Today was our first quiet day on the trip. We enjoyed an extra hour in bed and spent most of the day gaining ground by driving out of Texas. You can drive 100 miles or more on these roads without making so much as a single turn, so we knew it would be an easy run. Even with several stops, we clocked more than 500 miles by the time we pulled into a motel. Also, gas has proven cheaper in Texas and the scenery is stunning, making this leg of the journey a real joy.

                                                   

In addition to mileage, we also increased our burgeoning grave tally today with a stop in Lubbock, Texas, to visit the final resting place of legendary songwriter Buddy Holly. It was a humble memorial for such a huge talent and we were glad to have made the extra effort required to find the city cemetery in his home town. You'll notice that the grave bears the original spelling of his surname - 'Holley'.

In the early evening, we crossed into New Mexico, giving us another state to tag on the website. We passed through the village of Fort Sumner, New Mexico (lots of Billy the Kid action there) and stopped for the night in the city of Santa Rosa. So far, every motel we've stayed in has been able to provide us with good, clean wi-fi. Perfect for updating the blog and keeping up with comments and other happenings back home in the UK.

The crossing into New Mexico also means that we are now on Mountain Time, giving us yet another extra hour to play with. Loll and Sooze spent it swimming in the hotel pool while Dale and I checked on Twitter and the blog. Tomorrow, as the heat rises up from the road and the seemingly endless strip of black asphalt snakes away into the distance, we will join the historic old Route 66 for the first time.

One of the things that I personally wanted to achieve on this trip was to locate at least one VHS store. I had some amazing people based in Texas informing me that Austin was the place to be for such a store. My mind instantly dreamed up images of the Alamo Drafthouse and the Mondo shop, movie posters and t-shirts, along with all other cool things that my fragile mind has yet to see in America.

Unfortunately we were headed to Texas from Little Rock which meant that Austin would have been almost four hours out of the way, and then four hours back up to our planned route. I do promise to visit Austin in the not too distant future though, the place sounds incredible.

I made a polite plea to all movie lovers in the Dallas area as that was the planned destination in Texas. I had some great suggestions back from the land of Twitter concerning my beloved cassette tapes and after a long day we headed straight for a little place that I now like to call home, that place is called Half Price Books by the lucky locals.

             

We arrived at about 7pm (it's open until 11pm) and pulled up on the car park outside. We then burst through the wonder emporium's doors in a similar style to Arnie and Sinbad in Jingle All The Way. Turbo Man is not on our minds in this little treasure hunt though.

Simon went his own way, running towards the movie soundtrack section and I went mine, skipping all the way to the VHS shelves and almost knocking over a sweet old lady in the process.

I cannot describe in enough words just how amazing the store is. Vintage books line the walls. VHS are all stored in alphabetical order. It's as if I never left home. CDs, LPs, Laserdiscs, DVDs - you name it. It's all inside all under one roof.

Although the tapes are NTSC over here, the artwork on some was just too good to turn down, so I grabbed a few. I then dragged my many treasures towards the checkout. I looked like a girl scout pulling her cookies around the neighbourhood.

The legend behind the counter also gave me a free cassette style gift card which looks pretty cool. I'd like to think his name was Earl or something great like that. A huge shout out must go to @ReelDistraction for the suggestion and also the whole of Dallas for housing such an incredible store.

I have also left a little something in one of the VHS tapes for a lucky local to find and pass on. I'm sure U can find it if you look hard enough.

@VivaVHS

We drove another 300 miles this morning, arriving in Texas at lunch time. It's amazing how easy it is to cover fairly large distances over here. The weather is so good and the traffic so light that it was simply great fun to crank up some tunes and cruise on in to Dallas.

Signs on the roads in this part of the United States have a tendency to combine religious messages with sales promotions. So you get stuff like 'Jesus is the answer. Budget RVs next three exits'. There are also some terrific names given to towns out here. I was more than a little curious to take the exit that said 'Fate, 1 mile'.

We stopped for lunch at a Sonic drive-in restaurant; the kind of retro deal where they roller skate to your car with the order. We all had burgers the size of small children. I washed mine down with a strawberry milkshake that was so tasty, I went inside to shake hands with every employee.

       

We arrived in Dallas in the early afternoon. Driving up Houston Street and taking the sharp right onto Elm, we found ourselves recreating the chilling and eerily familiar Presidential parade route taken by the Kennedy motorcade on November 22, 1963. We parked up outside of the Sixth Floor Museum housed in the former Texas Book Depository. It was from the sixth floor window of this building that Lee Harvey Oswald allegedly fired the fatal shots that killed Kennedy. These days, it's a museum, so we went inside to take the tour.

                                         

Although we were not allowed to take photographs or to film inside the museum, we can report that the tour was fascinating and well worth the price of admission. Dealey Plaza hasn't changed much at all in the years since the assassination. We wandered about on the famous Grassy Knoll and took some photos.

Afterwards, we headed into the shopping areas of Dallas. We found a shop selling belt buckles, lassos and ten gallon hats. It offered such diverse choice in cowboy boots, I thought I had walked into Jon Bon Jovi's closet. As it was Loll's birthday, I bought her an authentic Texan hat. We then celebrated with an excellent steak dinner in the Y.O. Ranch Steakhouse. I wasn't driving, so Johnnie Walker Blue Label made an appearance during dessert.

             

Dallas is stunning at night. The buildings rise up out of the landscape like some kind of futuristic Delta City. We found the driving a bit hairy on the roads leading in and out though. For example, we joined the freeway and had to exit from the left lane almost immediately. That doesn't sound too bad until you consider that there were five or six lanes. Grab your socks and 'hose and turn!

Sooze happened to be at the wheel for this particular set of road games and she handled it with the same ease that she affords her reverse spinning roundhouse kicks. Before we knew it, we were back on the open road. At 10pm, still 82 degrees, we began crossing deep into the heart of the Lone Star state.