Back in ‘09, we went to Texas and wandered around for a little over a month. In ‘12 we went back and traced the 900 miles of the Butterfield Overland Mail route across Texas. (it curves so it is 900 miles) (the Butterfield route is to be a National Historic Trail from Memphis to San Farncisco and is the first intercontinental mail contract by the USPO)
Texas outside the big cities is just fantastic. They have the best roads anywhere. They have fabulous food. They had a revolution everyone should study. Texas was the way west for many and they cherish their part in the expansion.
They welcome out of staters with fantastic stape parks.
I recommend taking a month and go explore Texas
I retired from Texas Instruments at the end of 1994 after a 20 year career there.