I left my heart in Texas

I was made an honorary citizen!

Texas has my heart. I’ve just completed a wonderful trip to the state and am looking forward to sharing all my videos with you from the Lone Star State in the near future.

Before I share more details, I want to acknowledge the pain and suffering that many locals are currently going through following the awful events in Uvalde, Texas. Indeed, it seems trivial for me to talking about my adventures through the USA at such a time.

Truth is, like many others, I have been deeply affected by the tragic mass shooting at a school. I struggle to reconcile the fact that while on my journey in the USA, I’ve met some of the kindest and thoughtful people, and at the same time knowing that regular violent outbursts are a tragic reality here.

It doesn’t make sense, and despite what some here say, America does not have a higher rate of mental health problems than many other developed nations like my own home country, nor does it have a greater percentage of extremists, and yet, as we’ve seen several times in the pasts months, violent and weaponised outbursts continue to happen.

I arrived in Texas with a heavy heart and with my thoughts firmly with those who lost loved ones in this tragedy.

One of my viewers wrote to me recently and said something along the lines of, and I paraphrase - ‘I cannot continue to watch you having a happy time in the USA while all of this is going on and I’m not sure how you can either.’ 

I’ve pondered this question myself. If I have no answers and only questions, what am I even doing here? 

But here’s the thing. As mentioned above, despite some of these dark events, I continue to meet some of the positive and most generous people. I am here to meet them, to share their story, to listen and observe some of the good things that makes America what it is, and to share these stories with the world. 

I truly believe that sharing tales of adventure, food, travel, culture and all of the related things has the power to bridge divides and help to untangle misunderstandings.

San Antonio

My trip through Texas was sadly short, and I only got to visit two cities. The first was San Antonio.

I don’t want to give away spoilers as I’ll be covering all of this in my vlogs, but I want to give a special mention to Peggy and her husband Eddie from the Scottish Society of San Antonio for arranging something truly amazing. They, along with the Viscount Dunrossil Lord Andrew Morrison (also the Chieftain of the Clan Morrison), had arranged for my wife and I to be presented with an honorary citizenship, signed by Mayor Ron Nirenberg, before we were given a private tour of the Alamo.

In short, I had a great time in San Antonio. I also hosted a fantastic meet and greet on the riverwalk, and after we were taken to a rodeo by Scottish Society members Perry and Andrea. Oh, and I also bought a proper cowboy hat at legendary Paris Hatters.

Houston

In Houston, we were hosted by Carrie and Mark, long-term supporters of my work and our great friends friends who I’ve kept in touch with ever since we first met Mark in New Orleans a few years back. In a whistlestop tour with them, we ate a lot of great local food, we saw NASA, and we drove the fantastic Bluewater Highway between Surfside Beach and Galveston. I also bought more western wear.

I didn’t have enough time in Houston, or indeed anywhere in Texas, but it was a truly remarkable few days and I’ll never forget the warmth and generosity of those we met. Safe to say, I’ll be back, y’all!

I am now in Chicago - I’m doing a meet and greet tonight (Monday, 6 June) at 7PM in front of the Navy Pier and all are invited. More details can be found in this post. Come and say hi!

Slainte,

Shaun

P.S. - have you watched my US Road Trip vlogs? Make sure you check them out on the YouTube Playlists below:

» Entire trip playlist «

» Portland, Oregon playlist «