MidAmerica tour

[krigl]

This time we - pass through Fort Worth and deliver empty pallets to the Freemont jobsite (there for the third and final time), and then start a nice trek from Longview through Tyler, Chandler, Powell and Corsicana to Waco.


Elegant intersection.


Fort Worth. More cool skyscrapers!


And some low-rise urban views.


Passing the railyards.




Fort Worth's second in-game water tower.


Bye for now. We'll revisit the two cities after a couple of posts.


Driving to the Freemont jobsite SW of Fort Worth.








The delivery point is just up ahead, and that's the second section of Part 3 of the Texas tour over. We've done the western and northern sides of the upside-down triangle of roads that surround central Texas.


The third and final section (the eastern side of the triangle) is still to come - Longview to San Antonio via Waco and Austin. And here we are in NW Longview, approaching the flour mill (well, I think that's what it is) which is there.








Flour in that? Maybe. Perhaps it's something else, though...




Nicely decorated bridge as we leave Longview.




Driving to Tyler.


Here's Tyler.


A lot of land for a relatively small house.


Starting out from Tyler towards Waco.






The scenery was pretty nice, so it's a two part trip through 3 unmarked settlements. That will have to wait till tomorrow.
Krigl

[krigl]

We’re on a two part journey from Tyler to Waco.


There are 3 unmarked settlements on the route, and the first is very close to Tyler: Chandler.


I wonder if the place was founded by Philip Marlowe fans.


In any case, it has a Denny’s, but no time to stop.


Back out in the countryside, and this guy was having some trouble passing us.




Swerved around a bit to make him nervous, and managed to pull ahead for a while.


Passing a grassy rest stop placed between the two carriageways.


Deer grazing, seemingly oblivious to the distant hum of traffic.


Typical Deep South scenery? Perhaps.








Making another go of it.


I was unable to shake him this time, and he pulled ahead as we reached the next place on the route – Powell.




Quite a small place, Powell, probably a village.


Just a few amenities, and a highway through the middle. I’m not sure if we even needed to slow down.




On we go, and the third settlement is already visible up ahead. Well, the water tower, anyway, which is often the first thing you see.


And here we are – Corsicana – which is the most detailed of the three places on the route. Definitely a small town, at least.










No. No way am I getting back in the car until it stops floating. It ain’t natural.


The journey continues from Corsicana to Waco in the next set.
Krigl

[krigl]

Continuing to Waco from Corsicana today.

Corsicana is just a drive-thru scenery town, but has plenty to see.














1. Texas Crash Pown – whaaaat? A misspelling? Substituting certain letters in Pown creates other words, but still none that make sense.
2. The route without the pout. Took me several seconds to remember that in the US ‘route’ is not pronounced the same as ‘root’.




Alright, alright. Time to leave this fine little pown behind.


On the way to Waco now.


Waco is a well-known name for me, as I remember hearing the news about the siege and tragedy of the Branch Davidian cult and David Koresh back in 1993. Have just been reading about it now to refresh my memory, and I recommend this wiki article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege. A whole ton of crazy right there.












Entering Waco now.








Passing an athletics track on the way to the delivery site.


Waco stadium and the ATS bank.




Lacy Lakeview? A strange name. It’s a combination of three settlements, Lacy, Lakeview and Northcrest, and is part of the Waco Metropolitan Statistical Area. So there.


We’ll check out central Waco in a few sets’ time. Right now our next task is to cover some routes between Waco, Tyler, Fort Worth and Dallas.


Flour delivered to Walmart... Hmm. Sure. Well, anyway… Waco to Fort Worth next time.
Krigl

[krigl]

This time we're driving from Waco up to Fort Worth with a cargo of Coke. The drink.


A bear is watching me, and there’s no one there to watch the bear.


Hard to imagine a more American type of cargo.


Just think, all those pipes and cylinders, absolutely bursting with sugary, carbonated beverage. I can feel my teeth loosening in my skull just thinking about it.


Still in the Lacy Lakeview part of the Waco conurbation.


When you have identical twins working in your loading bays.




Not right now, I’m driving.


Out of town and heading northwest, I guess.


Spooky.


Perfect for Halloween. They’ve really nailed it.




A nameless place on the route to Fort Worth.






Okay, it’s decision time. Do we really want to go to Fort Worth?


That’s a resounding yes.




Are you totally, absolutely sure? One last chance to change your mind?


Errr...


I know, how about Dallas?


How about a big cup of shut the… ah, the jobsite's this way. In Arlington again. Well. All. Right. Then.


If only everyone was happy just making friends.








Six Ducks over Texas. Flags, I meant flags.




White gold delivered to Walmart, job well done. We shall revisit Dallas next time.
Krigl

[krigl]

On this trip we'll be passing Dallas and then heading south to a rest stop for the evening.






The city looks great at all times of day. Will have to get some night shots sometime, I guess in Part 6.












Leaving the city behind now.


Orange...45? Can't quite make out the number.




Suburbs at dusk.




A ton of billboards, very authentic feeling.


The loneliness of the long-distance driver.




Rest stop reached.


Let's get some sleep.


Back in Tyler now on a different day. Slept in the cab at the site.


Morning arrives...


...time to wake up. Went for a quick jog to stretch my sore muscles.


Two trailers packed with ''architectural glass'' for a construction site east of Dallas. They're very small windows. Toilet windows. Approx. 1000 well-packed small-format toilet windows.




Half of this car is engine - might be interesting to drive. We'll finish this final trip to Dallas next time.
Krigl

[krigl]

Completing the trip from Tyler to Dallas now.


Heading westwards from Tyler. I hope this mist clears up soon, it's not good for tour pics.




Strange signage.


Road closed, apparently. I wonder if it will ever open?


Oh my, looks like a bit of a jam.


Passing someplace or other.


Looks like a significant building...


Cowboy Church! Well well...


And next door a cowboy ritual.


Yee-haw!! I bet this ain't his first rodeo.


How is a gal supposed to contemplate life's mysteries with all that whoopin' an' hollerin' going on, really.


And next door from there... ??? Apparently they have antiques auctions there.


So these are... antiques??


Well, these are definitely antiques.


Now we're firmly in the Neogene, so... antiques or not? Let the audience decide! Perhaps they're all cake?


Anyhow, had to pull in at a weigh station as we neared Dallas. Glass is pretty heavy.


Another sign for Shreveport. Maybe in a year?


And there's Dallas again.


Okay, okay, I get it.


Low-rise shops, maybe a suburban town centre.


Grand Prix at Austin. That would be fun, doubt we'll catch it though.




Yet another complex intersection.


The road to the east of Dallas takes you close to the skyscrapers - awesome!


Our delivery point - a construction site hungry for toilet windows.


It's perhaps just a teeny-weeny bit early in the construction process to be delivering glass, but they seem to have plenty of space...


A final parting view of Dallas. We'll be back to see different parts of it and Forth Worth in Part Six of the tour in a few months, I hope.
We'll check out the city of Waco next time. Thanks for looking in!
Krigl

[krigl]

Touring Waco today - the penultimate city in Part 3 of this tour.


New Big City paintjob in preparation for Austin.


Station wagon.






I wonder if there's one employee at SCS who has to do all the cemeteries, or if they take turns.


Texas Rangers Hall of Fame and museum.


A monument to the famous Lorem Ipsum.


Bridge crossing.




Thiccpaths.


Fancy HQ for the ATS Bank. Thanks for all the loans over the years, guys.


Another Texas U-turn / turnaround.


Back over the bridge.




Love this mural.


Holed up in the Tractor Supply Co. car park. Those are lamp posts, right? Or... legs?


Dinner time.


On the way back from Mc Donalds.


Watched Spielberg's War of the Worlds in the evening before sleep, which was a mistake as I later dreamt of giant hamburgers on spindly legs looming over Waco. Still, had a job to do in the morning, so gathered my wits and got started.


This guy looks how I felt.


I. Hate. This. Job.


Bags of fertilizer? I was hoping for tractors. It's not called the Fertilizer Supply Co., after all.


Misty morning atmosphere.


Well, we're heading into the green heart of Texas one more time - back to Early, but this time from the south.


On the way out of Waco.


Stopped at Love's for breakfast. I've seen a few of these scales at various American rest stops, and have idly wondered on occasion if they are actually functional. Turns out they are. What purpose this serves, I don't know, but I weighed myself and the rig both before and after breakfast to see if it was sensitive enough to pick up the extra grams. Sadly it wasn't.


Oh no, but I visited the restrooms after breakfast and... well... you know. Probably cancelled everything out. No wonder there was no clear result. Will have to try it again sometime. Next set - most of the journey to Early.
Krigl

[krigl]

Driving from Waco most of the way to Early today. The interior of the 'upside-down central Texas triangle' didn't disappoint in the scenery department once again.


Plenty of trucks parked up at the Waco rest stop.


Leaving Waco and its Harvestman-like giant hamburgers behind now. Just discovered that Harvestmen are not spiders, but spider-like arachnids. Well I never. I bet the person responsible for that was the same guy that demoted Pluto.


Leaving the Waco-Austin freeway and heading 'inland'.




En-route we meet the slightly unpleasantly named town of Killeen.




Killeen looks eminently driveable. Perhaps that was the intention, and then someone decided 'enough already'. It is rather close to Waco.










A brief stretch of countryside before meeting the next settlement on the route.


Lampasas. This place has a very Wild West 'this town ain't big enough for the both of us' cowboy family feud in its history, pretty interesting: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/tx-horrellbrothers/


I found out about it while trying to find out the significance of these ruined walls and graves on the internet. Failed, but learned about the Horrell Boys instead, so time quite well spent.






Quite a large church for a smallish place.


Seeing this after reading about how ineffective law enforcement in these parts seems to have been 150-odd years ago made me smile.


What? Er, nothing officer, sir. Just thinking out loud, planning my route.


Lampasas behind us now.


Attractive spot.


Has anyone seen an endlessly whiny blonde girl with pointy ears around here?






That's it for today. Next time we reach Early, and then explore a final part of Waco.
Krigl

[krigl]

Continuing our trip from Waco to Early...


Nearing Early, I spotted this monument off to the side of the road, and some people nearby. I couldn't resist taking a look - perhaps it's the marker for the geographical centre of Texas? Walking up to the monument, I couldn't believe just how noisy this part of the Texan countryside is. I expected to hear insects, birds maybe, but everything was drowned out by some inconsiderate people honking their horns. Still, the most important thing on my mind was - am I at the closest point to the geographical centre of Texas?


No.


Well, this is jolly, isn't it? Everyone alright back there?


I showed my guinea pigs this picture and they wouldn't stop uiiieeeeping for about half an hour.


That cop we saw in Lampasas is still on my tail. Must have overheard me.


We've arrived in Early. Twinned with Tarde in Portugal and Kwa Wakati in Uganda.


So, I got in the car, but I'm still not happy about it.


Never going to get these guys off my tail. It was just a joke, dammit.




Scraped and scabbed knees are an integral part of childhood.


Longhorn outside the local primary school.




Early has a lot of details, love this place. Just a shame there isn't at least one jobsite.


Ah, it's the local cop shop. The guys trailing me pulled in there, so it was all a coincidence. Oof.


They told me to just drop the trailer with fertilizer off here in the petrol station car park. They're going to sell it to the local farmers straight from the trailer, apparently. Well, okay.


Idaho potatoes advert. I won't forget all those endless loads of potatoes I delivered in that state in a hurry...


...because there's nothing to forget. I don't think I delivered a single solitary potato in Idaho - not one.


Well, anyway, we're back in Waco now, and off to the local glassworks.




A total of three old-looking water towers in this part of Waco.








Alright, got the glass glass glass 161616. Destination - Austin, the state capital.




...if you're a really slow walker.

Austin in the next set. Cheers!!
Krigl

[krigl]

The next two sets are centred on the Texan state capital, Austin, whose dramatic skyline dominates the surrounding area.


Leaving Waco behind us.


Not this time, we're going straight ahead.




And there Austin is on the horizon.


Looks like a pretty nice rest stop.


Farmers heading into town in their Sunday car.


This glass is going to a construction site north of Austin.








Exceptionally tall-looking pylons. A bit like baobabs.




But think of the mosquitoes!


Lots of offices round here, it seems.


And factories, or perhaps logistics warehouses.


But moar are needed, and so is our glass.






Left the whole trailer there. They once again seem to be hoarding the glass for some indeterminate time in the future when the buildings have actually been constructed.


Picked up something from Sam's Club. Not sure what.


Closing in on Austin's downtown.


And here we are, with the Capitol at the far right. As with the other major cities, it's a shame that you can't get in among the skyscrapers a bit, and drive with them rising up all around you, see some city streets, deliver to shops and construction sites... If this option was there, I'd give this vast and impressive DLC a straight 10/10.


As it is, you can only look, making this a modernised version of SCS's traditional style of cities from 2012- a few roads with jobsites, and something vaguely resembling the city on the horizon in 2D. This modernised version is of course far far far better, but it's still just a static view that you can't interact with in any way. A bit of a shame. But it does look very cool...






Aaaand... that was Austin's downtown. Next set: the second of Austin's jobsite zones (it has 3, one to the north, where we've been, one to the South, where we're going now, and one to the East, which we'll visit last).
Krigl