountains. Still, looking forward to it. Presumably they'll want to put it out before Nebraska for the sake of variety, though who knows. The best community ever will find something to complain about whatever they do anyhow, so probably they'll just do whatever's convenient : D




Well, here's Tyler.








Tyler's not a bad place, but I wouldn't want to Liv here.




Here? Well alright.


The next Lufkin-related route connects said central east Texan town with Longview in the northeast, and that happens to be just down the road from Tyler. So, we moseyed on over to Longview and found a nice truck park to sleep in.


Morning has broken. So, what can we take to Lufkin?


Something from Avalanche Steel, apparently. So let's go get it.


What in the world are they? And how's a trucker supposed to concentrate 100% on driving when presented with such... objects in the early morn?


Picked up some, er, steel things.


THREE more of these? Lord have mercy.




Driving east from Longview towards the Louisiana state line. Even up here it's still Louisiana just to the east. Texas does also border on Arkansas (right where Texarkana lies, our final destination on this part of the tour) but the border is very short, Oklahoma lying not much north of Texarkana.




Okay, now we've turned southwards, I think, onto the road running parallel to the state line all the way up from Beaumont to Texarkana. That will be the final journey in Part 4 of the Texas tour, and it's not far off now.






The single, only route southwest to Lufkin was of course blocked when I tried to get onto it. Very blocked. Looks like that police car is going to stop me from getting through completely. Will we manage to get to Lufkin with our steel things? Next time.
Krigl