HILL COUNTRY 2025
  
 

Day 05

November 14

 
   
  It's going to be a long day of almost 600 miles so I am up early and after it.  
   
  I head for I10 which will be the route for most of the day, figuring I'll get breakfast somewhere along the way.  
   
  When I approach San Antonio I exit I10 so I can take a bypass around most of the construction and traffic jams.  
   
  I'm doing pretty well traffic wise until I get almost to the end. But this backup is one of minutes instead of an hour so soon I am back on I10 and rolling along again.  
   
  But as always on the slab, you encounter what I call the 'elephant dance'. It is two semis side by side and neither one has the power to pass the other one. This can go on for miles and miles which is pretty frustrating and causes dangerous backups of other vehicles behind them.  
   
  But I finally get by that mess and am back out where there is little traffic.  
   
  It's quite foggy this morning and the sun only appears as a muted white globe hanging in the sky.  
   
  Before I tackle Houston, which I am dreading, I get fuel for me and SweetTreat. I prefer Loves truck stops when on the slab as they have clean restrooms and good snacks. They just started a new menu item - biscuits with hen fruit and pig meat and I certainly avail myself of that option.  
   
  For my route, there is no good way but straight through Houston on I10 and the closer I get the heavier the traffic gets.  
   
  But then the little light comes on and I realize I can legally use the HOV lane which is pretty empty.  
   
  That gets me through most of the heavy Houston traffic and I wave a good-bye to the downtown area as I pass.  
   
  As I make my way along, I remember how much of the area is devoted to refineries. They are pretty much everywhere you look along the highway.  
   
  Every now and then you get a glimpse of the water which leads out to the Gulf.  
   
  Before long it's time for SweetTreat to get some fuel and for me to get rid of some. And once again Loves is my stop of choice for both.  
   
  Further along I pass the exit for Bridge City. That would take me close to Port Neches, the hometown of my beloved CB & Wilma - two of the finest people a feller would ever want to meet. They are both gone now to their long home and I really miss them.  
   
  I see one of the refineries that was closer to their home and it triggers more fond memories of the great times I had visiting them.  
   
  And I pass by another waterway that leads out to the Gulf.  
   
  Soon I cross over into Louisiana and take the turnoff to put me on highway 165. This road will take me all the way from I10 to Alexandria, LA close to Natchez my destination for the evening.  
   
  Some parts of it are lined with tall pines which gives it a nice windbreak.  
   
  Then I come through a town that always makes me chuckle. Every one of their signs - street signs, do not enter signs, warning signs, stop signs, etc., are on really fancy poles with decorative bases. I have to wonder just who paid for all of that and why was all of that money spent.  
   
  And happily before sunset, I am back at the bridges across the Mississippi River that will land me in Natchez.  
   
  My first stop on the way in is at The Pig Out Inn BBQ place so that I might get some more proper nourishment before I pillow my head.  
   
  It's a short hop from here to the Red Carpet Inn and it's a good thing. That BBQ really makes your belly swell and I can feel the skin being pulled down over my eyes. It does not take me long to find that blessed land of sleep.