You are the kind of transplant we need. Look around, it's a big state and everyone's tastes are different. I love east Tx because it's always green and I can garden almost year round, but when I get in the hill country I feel the touch of god. I hope you find a home here.
Where abouts you from? My proposed retirement destinations have always been a small cabin in the Montana wilderness, somewhere in Texas, or a small island out in the middle of the Pacific, not necessarily in that order.