Heads up, Texans: The British are coming.

Houston-based head of the British Consulate, Her Majesty’s Consul General Richard Hyde, and his senior-most staff will embark on a 2,500-mile road trip across Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The trek will feature tree plantings and what the consulate dubs “consulate pop-ups” in each city.

Aside from meeting civic and business leaders, the pop-ups highlight the close economic links that the UK has with the state of Texas, not to mention some British food and drink.

By the numbers, the 2,500-mile trek is roughly three times the length of the United Kingdom. But then, as we know, everything’s bigger in Texas.
Tree planting and pop-up consulate events in Nacogdoches, Texas; Kilgore, Texas; Shreveport, Louisiana; Texarkana, Arkansas; Amarillo, Texas; Lubbock, Texas; and Waco, Texas.

This comes in the year of Her Majesty the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, and as such, the UK team honors Queen Elizabeth’s 70h year on the throne by participating in the Queen’s Green Canopy, a global sustainability initiative to plant trees.

The trip also marks 180 years after the UK Government first appointed a representative to Texas, according to a press release.

“The aim of this tour is to focus on cities outside the ‘Texas Triangle,’ Hyde noted in a precisely worded British statement. “This will enable us to engage with a wide range of politically influential and economically important communities and groups. Whilst honouring Her Majesty’s 70th year on the throne and enhancing the environment with tree plantings, we also hope to demonstrate that the UK is a modern and dynamic partner of Texas, a leading centre of culture, music and sport and a world class centre of innovation and science.”