Houston Texas, dodgy, or not?

We will be running up to Houston during the day on Monday to stage for our pick up on Tuesday morning.
The problem is, our company suggests that we stay out of town the night before as it's a dangerous place, and just run in on the morning.
There are two truck stops opposite the plant, a Loves and a Pilot, and one of our drivers advises that the Loves has security.

So.

Should we go to the Loves or Pilot truckstop (I would), or park somewhere outside of Houston, which would mean driving through the city at 6am anyway?

We are coming up from the South West and loading in the North East, where the arrow is.

The next problem is to try and get back to Alberta without running into holiday oversize permit restrictions, which could see us shut down in Montana for three days! 

I don't know which is the best route back yet, and we have to follow the routes we are given on the permits, so no use planning until we get the paperwork.

Michael Mc Garry heading north in Wyoming November 2011.

We are picking up 12 foot 4" tyres which are a little bit bigger than the ones in the picture above, but not as large as the 13 foot 3" we have had for the last two trips.