TigerTanker: Winter 2021/2022 Southern Blitzkrieg

I decided to continue to hug the border and drive through Laredo on way to Port Isabel/South Padre Island. It got dark shortly before I got there and spent the night at a road side rest area. The next morning I awoke and a bigger dog, but a puppy approached me. He tried so hard to get me to adopt him, and I probably would have if I'd been at home. It hurt to leave the dog behind but my Abbey has already had to deal with becoming second fiddle to a Chihuaha and I just didn't have the room or ability for another dog. But, I think about that guy, but also know that his engaging happy personality probably had him taken by a loving owner very shortly. So, off I drive to the Gulf which I' have never seen, or the "Third Coast" as they call it, or "Texas Riviera". For some reason I had low expectations.... And wow, wow, wow was I wrong.

 

I spent 3 nights on the beach of South San Padre. $12 per night, $30 for the month! Clean beaches with regular LEO drive-bys and daily trash pickup. The surf shops were cool, and the area wasn't overdeveloped. I swam each day in the waves and the water was surprisingly warm, nearly Hawaii. Temps in the mid 70's or better. Wow, in December??? One night it got a bit windy and sand got into EVERYTHING. This is the kind of experience you dream of, truly one of the greatest beach experience of my life and I could not have misunderstimated the Gulf coast any more than I had. But guess what? It would soon get even better!

 

So my next stop would be Corpus Christi. I generally had an idea that I'd stay on the North Padre Island area and then I just randomly hit apparently the sweet spot, Mustang Island. Wow, this place is 100/100 and is now on the high side of my buy a place to live list.

In the first pic of the dunes, see the Cactus?
The next pic was of someone that drove too close to the water, take a close look and...this tranny nearly blew a tranny trying to get out. Went back the next day and chatted, they actally got out of that situation after the use of two trucks and $650 later.
How about yielding to a Oil Rig in an intersection in Port Aransas??
Salty Dog Bar and grill welcomed both me and the dog and Abbey got the rock star treatment by everyone in the bar, so much fun wee went back the next night.
I figured it was time to move on when I noticed my stuff starting to rust from salt, wind, water and storm clouds looking biblical headed my way...pretty sure these went to Kansas...
Folks, YOU WANT TO VISIT THIS AREA!!

 

Ok, so now it was time to visit Galveston, a place I've read about and was familiar with the deadly Hurricane of 1900 that killed between 8-12000 people. I drove up the coast and got to Freeport, a very busy industrial port and then drove into Surfside at the strong suggestion of someone. Surf town for sure, it's really cool. Wound up spending the night again on the beach before heading into Galveston and staying in a cheap buggy hotel.

 

Didn't take too many pics in Galveston. As you can see in the one picture, a very tragic story of the 1900 Hurricane with the orphanage. I could very clearly feel the presence of ghosts in Galveston, and my hotel room phone would ring regularly with nobody on the line, and hung up. I have a connection to some other world and I think spirits know it, but that is another story for another kind of board. I stayed at the La Quinta inn, very good location and at 215 bucks all included with a dog for 3 nights it was like stealing...other than the trashy lot, the cockroaches etc.... the room itself wasnt really that bad but DO NOT DRINK the coffee from the maker, there's a roach in it! LOL.... I took Abbey to Petsmart and she freaked out and dug in trying to escape but she needed nails done, teeth brushed, ears cleaned.... and I suspected it would cost a good $100 plus... NOPE, $26?? so I tipped $25 more and took my nerve rattled but prim and proper dog back with me to the Hurricane barrier for a nice walk. Galveston is a MUST visit. The pier with amusement park looked very fun, but the list of stuff to do there is very very long. Lots and lots of beach, but didn't swim,,, instead a very long bike ride along the seawall. I was told to take the ferry off the island and was glad I did! The White Pelican is the second largest wingspan to the Cali Condor at ....120 inches!! These birds DWARF the otherwise large brown pelican. The drive then out was a nice coastal drive along the Bolivar Peninsula..yet another fantastic community of beaches and high end stilt homes. And so ended my nearly 2 weeks on the Texas Riviera! My drive would then really pick up speed and miles as I'd drive along the coast to Lake Charles Lousiana then head up north towards Arkansas.

 

As I have mentioned earlier, one of my favorite parts of travel is to see if your expectations and imagination are correct about new places. Having left Texas coming to realize that yes Texas has lots of desert scrub, it also has an incredible coast. Now, in Lousiana my very low expectations were once again dispelled. I expected a very swampy trashy State, but instead I found a very pleasant pine tree and countryside with nice little towns as I drove the day to the north. Finally it got dark and I found the Toledo Reservoir and a campground that I could sleep at. Spent the morning taking Abbey for a walk on the shoreline of a place probably thoroughly enjoyed by locals during hot summer days. And even now, this time of the year, the temps in my drive north were from low 70's to almost 80. Wow. What really blew me away was all the forest of pine trees and logging operations.

 

Now on my second full moon of my trip

 

So next up was to make it into Tennessee via Arkansas. And with all these pleasant surprises, surely Arkansas would be nice too right? I mean, I'd be sure to miss the city home to the vilest President ever, so I made a line to Pine Bluff Arkansas. Man...what a dump! Only Navajo country of AZ is trashier than all of what I saw in Arkansas. Sorry if that offends, and perhaps I took the wrong stretch of us hwy ..... And into Memphis, I went and low and behold I'd found Mecca for semi-trucks! 70% of freeway traffic was commercial! Then it really started raining so I got off the freeway and drove around Memphis on smaller roads to avoid the trucks and the rain. I wound up going 50mph right through a 4 ways stop sign in my first damn that could have killed me or someone moment of the trip. The rain was relentless and finally, I crashed out by the side of the road on the Trail of Tears Highway in Pulaski Tennessee. I'd been driving in the dark and I hate that, cuz you might miss something. The next morning was a bit better visibility and I drove the 64 hwy all the way to Chatanooga and couldn't have been more impressed. Beautiful countryside, and right by where the Jack Daniels distillery is was a high-end old housing community that just made you wanna stop and move in.

 

I wound up driving up from Chattanooga to the East of Knoxville on a road that turned out to be rather blah. I have a client that lives in Dandridge so I grabbed a Hotel nearby and made arrangements for lunch today. She moved here from Washington along with her two adult sons about 7-8 yrs ago and just loves it here. They too soured on liberal Washington State. One son a Trucker, had found East Tennessee to be much like Washington so he got his brother, and mom/dad to come out here. This place is indeed nice, and the people here are rather charming.

In the pics above, well, if you come to the South you must order "Fried Green Tomatoes", well these were a bit over fried but crossed that off the list.
Dandridge is named after Martha Dandridge, wife of George Washington. It's the second oldest town in Tennessee.
Tennessee is home to Oakridge Nuke, part of the Manhattan Project during WW2. So they needed electricity. So the Tennessee Valley Authority TVA built dams everywhere to create electricity. In the pic you can see the very low waterline as they release the water in the early fall.
The store above was dog friendly and very people friendly too. Abbey got the rock star treatment again.

I come into town here and I'm now at the point where the Tundra needs some service. I need oil, might as well do the rear differential (see my story about that subject...), tires rotated, check air filter, check fuel filter?, inspect brakes, lube chassis after all that sand/salt...and????? Oh, I got a trailer warning light that came on that warned me that the electrical connection for the trailer was wrong or not working...uh oh.... pretty sure i'ts corrosion in my connector from the beach time. So I bought electric grease and electric cleaner spray...but the light came back. Tomorrow will really try to clean it up, as there was a section where the corrosion was rather visibly obvious. The trouble with all this service is that I need it now, not scheduled, and it's Christmas week. So on Monday, I'll call a dealer where I'm headed next to see if they can squeeze me in when I show up on Tuesday.

 

The mask sign on the door is an indication that I'm not in WOKE Washington anymore....

 

I was getting a bit stressed out yesterday about what I'm doing next. I have it in my head that I wanna enter Florida on the first week of the New Year. So I was trying to figure out where to go next. Also, I have not ridden my motorcycle in a bit, since the beach and felt guilty about not trying to find a dirt venue here in TN, since this is a prime dirt area. But the weather kinda sucks and....

I kept staring at the computer trying to figure out what to do but kept getting frustrated and drawing a blank. Then it finally came to me this afternoon, let's just play connect the dots.... and I think I have an AWESOME plan next!

I'm going to cross the Smokey Mountain National Park into Cherokee NC, then Clayton GA, then Clemson SC, then Henderson NC, then Asheville hoping for truck service. From there.. .the famous Blue Ridge Parkway to Virginia, then Mt Airy, then down the 158 after Winston Salem to the NE coast of North Carolina and follow the thin coast line down Kitty Hawk, the ferry and into Wilmington NC. Then Myrtle Beach, then Charleston before Savannah Georgia where I'll meet a very good friend of mine that moved there from Washington about 4 yrs ago.

Ok, that's my loosely written plan as of the eve of this journey. Wish me well.

 

The laser show was an idea I hatched back in May while sitting by the fire in the woods. And as the fire ban of summer came, it made a nice substitute to a campfire.
My wife loves our house and doesn't want to sell/leave. I'm looking for a second home, that for me will probably be my primary home. I'll buy something that my wife likes, i hope.
Right now prices are so inflated that I'm really just getting ideas where to buy when the market has a pullback.
I have cut my cost of living and business expenses to the BONE. Trying to save lots of money and fast right now. For the first time in my life I'm being rather frugal!

 

Thanks for the encouragement.

Travel like this isn't all fun and games, there's some work involved with it too. But, I will say that I am really getting into this and think that after I come home and get caught up on things for 6 weeks or so, I may just hit the road again for several months. I'd like to see the North next, Idaho, Montana, Dakotas and bring my 17 yr old son with me.

The trailer is so efficient with the truck. I do need the Hotels for laundry and generally clean up and orientation, take a break, call clients and do a bit of work. This isn't a bad gig at all and I'm already sensing how fast time is moving and before I know it I'll be homeward bound.

This does come at a cost. I miss my daughter's birthday on Monday, Thanksgiving, Xmas, and not everyone is pleased with this. I do also really miss my other dog.... But I've been thinking about this trip for many months and I do really want to fully complete the trip.

A few weeks back, just as I got into Texas one of my biggest accounts died. At 100, that wasn't so hard to expect, and I wondered if I should head home to deal with the estate and paperwork. Then I realized that I simply couldn't do that..... I'm going to keep on going and stick to my March return date come hell or high water.

 

Great report! Man, I really need to see some other parts of the country. Nice pics too.

Looking forward to your next installment

 

@TigerTanker You still traveling?