The Texpatriates Thread

[Neonmoon 38129]

I left in 2021, but it had nothing to do with the complete clown fire inside the Texas capital building.  We were tired of 105 degree summers and 90 degree Christmas days, and we no longer wanted to live with 2 million other people.  We moved to the NC Mountains. The weather is perfect and it isn't crowded (yet). 

We just lucked into leaving before the Handmaid's Tale became a thing. 

(we also realize NC could drop that way if the Governor turns red)

Edited June 22, 2022 by Neonmoon

[safe sex 11735]

@'stache Pm'd you

[Aqua Buddha 14598]

Both the wife and I lived in some combo of OK, TX and AR our entire lives.  I lived in Dallas for a number of years and she went to grad school at UT and lived in both Austin and SA.  We met in Northwest Arkansas but always had a soft spot for Texas.  Moved back in 2011 and we realized it wasn't the same.  Weather sucked, schools sucked, traffic sucked, etc.  Sure, we still liked it but instead of Texas Forever it became Texas Whatever.

In 2015 we moved back to Northwest Arkansas and despite the shitiness of the rest of the state, I'd give a strong recommendation to anything from Fayetteville to Bentonville.  Good weather with only a touch of winter, plenty of outdoor stuff going on, and no one is actually from Arkansas.  (Mostly Texas refugees it seems at this point.)  Better culture than you'd think with the museums and everyone moved here last week so they're fairly welcoming.  You can find a walkable lifestyle and still be close to trails at whatnot.  Low property taxes if that's your thing and a solid mid sized airport.  Asheville would be on our short list for the exact same reasons.  On average, cheaper than say, Denver, but central Bentonville is surprisingly expensive so that ship might have sailed.

We don't regret leaving Texas and I never thought I'd say that.  It's been managed badly and the state leaders are embarrassing.  It's also not the low tax paradise that it's been portrayed to be.  Just hot, crowded, and expensive.  Aside from a few neighborhoods in the big cities, it's lost a lot of the appeal.

[Zepol87 9188]

1 hour ago, CowboyFred said:

I attended a wedding in August 2020 in Pagosa Springs.  I was studying for the bar, my brother was working from home, and we were offered a cabin for free so we said fuck it and decided to spend a week there. You aren’t kidding about the small town Colorado being major gqp.  Really wasn’t much difference between say midland with how red that area was.

Have a good friend that moved to Pagosa Springs a few years ago. Spot on

[Fudge Nuggets 19191]

1 hour ago, Gil Bang said:

I can get you something south of San Diego for that.  About 100 miles south. 

Have your people call my people.

[The Ace of Aces 5184]

Bolted in 2005 and haven't looked back as the state has devolved into a 3rd world shitshow. I enjoy my 4 day visits three times a year for barbecue and tex mex, but otherwise I'm good. 

I live in the midatlantic/northeast and there are tons of MAGAers all around but there are enough that won't choke on the koolaid to keep it from turning into some 1827 utopia.

Also seasons are nice and we get maybe 6 days over 90 all year.  

[StassneyHorn 6577]

As long as I can work remote I don’t think I’ll live in one place longer than 3-4 months moving forward unless something major happens.

Gonna be a mix of big cities (San Diego, Miami, Nashville) along with what I consider quiet time (Coeur D Alene, Missoula/Bozeman, Morgantown, NW Arkansas, Chattanooga and Knoxville).

But I’ll still vote here illegally.

Edited June 22, 2022 by StassneyHorn

[SimonBolivar 10958]

Just now, StassneyHorn said:

As long as I can work remote I don’t think I’ll live in one place longer than 3-4 months moving forward unless something major happens.

Gonna be a mix of big cities (San Diego, Miami, Nashville) along with what I consider quiet time (Coeur D Alene, Missoula/Bozeman, Morgantown, NW Arkansas, Chattanooga and Knoxville).

Yeah if I could find something remote then I'd do something similar with a nice rotation of the country's finest

2 months a year each at Beaumont, Lawton, Pine Bluff, Tupelo, Bakersfield, and Ottumwa.

[royiv 9323]

1 hour ago, Mo Horn said:

We don't own property, and have no desire to. We want to just lock up our apartment and leave whenever we want, and for however long we want. 

Fair enough. Out of curiosity, how have you built wealth without owning property? Real estate is usually a key component of most retirees nest eggs.

[SydneyCarton 48108]

2 hours ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I wish that I could have moved to denver last year instead of back to Texas, but we play the hand we are dealt as best we can. Now that I’m here, we will stay for a while barring unforeseen and unavoidable issues. Kids have 5 years left before college or real life. 
 

Denver is a bit crowded so if job wasn’t an issue, I’d probably be looking in western Montana. Missoula or Bozeman.   

You, sir, don't seem wealthy enough to afford Montana. Are you hiding a hedge fund you've been managing from the rest of us?

Idaho...maybe. I bet you can get land real cheap next to the Nazi compounds there. Also, I'm not sure you're going to like the politics of Montana any better than Texas. 

[The Original Greaser Bob 2835]

1 hour ago, FirstTimeCaller said:

Born and raised in Texas, would throw in the towel tomorrow if not for family.

Yep, family sure is an anchor.

I resent them all very much.

 

[The Original Greaser Bob 2835]

1 minute ago, SydneyCarton said:

Idaho...maybe. I bet you can get land real cheap next to the Nazi compounds there. Also, I'm not sure you're going to like the politics of Montana any better than Texas. 

Good friend in Idaho moving out of Boise because of all the loons there.  Headed to Victoria, BC environs. 

[Hefeweizen 5324]

I’ll play.  We sold our home in Westlake Hills in May and moved to the Monterey peninsula in California.  For me it was a quality of life move.  I had terrible cedar allergies, I was tired of how much traffic I sat in, and finally, I was tired of Austin.  For my wife and daughter it was a strong desire to leave Texas period, due to the politics.  For both my kids it is also planning on attending school out here and living here long term.

 

I am really glad we did it.  Texas seems like a bigger clusterfuck by the day.

[The Ace of Aces 5184]

4 minutes ago, The Original Greaser Bob said:

Yep, family sure is an anchor.

I resent them all very much.

 

Thankfully you can easily replace family with new friends. That's what we did. 

[SydneyCarton 48108]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

I left in 2021, but it had nothing to do with the complete clown fire inside the Texas capital building.  We were tired of 105 degree summers and 90 degree Christmas days, and we no longer wanted to live with 2 million other people.  We moved to the NC Mountains. The weather is perfect and it isn't crowded (yet). 

We just lucked into leaving before the Handmaid's Tale became a thing. 

(we also realize NC could drop that way if the Governor turns red)

Prepare your anus, the secret has been out on Asheville and the research triangle for a couple years now. But it's still amazing what you can get in the Blue Ridge there. I saw a perfectly nice, newish house on 80 acres with an amazing view of the mountains for like, 900k about a year ago. It didn't last long. Meanwhile, 900k will get you a nice house on 5 acres in fucking Wimberley. Fuck.

Also, your governor is turning red, sir. NC missed their shot last cycle to move blue, imo. I'd still consider it, but something tells me that by the time we can make a move that place will already be proper fucked. All the pretty places are red AF. 

2 minutes ago, The Original Greaser Bob said:

Good friend in Idaho moving out of Boise because of all the loons there.  Headed to Victoria, BC environs. 

Man, they must have  gotten a job because otherwise buying into their universal healthcare is fucking prohibitive. 

[Pato del Muerto 52504]

5 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

You, sir, don't seem wealthy enough to afford Montana. Are you hiding a hedge fund you've been managing from the rest of us?

Idaho...maybe. I bet you can get land real cheap next to the Nazi compounds there. Also, I'm not sure you're going to like the politics of Montana any better than Texas. 

I know quite a few people who made the move after our place of work was shut down in Wyoming.  It’s fine as far as cost goes. 
 

politics- eh they had a democrat governor just a few years ago and Bozeman and Missoula are both college towns.  Just need to spend some time there to see how things have changed over the last year or two. But it doesn’t matter for another few years. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, Neonmoon said:

I left in 2021, but it had nothing to do with the complete clown fire inside the Texas capital building.  We were tired of 105 degree summers and 90 degree Christmas days, and we no longer wanted to live with 2 million other people.  We moved to the NC Mountains. The weather is perfect and it isn't crowded (yet). 

We just lucked into leaving before the Handmaid's Tale became a thing. 

(we also realize NC could drop that way if the Governor turns red)

Think about NC, and then realize Cawthorn is the rep for Ashville. How did that happen?

[Hookah Horns 3083]

3 hours ago, South Austin said:

I talk about this.  A lot.  Places like Colorado, North Carolina, and the Seattle area come up often.  But it's not happening anytime soon, if ever, for a few reasons. 

First, I'm not moving as long as my folks are nearby in Georgetown.  It's important for me and my kids to be close to them and see them often. 

Second, I have a job that ties me to this state.  As a lawyer at my age, it's hard to just pack up and move to a new place and think you can easily slide into a new law firm and practice.  And that's aside from the pain in the ass of sitting for another bar exam.  I have over two decades of a practice and client base here in Central Texas.  So as long as I'm working, my career anchors me here.

And third, I have a network of very close friends here who are like family.  I don't think I'd have a problem making friends in a new place, but as long as my friends are all here, it would be hard to move someplace where I don't have at least one set of good friends.

Right now, all of the above outweighs how shitty politically our state is becoming, and it would have to get to a Third Reich level (insert Brisket hyperbole right here) for me to overcome those issues and leave Texas.    

Yes this is one of several drawbacks to being a lawyer. What kind of lawyer are you? Some in-house gigs don't require local licensure, and from what I hear, a lot of them allow you to work remotely these days. 

[dcbc 14487]

3 hours ago, South Austin said:

I talk about this.  A lot.  Places like Colorado, North Carolina, and the Seattle area come up often.  But it's not happening anytime soon, if ever, for a few reasons. 

First, I'm not moving as long as my folks are nearby in Georgetown.  It's important for me and my kids to be close to them and see them often. 

Second, I have a job that ties me to this state.  As a lawyer at my age, it's hard to just pack up and move to a new place and think you can easily slide into a new law firm and practice.  And that's aside from the pain in the ass of sitting for another bar exam.  I have over two decades of a practice and client base here in Central Texas.  So as long as I'm working, my career anchors me here.

And third, I have a network of very close friends here who are like family.  I don't think I'd have a problem making friends in a new place, but as long as my friends are all here, it would be hard to move someplace where I don't have at least one set of good friends.

Right now, all of the above outweighs how shitty politically our state is becoming, and it would have to get to a Third Reich level (insert Brisket hyperbole right here) for me to overcome those issues and leave Texas.    

I've been eyeing CO for years.  My late dad did a few decades in Denver before moving to Texas.  So there are, er huh, roots. 

 

But your list of reasons for staying (I'm also a lawyer) for now closely track mine.  That said, I've been working for the state for over 20 years and that sweet state retirement pension is less than ten years away (although I'll need to keep working somewhere until the kids are out of college).  This would be so much easier if I had millions of dollars in disposable income and a jet.

[Pato del Muerto 52504]

Red lodge isn’t really western MT in the way I described earlier, but I know it and have skied there and they have a nice brewery. 
 

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/Zumbrun-Lot-4_Red-Lodge_MT_59068_M97521-73940?ex=2944305494

20 acres for $400k. 

[The Ace of Aces 5184]

8 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

I know quite a few people who made the move after our place of work was shut down in Wyoming.  It’s fine as far as cost goes. 
 

politics- eh they had a democrat governor just a few years ago and Bozeman and Missoula are both college towns.  Just need to spend some time there to see how things have changed over the last year or two. But it doesn’t matter for another few years. 

Idaho has turned into Vidor from say 50 years ago, but more evil. It's a failed state and should be purged from the union. 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/far-right-idaho_n_628277e2e4b0c84db7282bd6

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

I’ll play.  We sold our home in Westlake Hills in May and moved to the Monterey peninsula in California.  For me it was a quality of life move.  I had terrible cedar allergies, I was tired of how much traffic I sat in, and finally, I was tired of Austin.  For my wife and daughter it was a strong desire to leave Texas period, due to the politics.  For both my kids it is also planning on attending school out here and living here long term.
 
I am really glad we did it.  Texas seems like a bigger clusterfuck by the day.

Não sabia que vc saiu mano. Parabéns.

[TexPx 2323]

I can get you something south of San Diego for that.  About 100 miles south. 

Ensanada looks nice.

[Goredho 17408]

There are places in Colorado that are not that expensive for what you get, but they aren't very convenient to the cities or ski resorts.  If all you want is some land to spread out on close to the mountains and you can make a living with an internet connection, there is stuff like this 1900 sf home on 100 acres for sale at $625,000.  You would very much be in one of those poor rural areas that are as red as any in Texas.

[BrickHorn 18237]

5 minutes ago, Hookah Horns said:

Yes this is one of several drawbacks to being a lawyer. What kind of lawyer are you? Some in-house gigs don't require local licensure, and from what I hear, a lot of them allow you to work remotely these days. 

I’m a cheap bastard who has worked big law gigs for a long time and fended off every attempt by the wife to buy a bigger house, lease a fancy car, install a pool, etc. along the way.

With each passing day, it gets more and more tempting to call it quits, sell our house, move out of the US, and ride our savings down while figuring out some way to make a bit of money doing something else for a living. I mean, fuck it: I’ll wash dishes or dig ditches. I don’t give a shit. Just so long as I’m not living in an emerging fascist hellscape.

Of course, I also think “If we can just hang on X more years, we can stash another $Y away…” 

Anyway, my wife and I were just talking about this today and how we need to come up with a real bug out plan. It feels inevitable that we will exit the state at some point, and very likely that we’ll completely bail on the US.

[Beau Vine 54236]

23 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Prepare your anus, the secret has been out on Asheville and the research triangle for a couple years now. But it's still amazing what you can get in the Blue Ridge there. I saw a perfectly nice, newish house on 80 acres with an amazing view of the mountains for like, 900k about a year ago. It didn't last long. Meanwhile, 900k will get you a nice house on 5 acres in fucking Wimberley. Fuck.

Also, your governor is turning red, sir. NC missed their shot last cycle to move blue, imo. I'd still consider it, but something tells me that by the time we can make a move that place will already be proper fucked. All the pretty places are red AF. 

 

 I looked into NC (Chapel Hill was extremely appealing and surprisingly cheap), but I decided that we cannot live in the Eastern time zone.  

[gmr548 16580]

Gonna bold this, because this dynamic exists in more states than it doesn't. California having the most Trump Voters in the entire US, as one example. People need to understand that this is just the dynamic that exists everywhere now, because that's what Fox News has made them believe. The Colorado Water rights disaster currently waiting to explode in slow motion is only going to exacerbate this shit in multiple states that are very purple as well. 

I'm extremely unhappy with what I'm seeing everywhere, not just Texas, although Texas is laughably horrible. But few places are safe, regardless of which side of the political coin you prefer. 

Personally, our son is at a school in Houston it will be difficult to move on from, so we're probably here through High School. It would take more seismic changes to prompt a change. So...great. 

Excellent post. We’re dangerously close to complete victory of white nationalist fascism at the federal level, from which residence in a blue state isn’t going to protect anyone.

We want to leave for reasons other than politics, though the latter has certainly been a kick in the ass to just do it. CO and NM were early spots were early spots we identified, but the water issue (highly recommend Where the Water Goes by David Owen, most fascinating book I’ve read in a while) absolutely giving us pause. Of course, Texas has its own water issues.

[Chewbacca 7780]

4 hours ago, Goredho said:

The thread for Texans unhappy with the governance of the state who have moved on to greener (bluer?) pastures elsewhere, or those who are considering it.  Feel free to post when, why, how its worked out, surprises, things you miss, questions of those who have left, etc...  I'll start.

We moved from Cedar Park to the mountains of Colorado in 2017.  We did so after an unsuccessful 2 year fight with Leander ISD to get two of our kids special ed services.  We thought we were just dealing with an obstinate school district, but came to find out it was a state-wide problem due to the TEA effectively imposing a cap on the ratio of students in a school that could receive special ed services at half the national average.  When we became aware of that, we decided Texas was not where we wanted to raise our family.

I talked to my job about being able to work remote, they said yes.  So we started looking, but settled on Colorado because A) we had vacationed here often and loved it, B) it was more progressive in general and C) the school district we would be in agreed to exactly what our doctors said our kids needed as far as services without any argument whatsoever.

It has been a great move, and our kids are doing well with their education vs struggling.  I generally agree with how the state is being run.  Laws are already in place to protect abortion rights, etc...  I miss friends, family, greasy tex-mex, bar-b-q and fishing the flats near Port Aransas.  You can get good Mexican food here, but its more of a Santa Fe style.  There is a Rudy's in Colorado Springs to scratch the BBQ itch.  Even though I miss the ocean fishing, there is plenty of fishing and other recreational opportunities up here in the high country. I still work for an Austin-based company, so I get to travel back once a quarter or so and hit up all my old haunts at that time.  Friends and family aren't really replaceable, but when you live in the mountains of CO, you will get plenty of visitors from "back home."

Recreational marijuana is awesome.

A surprising thing about Colorado -- it is a blue state, but the poor (non-resort) rural areas are just as red as they would be in Texas.  The people there feel like they are living under the tyranny of politicians in Denver that just care about the I25 corridor.  They may be more pissed off than Texans about liberals and democrats, because the state is generally under their influence.  I know a few who have left for Texas and South Dakota in a migration not unlike my own but for obviously different reasons.

@mchookem, @PenelopeWitherspoon, @Neonmoon, others?

Where are you in CO?

[Goredho 17408]

1 minute ago, Chewbacca said:

Where are you in CO?

Near Salida.

[Chewbacca 7780]

2 hours ago, Goredho said:

Real estate here in the mountains went bananas with the pandemic.  I totally had the wrong thought going in.  I thought the economy was going to flounder, people would be tightening their belt, vacations and 2nd homes would be the first things people cut, people would be scared to travel at all and home prices in the area would drop off a cliff.  What really happened was that the pandemic economic hit didn't hit the vacationers and 2nd home owners, people needed vacations in the worst way, and a large number of them only felt safe vacationing where we lived -- a drivable distance to an area with lots of outdoor recreation and where they could be away from crowds with close friends and family.  VRBO bookings went bananas, a lot of people on the bubble of being a 2nd home owner said fuck it and rolled the dice, and a lot of families and friends pooled their resources to buy properties that they share.

But I think that's a pandemic RE bubble that's about to pop.  Never mind that I was a real estate idiot during the pandemic.  More and more people are feeling safe getting back on airplanes, or going to Disney, or getting on a cruise ship.  Many will have vacationed the last 3 years in the Colorado rockies and be ready for something different.  Interest rates are making financed buys less and less attractive.  Many more people with jobs across various industries are feeling an economic hit now than they did in 2020-2021.  All of that probably adds up to a sharp drop off in demand and prices of cabins in the woods.

If you are looking for one of those, things might look much more attractive in 12-18 months.

My general outlook for the CO mountains is the same as yours, but then again, I also thought that we would have gone into a recession with the pandemic, not a RE frenzy.  So my crystal ball doesn't work.

[Neonmoon 38129]

31 minutes ago, SydneyCarton said:

Prepare your anus, the secret has been out on Asheville and the research triangle for a couple years now. But it's still amazing what you can get in the Blue Ridge there. I saw a perfectly nice, newish house on 80 acres with an amazing view of the mountains for like, 900k about a year ago. It didn't last long. Meanwhile, 900k will get you a nice house on 5 acres in fucking Wimberley. Fuck.

Also, your governor is turning red, sir. NC missed their shot last cycle to move blue, imo. I'd still consider it, but something tells me that by the time we can make a move that place will already be proper fucked. All the pretty places are red AF. 

Man, they must have  gotten a job because otherwise buying into their universal healthcare is fucking prohibitive. 

I know the secret is out, but mountain logistics prevent the Austin/Nashville influx. Plus, no jobs here unless remote. We know we're fucked politically soon. Like I said, we didn't move here because of politics. That being said, it doesn't mean we aren't thinking about other scenarios in case Trump finally kills this country.

[SmokeyTheBear 5562]

4 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

My general outlook for the CO mountains is the same as yours, but then again, I also thought that we would have gone into a recession with the pandemic, not a RE frenzy.  So my crystal ball doesn't work.

Will be back in your neck of the woods for July. 

[Chewbacca 7780]

Just now, SmokeyTheBear said:

Will be back in your neck of the woods for July. 

Moose Run again?  Just please don't drive a fucking side by side around on 50.  Those things are the scourge of the earth.  So fucking loud.

[SmokeyTheBear 5562]

2 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

Moose Run again?  Just please don't drive a fucking side by side around on 50.  Those things are the scourge of the earth.  So fucking loud.

Yep, Moose Run. We don't own or rent those. Mountain biking and hiking is our speed. 

[Chewbacca 7780]

Just now, SmokeyTheBear said:

Yep, Moose Run. We don't own or rent those. Mountain biking and hiking is our speed. 

Have fun.  It's been really nice so far this summer.  Hope the moisture keeps up.

[SmokeyTheBear 5562]

Just now, Chewbacca said:

Have fun.  It's been really nice so far this summer.  Hope the moisture keeps up.

Thanks. I noticed the rain has been consistent. Hoping that will limit the chance for fires this season. 

[Beau Vine 54236]

13 minutes ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

Thanks. I noticed the rain has been consistent. Hoping that will limit the chance for fires this season. 

Username checks out.

[Mo Horn 8848]

1 hour ago, royiv said:

Fair enough. Out of curiosity, how have you built wealth without owning property? Real estate is usually a key component of most retirees nest eggs.

We have owned houses in the past. Once we sold and lost a bunch, but the last one we sold we got enough to wipe out all our debt. To be honest we started saving later than we should have, other than work retirement accounts, but most would probably say that. Once out of debt, we worked with our financial planner (who is the best) and have been very disciplined to put away money on a regular basis. We both had some retirement accounts from old jobs that we rolled into our funds,. We are also lucky enough to both have jobs that allow us to have a significant surplus every month. Our kids are grown and don't need support. Since we don't own a house, we spend our time and money playing and adding to our nest egg. We are by no means wealthy, but we live very comfortably and do the things we enjoy. 

[otisdog 365]

4 hours ago, bonnieblue said:

 Would love Colorado or Washington, but with the fires and water issues, we’re thinking east coast instead.

Neither is an issue from the Cascades west.....a lot of red hats to the east.

[Nuge 1970]

Moved out to Vancouver, WA in 2012.  It is a city of 250,000+ just north of Portland across the Columbia River.

No state income tax in WA & no sales tax in OR.  So live in WA shop in OR = low taxes.  Property taxes are pretty low and schools are better than OR.

Housing here has exploded in the last few years.  Generally, you can expect to pay $50,000 - $100,000 less for a house than just across the river in Portland.

We have a wet season and a fire season. It is grey and rainy from late october through june then it dries up and there won't be rain or any clouds till October.  Hence the forest fires. 

I'm an hour away from Mt Hood (snow boarding, snow shoeing, mtn biking, camping, fishing, etc.), two hours away from beautiful coastline.  Weed.  Beer.  Wine.  Weed. Great food.  

I love the proximity to Portland for restaurants, concerts, museums, parks, etc.  But I also love not living in Portland.  The homeless camps make me sick, sad, & angry, and I don't know who or what to direct that at.

I feel that the Democratic leadership in WA is better than OR.  It seems more reasoned and practical.  Oregon can't stop fucking everything up. 

[6th Street 6411]

I love in Denver and it's just about perfect. Highly recommend for anyone relocating from TX. Good weather, strong job market, close to the mountains and skiing, lots of breweries, manageable traffic, and reasonable home prices. The fact that there's plenty of nonstops from DIA is a huge plus as well. Really the only drawbacks are that the nightlife is somewhat quieter and the restaurant scene isn't going to blow you away. 

[Hefeweizen 5324]

1 hour ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Não sabia que vc saiu mano. Parabéns.

O saco estava cheio meu amigo.  Nao tinha mais para dar jeitinho.  
 

 

As anyone who knows me can tell you I’m a slow decision maker but once it’s done it’s over.  And icepocalypse was not the final blow in terms of lack of trust in the governing entities in Texas, the response to it was.

 

 We became a failed state and the response (I know because I touch on a lot of emergency management items) was literally to pass some more paperwork for utilities to fill out.  Emergency preparedness plans.  L o fucking l.  
 

I work full time remote which honestly kind of sucks but living out here is worth it.

[Aqua Buddha 14598]

Two more things of mention for Northwest Arkansas.  If you like Texas brisket, there is a dude here who quit his job at Tyson or Hunt, moved to Austin to learn under Franklin and moved back here and opened his own shop, specializing in brisket.  It's the complete shit.

Also, weed is essentially legal here.  Sure, it's "medicinal" but they bar to clear is almost laughable.  

[TexPx 2323]

Near Salida.

That may be my favorite small town in Colorado. Good friend from Texas moved up there about 20 years ago and started maybe the first private trail building company in America and is still going strong.

[Helobious 9454]

Loling at people talking about leaving TX because of politics and wanting to move to places like Idaho, Montana, NC, or Arkansas. Those places all make TX politics look like Portland OR. 

[Anastasis 23473]

We’re up in the Colorado mountains at the moment and splitting time between Colorado and Texas seems like the play to me. Nothing to do with the politics of either place. Just navigating the weather. 

[fattyflattie 4639]

4 hours ago, Snake Diggity said:

I pretty much stopped going to port O’Connor for holiday weekends because of the unignorable Trumpism.

Is Maddens is a bastion of blue voters on non-holiday weekends?  The entire coastline is red. 

[We’reTexas 1473]

10 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Loling at people talking about leaving TX because of politics and wanting to move to places like Idaho, Montana, NC, or Arkansas. Those places all make TX politics look like Portland OR. 

Jon Tester, Kay Hagan, Blanche Lincoln, Mark Pryor. Idk about that. 

[Aqua Buddha 14598]

Everyone leaving but there's this:

 

[Neonmoon 38129]

46 minutes ago, 6th Street said:

I love in Denver and it's just about perfect. Highly recommend for anyone relocating from TX. Good weather, strong job market, close to the mountains and skiing, lots of breweries, manageable traffic, and reasonable home prices. The fact that there's plenty of nonstops from DIA is a huge plus as well. Really the only drawbacks are that the nightlife is somewhat quieter and the restaurant scene isn't going to blow you away.