I arrived in Houston to much fanfare, though it obviously wasn't aimed at me. My visit coincided with soldiers returning from their tours of duties. So I had to navigate through the crowd of patriotic crazy women, soldiers in full uniform acting as a guard of honour, and a rather inordinate amount of american flags. The other issue was the guard of honour was around the exit, and I had no desire to walk through that. Especially as the odd small British girl with the large rucksack. The applause, the tears it was incredibly melodramatic, but also oddly stirring. The level of patriotism was very apparent, and I knew I was in Texas. The obvious downside to the soldiers being about, was that no one would direct me to the buses, or any other transport other
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