I told my wife about your trip, she said to make sure you know you are welcome here at the house. Take her up on it dude, she doesnt offer that to many of my friends.... hehe.
I few thoughts I had....
Dont carry much cash with you. You can buy almost anything you need with a bank card now, or credit card, from gasoline to smokes to hookers. When I travel, I keep 100 bucks on me "just in case", but use a card for all the expenses I can. You will find that 99% of the gas stations in the USA have the card readers on the pumps.
I always write up my personal info and put it in my wallet.... in case of emergency. If all you have is your drivers license from England, it will take forever for them to contact someone in case of an emergency.
Once you get west of the Mississippi River, make sure you have a few gallons, minimum, of water with you (assuming you are driving). On parts of the highways, you will see nothing for maybe 100 miles other than sand and mountains. Out west, the sun is a killer if you arent prepared. Water will save you.
Now, if you are going from Dallas to Portland, I have an idea. Leave Dallas and head to Tuscon, Arizona. See Old Tuscon there, where they shot the old cowboy movies. From there, head north to my place in Phoenix (Mesa), an hour and a half drive. We have a pool (bring shorts) and live in it from April thru September. From here, it is 3 hours to the Grand Canyon, whether I take you or you head there on your own. From there, it is another 2 hours to Las Vegas. From there, you could either buzz up the California coast to Portland, or shoot up thru the middle of California to there. I say avoid LA if at all possible.
I will be going to XW's gig in July, I will be flying in tho. If you need me to haul any of your collection of souveniers there from my place, I can.
Email me at [email protected] for a cel and home number, for a point of contact on your trip.
Animal