Posted on 10/14/2005 3:43:58 PM PDT by phatoldphart
When you're from Texas, people that you meet ask you questions like, Do you have any cows?" "Do you have horses?" "Bet you got a bunch of guns, eh?"
They all want to know if you've been to Southfork. They watched Dallas.
Have you ever looked at a map of the world? Look at Texas with me just for a second. That picture, with the Panhandle and the Gulf Coast, and the Red River and the Rio Grande is as much a part of you as anything ever will be.. As soon as anyone anywhere in the world looks at it they know what it is. It's Texas. Pick any kid off the street in Japan and draw him a picture of Texas in the dirt and he'll know what it is. What happens if I show you a picture of any other state? You might get it maybe after a second or two, but who else would? And even if you do, does it ever stir any feelings in you?
In every man, woman and child on this planet, there is a person who wishes just once he could be a real live Texan and get up on a horse or ride off in a pickup. There is some little bit of Texas in everyone.
Did you ever hear anyone in a bar go, "Wow...so you're from Iowa? Cool, tell me about it?" Do you know why? Because there's no place like Texas.
Texas is the Alamo. Texas is 183 men standing in a church, facing thousands of Mexican nationals, fighting for freedom, who had the chance to walk out and save themselves, but stayed instead to fight and die for the cause of freedom. We send our kids to schools named William B. Travis and James Bowie and Crockett and do you know why? Because those men saw a line in the sand and they decided to cross it and be heroes. John Wayne paid to do the movie himself. That is the Spirit of Texas.
Texas is Sam Houston capturing Santa Ana at San Jacinto.
Texas is "Juneteenth" and Texas Independence Day.
Texas is huge forests of Piney Woods like the Davy Crockett National Forest.
Texas is breathtaking mountains in the Big Bend.
Texas is the unparalleled beauty of bluebonnet fields in the Texas Hill Country.
Texas is the beautiful, warm beaches of the Gulf Coast of South Texas.
Texas is the shiny skyscrapers in Houston and Dallas.
Texas is world record bass from places like Lake Fork.
Texas is Mexican food like nowhere else, not even Mexico.
Texas is the Fort Worth Stockyards, Bass Hall, the Ballpark in Arlington and the Astrodome.
Texas is larger-than-life legends like Michael DeBakey, Denton Cooley, Willie Nelson, Buddy Holly, Waylon Jennings, Janis Joplin, Kris Kristofferson, Tom Landry, Darrell Royal, Rick Husband, Eric Dickerson, Earl Campbell, Nolan Ryan, Sam Rayburn, Lyndon B.Johnson.
Texas is great companies like Dell Computer, Texas Instruments and Compaq. And LOCKHEED MARTIN AEROSPACE, Home of the F-16 Jet Fighter and the JSF Fighter.
Texas is NASA.
Texas is huge herds of cattle and miles of crops.
Texas is skies blackened with doves, and fields full of deer.
Texas is a place where towns and cities shut down to watch the local High School Football game on Friday nights and for the Cowboys on Monday Night Football, and for the Night In Old San Antonio River Parade in San Antonio. Texas is ocean beaches, deserts, lakes and rivers, mountains and prairies, and modern cities.
If it isn't in Texas, you probably don't need it.
NO ONE DOES ANYTHING BIGGER OR BETTER THAN IT'S DONE IN TEXAS.
By federal law, Texas is the only state in the U.S. that can fly its flag at the same height as the U.S. flag. Think about that for a second. You fly the Stars and Stripes at 20 feet in Maryland, California, or Maine and your state flag, whatever it is, goes at 17 feet. You fly the Stars and Stripes in front of Pine Tree High in Longview or anyplace else at 20 feet, the Lone Star flies at the same height - 20 feet. Do you know why? Because it is the only state that was a republic before it became a state.
Also, being a Texan is as high as being an American down here. Our capitol is the only one in the country that is taller than the capitol building in Washington, D.C. and we can divide our state into five states at any time if we wanted to! We included these things as part of the deal when we came on. That's the best part, right there.
Texas even has its own power grid!!
If you are a REAL TEXAN you won't even need to be told to pass this on!"
Anybody know who has the Texas ping list?
I hafta agree with that...They call Montana 'God's Country'...
I know Darrell Royal grew up about 8 miles from here in SW Oklahoma, can't say where he was born off-hand. But WTH this part of Oklahoma used to be part of Texas so you all can claim him. Agree with all the GOOD things said about Texas, but Houston DOES have skeeters the size of hummingbirds, honest!!!!
Understand the Okies had a similiar feeling last weekend after the big "Red River Shootout" in the Cotton Bowl.
Couldnt wait to get back to Okieland
It's my most favorite place.
I hate to rain on ya'lls parade, but when I think of Texas, I think of illegal aliens. To be a real cowboy you'd have to be from Montana or Wyoming.
Let's not forget Johnny Bush and Justin Trevino, Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan and Lee Trevino...I live in Nevada now, was born in California to a Texan mother. I lived there while attending UTA and have spent the last 5 years trying to convince my wife that we need to retire to Texas. No luck so far...
I was talking football to an Alabama boy the other day and he mentioned to me that folks in Alabama didn't consider Texas to be part of the South. I told him that he might want to explain that to the descendants of the Texas' Brigade members who saved Alabamans at Sharpsburg and who stormed Little Round Top with the Alabamans at Gettysburg. He thought about it for a moment and said, I had a helluva point...
3 yarrds and a cloud of dust.
"Only three things can happen when you pass and two of 'em are bad"
My favorite team is whoever is playing UT.
I was lucky enough to live in Texas for 6 months over 30 years ago. Can't wait until my husband retires and we can put the "not native but got here as soon as we could" bumper sticker on our car. We love Texas.
To put it mildly.
You know you're in Texas when you break into a sweat the instant you step outside at 7:30 a.m.
Depends on where you're from. People in east Texas consider themselves to be part of the south 'cause that's where their ancestors came from.
Other areas associate themselves with the midwest or southwest.
Gorgeous pictures. I had to live outside of Texas for 9 years, and pined away for it the whole time. You can take the girl out of Texas, but you can't take Texas out of the girl. Been back for several years now, and have been so at peace since I returned. Texas is all about a unique outlook on life, a special attitude, friendliness, generosity, self-reliance yet knowing you can rely on others, and the all important TexMex! There is nothing that would get me to leave again. Of course, I grumble about the heat, lol.
You must have taken my husband's place, he left as soon as he could. lol
You learn that a seat belt buckle makes a pretty good branding iron.
bttt
LOL!
ROTFLMAO!!!!1111
Wow. That's even more-self-indulgent crap than I've seen from New Yorkers.
Same can be said for South Florida aka the world's largest open air sauna.
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