Day Seven - Houston, TX to Oklahoma City, OK

After a much needed rest in Houston, I headed back up I-45 towards Oklahoma aiming to get back on Route 66 by the evening.

The road going up was less full of "Used Armadillo" but I did see the most impressive road kill to date - a wolf. Whoever hit that wolf must have done some pretty serious damage to their vehicle - unless it was one of the myriad of 128 wheeler trucks that seem to own this stretch of road in Texas. I am assuming the only bigger road kill I may see will be a "highway worker" - probably lying next to a cheque for $10,000 (or at least if it was in Missouri - here in Texas Highway Workers may be free - who knows?)

Remarkable place names abound in Texas - again displaying the American fondness for appropriating place names from other cities or even entire countries. The Lebanese from Lebanon, Missouri are sure to be relieved to have some brethren in Texas. I am talking of the Palestinians from Palestine, who live not far away from a town called Italy, Texas. That in turn is near Athens, Texas which is in the same time zone (i.e. within driving distance) of Paris, Texas - made famous by the great Wim Wender's film of the same name....

Bizarre to say the least.

Interestingly, while in Houston I chatted with a Palestinian immigrant (from Jerusalem - the original Jerusalem - not the Jerusalem that will inevitably be located near Shitsville, Nebraska....). He told me there were around 125,000 Arabs in Houston and that life had been good to them - the majority being Lebanese and Palestinian (again, the genuine article). However, they were all now considering another place as their next stop climbing the ladder of prosperity and security. A place in the Middle East which offers them the best of America - opportunity, freedom, comparative safety - but without the bigotry, racism and distance from home (both literally and in terms of being far from their culture). That place? Dubai - of course.

In fact, I noticed a distinct similarity between Dubai and some of America's larger and more prosperous cities like Houston. Large immigrant population, an economy which has had to diversify and a growth of urban and suburban districts springing from the ground with "perfect" gated communities living in a Truman Show like environment where even the Town Square and "neighbourhood" have been instantly and artifically created to give a sense of comfort, home and security.

Of course communities don't grow like this - they need time and an opportunity to grow their own identity away from the schemes and dreams of architects, master planners and entrepreneurial real estate developers.

Interesting that the American Dream is beginning to become tarnished enough for some immigrants to want to return to where they came from....

Anyway, I guess there is one country whose name the Texans won't steal to name a new city . . . and that country would be Iraq....