Texas Freepers - Information Please!

Me ^ | 4/18/02 | CyberCowboy77

[CyberCowboy777]

Texas Freepers! I am considering re-locating to Texas from Washington. I want a change in weather, people and politics.

I have lived all across the U.S. but never Texas. Can you give me some ideas as to where to live, Pro's and Cons of Texas?

I am really thinking Houston - I want to be near the Coast. (or at least 2 hours away).

I will want to own at least 5 acres. And my brother and Parents are thinking of moving there as well and will need land as well.

I have three boys and a Wife. I am a Computer Consultant by trade (my father is a programmer and we have our own company here).

I do not care about schools as I will be Home Schooling when my boys are older.

Any info will be greatly appreciated!

[The South Texan]

I agree with you about Victoria. I had not been through Victoria (since you take the bypass if you are going to Houston from Corpus) in a while and I was surprised with all that city has to offer. It has a population of 70,000 and has everything a big city has such as a nice shopping mall with nice department stores, other stores like Toys R Us, Best Buy. Restraunts like Red Lobster, Chilis, Bennigans, etc. Plus it is only two hours from Houston, so if you and the family want to go catch the Astros or the new Houston Texans NFL team next fall, you can do it as a day trip. San Antonio is only 1 1/2 hours away too and has a ton to offer not to mention the hill country is only stone's throw away too.

[McLynnan]

Beautiful pictures. Central Texas is one of the best kept secrets in the state.

[WoodlandsYankee]

Re: The Woodlands…we moved here from the northeast (Peoples Republic of Massachusetts) a little over 3 years ago and landed in The Woodlands. It is @35 miles north of Houston on I45. The Woodlands is the best kept secret in the country IMHO. It is growing too fast (65,000 at last count) and would be difficult to find 5 acres but other then that the town is something else. The weather is warm to cool in the winter and hot and humid in the summer...90 degrees+ from May through September. If you can take that, everything else is a pure bonus. The area has sports, recreation, culture, higher education, hospitals, churches, is pretty conservative etc., etc., etc. We have decided that this is where we will retire.

[ValerieUSA]

The Brazos is here in Waco, too

[McLynnan]

Valerie, shhhhhh! The Yankees all think the Waco area resembles the Branch Davidian site. Show too many pretty pictures and we'll be a suburb of Dallas, lol.

[ValerieUSA]

I lived in Washington State on the White Pass Highway. Beautiful there, too, but rainy. Now I'm in Waco - a couple of my sons attend Waco High School - a HUGE school compared to Mossyrock High School.

[ValerieUSA]

Oops! *LOL* Well, there are a LOT of bad parts of town here in Waco - I lived in one too long. It's a high crime city, big on murders and robberies and sexual assaults - but the newspaper does a good job of downplaying that in favor of "society news."

[daniel boob]

The beaches in Texas are probably not what you're thinking. Although Padre Island and Corpus do have nice beaches, they are lacking in the true "sand and surf" genre.

Austin is very nice - I grew up here - left in my 20's and just moved back. Bought 10 acres outside of Austin and I am loving life.

The tech trade is picking back up after a big slump - but hasn't rebounded completely.

Austin is the liberal hotbed of Texas, tho. There is a good network of homeschool families in our area and in Austin, in general.

If you can get past the liberal yuppie/hippie/postmodern punk-a$$ twirps - its a great place and worth your consideration.

[McLynnan]

Mossyrock? Sounds very picturesque. I have a high school age daughter in the MISD. Perhaps we can start a local young conservatives club. I've lurked on FR for years and didn't register until last week. I knew once I registered I'd sit here all day chatting, and here I am burning another afternoon. Great shot of the Alico Building. Are you a photographer?

[McLynnan]

True, the crime rate leaves a lot to be desired in certain areas of Waco. We've never lived in Waco proper so haven't been personally affected by it, but the city officials do have a nice way of ignoring the obvious. The Waco Police Dept. is grossly underfunded. There, now maybe we've scared everybody away!

[Brownie74]

The Brazos looks pretty in your picture. I remember when a new bridge that they were building over the Brazos between Bellville and Hempstead (New Ulm) collapsed and killed several people. That was back in the '50s when I was a kid.

We would go there in the evening and watch the search parties and the construction crews. That was my first experience with a disaster.

[Xenalyte]

Austin is liberal college-student hell. Come join us in Houston. You can get horse-ready land in the northwest region - near Tomball or Magnolia.

[Xenalyte]

Seven or eight hours. You'd be better off looking in Fresno, Dewalt or Arcola; those are all in far-southwest Houston, and they're no more than an hour away from Galveston and the beach.

[isthisnickcool]

I was born and raised in Houston. I live south of there now in a town of about 20K people. The town is still dry (thaht means der ain't no bear or alk-e-haul dranks!) so if you drink you have to drive 2 minutes away to find a liquor store. LOL! If a kid falls off a bike and skins their knees they send a pumper truck, 5 cops, EMT's, and a guy that makes helicopter sounds cuz they don't have a helicopter. Yet. Most small Texas towns are like that.

From everything I've seen that you have posted I'd say that depending on what you do as an "computer consultant" you can work just about anywhere in Texas. If you need to stay by the big cities Austin or up in the Woodlands area outside of Houston would be good choices. There is more high tech stuff going on in College Station than some people know about. And, of course, south of Houston is NASA and that's the land of the pocket protectors.

Texas is the best place to live in the world. Except for Dallas. No offense to anyone from Dallas but they just are not "southern" in Dallas. Kinda rude.

Come on down! You don't need to bring anything. It's all here.....

[ValerieUSA]

photo taken Friday

[Xenalyte]

Corpus Christi, btw, is (in my distinguished opinion) a smelly, nasty, dirty town. It has all the disadvantages of a small town - the cronyism, the nosy neighbors, the gossip, the family-first politics, the determination of everyone to know everyone else's business - without the benefits. Ugh.

[CyberCowboy777]

Oh no that sounds terrible..... I think we will move to Colorado.

You kidding........right?

[PrairieDawg]

toddhisattva wrote:

Wild javelina (a warthog-type critter), found from the Gulf Coast to Big Bend,

Are fun to bowhunt (so I've been told). We had them in the real oven of Aridzona too.

A question for the Waco ladies - does it rain enough to garden? And are there any software jobs that way (or are they all in the People's republic of Austin?)? Thanks!

FRegards
PrairieDawg

[Xenalyte]

One minor flaw in your reasoning (which otherwise is completely spot-on).

Paul Begala is from Austin.

He's not. He's from Missouri City, a wanna-be-ritzy suburb just southwest of Houston. I grew up out there - my best friend was very close with Begala's slightly-more-normal younger brother.