“Is England where they speak English but with an accent?….”

After a very stormy night as well as really starting to suffer with hayfever, we began the journey down to Texas. It was a seven hour drive so we included a couple of stops. The first one was Chickasaw National Recreation Area. This was an area with springs, swimming holes and waterfalls. It was full of people making the most of the Memorial Day weekend sun! People setting up camp, swimming in the river or just relaxing! We didn’t spend very long here and soon moved on towards Dallas.

There’d been an accident on the freeway so traffic was backed up but it was the easiest and cheapest city we had encountered so far to park! Our stop was the sixth floor museum at Dealey Plaza. I was gutted to see a sign saying “tickets sold out for today” as we pulled into the parking lot. For those of you who don’t know, Dealey Plaza is the site where John Fitzgerald Kennedy was assassinated on 22nd November 1963. The sixth floor of the museum is where his alleged murderer, Lee Harvey Oswald, fired his fatal shot.There is a memorial approximately 200 yards east of where JFK was assassinated in a park with fountains. Dealey Plaza hosts the ‘X’ where he was shot.The plaque is from the speech he was meant to give the day he died. There are still conspiracy theories surrounding his death and many Americans believe that a group of conspirators and not Lee Harvey Oswald were responsible for his death. This is evident on the plaque on the building where the assassin was. You can see the word ‘alleged’ highlighted by someone who believes the conspiracy theory! People claimed to hear three shots, the fatal shot was to Kennedy’s head. He was pronounced dead at 13:00. About an hour and a half later, Vice President Lyndon B Johnson was sworn into office. Oswald never went to trial for the murder of JFK. He was shot by Jack Ruby two days after the assassination. 

There is so much interest and intrigue within American history. Each President was different. I truly find them fascinating. As we were walking around the town near Dealey Plaza you could hear murmurings of people, adults and children, talking about the assassination and how they couldn’t understand how the shot went from the 6th floor through the trees into the car. It truly does seem something that truly baffles many people. It is an event that invokes questions and gets people talking. The queues for the 6th floor museum were insane. They were queuing for the 4pm timed tour at 2pm! I think I’m going to buy a book on the Presidents and see what my own view is 🤔

The older buildings around Dealey Plaza have remained pretty much the same as they were in 1963. The red museum is an example of this. It is a stark contrast to the background of skyscrapers further behind the town. As we left Dallas, they were doing roadworks on pretty much every road. It was a nightmare to get out of. The satnav was going crazy and then we got stuck at a railroad crossing whilst a two mile train passed through! It seemed like a really rough place we were waiting so all doors and windows were locked!

Eventually we got onto the freeway and headed towards Houston. Again going for something different for dinner we stopped at Jack in the Box. As we went to order the computer crashed. When it eventually got going the waitress asked us what we wanted. Nathan ordered his then I ordered my chicken burger without tomato. That was it. She was completely thrown so I retracted and told her I’ll pick it out. Eventually the order was processed. I ordered a homestead chicken ranch burger and got this…I mean that just looks like the best burger right? She even said she liked our accent and where were we from. Standard reply of ‘England’ and the best reply ever which was ‘is that where they speak English just with an accent?’ Yes, yes it is! I mean I know we’re in a place where they translate a lot to Spanish but we spoke clearly when we ordered and I clearly did not have a burger! She probably wouldn’t have understood us if we went back to change it so I ate my healthy salad 😂!! 

After another long day on the road with a few stops we arrived at our hotel in Houston. A bit of luxury for the night at just $50!!! A nice suite 👸🤴🏼 before we venture to Space Centre Houston tomorrow!!

Until next time…