The Texpatriates Thread

[gmr548 16617]

2 minutes ago, Aqua Buddha said:

Everyone leaving but there's this:

 

He's the poster child for sure, but it's clear that this state isn't turning blue from a bunch of Democrats moving in. Plenty of disaffected conservatives look at TX with the same googley eyes people in this thread have for Colorado. Yeah, plenty of Democrats end up coming here for work, because a lot of people do in general, but it seems to be roughly a wash. Note the famous exit poll from 2018 showing Cruz owes his victory to transplants.

[BrickHorn 18285]

26 minutes ago, Anastasis said:

We’re up in the Colorado mountains at the moment and splitting time between Colorado and Texas seems like the play to me. 

You are undeniably consistent in your bothsideserism.

[Helobious 9464]

4 hours ago, Beau Vine said:

I am retiring within three years (sooner if I get pissed off about something at work) and am getting out of this hellhole as soon as I fucking can.  

Wife and I had agreed on Los Alamos NM, but the housing market there has gone from kind of shitty to kind of shitty and insane, so as of now, our plan B is Corvallis OR.

Spent a week in Portland last July, took a day to road trip. Went to oregon state campus to check out the football stadium and get beaver gear. Town was DEAD. But they did have a Dairy Queen at least. It’s in the middle of a bunch of flat farmland too, not scenic as far as Oregon goes. Big ass national forest isn’t too far but overall I didn’t really like it, I’d actually much rather live in SM. 
 

I liked Bend a lot more.

[tx 3 putt 77434]

5 hours ago, APEX said:

We sold our house in Texas and relocated to northern NJ last year and couldn't be happier.  The cost of living is higher but we are one hour to the Jersey shore, 40 minutes to midtown Manhattan, 2 hrs to the Poconos.  More importantly, 6 hrs to Maine where we are considering buying some land which is dirt cheap.   Think 70 wooded acres for $100K.  Maine is one of the least populated states in the country for a good reason.  It's BFE, remote with an aging population and mostly white.  However, it's only an hour to so to Canada if this country goes to hell in a handbasket. 

Other than an occasionally trip back to Texas to see family, I see no reason to ever live in Texas again.  The weather is awesome outside of Dec to April but WFH so we pick and choose when we need to venture out. No drought, scorching heat, or tornadoes but a nor'easter can wreak havoc.  The high today is 70 and the low is 59.  The natives are rude but it's like an Aggie where we try to limit our exposure to them. 

I do miss Whataburger, HEB (when it's open) and brisket so I get my fill when I venture back but the excellent Italian food and pizzas more than make up for it.  Plus, I can choose any type of cuisines in NYC.  We bike everywhere in the city and feel much safer than in Texas due to dedicated and sometimes protected bike lanes.  No need to take the subway to avoid the occasional mugging unless we are going to lower Queens for east of Brooklyn (La Guardia).  College sports sucks but a plethora of professional teams to root for. 

 

 

 

can i crash on your couch in maine ?

[gmr548 16617]

3 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Spent a week in Portland last July, took a day to road trip. Went to oregon state campus to check out the football stadium and get beaver gear. Town was DEAD. But they did have a Dairy Queen at least. It’s in the middle of a bunch of flat farmland too, not scenic as far as Oregon goes. Big ass national forest isn’t too far but overall I didn’t really like it, I’d actually much rather live in SM. 
 

I liked Bend a lot more.

Would kind of expect a college town where half the population is students to be dead in July.

[Anastasis 23484]

14 minutes ago, BrickHorn said:

You are undeniably consistent in your bothsideserism.

The high today was 64. 

[Nothing To Add 81]

I have three grown kids, two in Austin and one in Houston, so leaving would be hard for me as I spend a lot of time with them.  I was looking at Costa Rica, Panama and Spain as options but the distance just seems like too much of an obstacle.  I'm thinking now I just downsize to something lock and leave and spend summers somewhere cool and they can come visit.  Then back to Austin from October to April.  I'm probably 3-4 years from pulling the trigger on this so let's see if anything changes politically in the state.  Not going to hold my breath on that.

[Beau Vine 54432]

14 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Spent a week in Portland last July, took a day to road trip. Went to oregon state campus to check out the football stadium and get beaver gear. Town was DEAD. But they did have a Dairy Queen at least. It’s in the middle of a bunch of flat farmland too, not scenic as far as Oregon goes. Big ass national forest isn’t too far but overall I didn’t really like it, I’d actually much rather live in SM. 
 

I liked Bend a lot more.

I had been looking at Bend (even talked to MC Fresh Breath about it), but houses there have just gotten stupid expensive in the past year or two.

Plus, there's not a major university there.

[Biff Tannen 45742]

I've been looking in Colorado (Telluride/Ridgway/Ouray) for the last 2 years for a vacation home, ostensibly to eventually retire to (missed reasonable prices by about 4 months, so now just waiting it out).  

BUT within the past 3 months a job opportunity for the wife may have come up in Southern California and I've been trying to get her to move to the west coast for years.  She is fully onboard and if it comes to fruition, I see it happening, at least for a few years.  Idea is to rent our house in Austin and rent in Cali for a couple of years to see how we like it.  If it works out, I fully see us pulling the plug on Texas.

[Tuco 5077]

I moved from Omaha to Seattle a year ago this month. Politics were a big part of it, particularly since my wife worked on a failed Congressional race. She was all sorts of fuck-this-town, and I like her quite a bit, so whatcha goin to do.

My parents are old, and dying, in the general cantankerous way old, smart, insane people do. I left my sisters to deal with that. I feel bad about that. I’ve got the Catholic upbringing to reinforce the guilt.

Other than that, no regrets. I mean, you pay those prices for a reason. And frankly, anytime I think about sitting on my ass for a weekend, I remember that I am paying roughly $100 a day in rent to be here, and I get my ass to a mountain. Or a sound. $150 to go watch some whales, with a glacier capped volcano backdrop seems perfectly reasonable. And it is. Because orcas are badass apex predators, who, for some idiotic reason, don’t attack humans. My lust-for-life is primarily driven by the fact that I am a frugal bastard.

And my daughter moved to Dallas. Fuck.

[Pato del Muerto 52604]

1 hour 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. 

My presumption is you have very little actual experience with any of these places (nobody said Idaho btw except as a farcical alternative).  Do you have any actual experience with any of these places?

[Beau Vine 54432]

2 minutes ago, Pato del Muerto said:

My presumption is you have very little actual experience with any of these places (nobody said Idaho btw except as a farcical alternative).  Do you have any actual experience with any of these places?

Man, it would be completely unlike Helobious to post things that he doesn't actually have a clue about.  

 

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Without any nudging, my wife just now started talking about our plans to go back to Brazil for a couple of years. I honestly thought she had forgot we talked about this as she loves living here (but also misses certain things about Brazil). Y’all got her ears burning. Anyways, she is talking moving back in 2024 and staying for 2-3 years. I am down for that. Mostly for our girls to learn their culture and language (one is doing ok with Portuguese, the other not so much). Have a couple of things to take care of before we do this.

[Sbbruin 21892]

55 minutes ago, Helobious said:

Spent a week in Portland last July, took a day to road trip. Went to oregon state campus to check out the football stadium and get beaver gear. Town was DEAD. But they did have a Dairy Queen at least. It’s in the middle of a bunch of flat farmland too, not scenic as far as Oregon goes. Big ass national forest isn’t too far but overall I didn’t really like it, I’d actually much rather live in SM. 
 

I liked Bend a lot more.

Was Libby Mae Brown working there?

Corvallis is burnt.  Bend is phenomenal.  One of my close friends lives there and there is a a ton of great outdoor activities to do.  

[TexPx 2324]

Without any nudging, my wife just now started talking about our plans to go back to Brazil for a couple of years. I honestly thought she had forgot we talked about this as she loves living here (but also misses certain things about Brazil). Y’all got her ears burning. Anyways, she is talking moving back in 2024 and staying for 2-3 years. I am down for that. Mostly for our girls to learn their culture and language (one is doing ok with Portuguese, the other not so much). Have a couple of things to take care of before we do this.

Cool. You can go to the Festival Confederada if you get homesick.

[Vegas64 678]

4 hours ago, Aqua Buddha said:

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.

This sounds attractive but the main problem I'd have is access to a large economic center hub and a big airport for work. I get there are some great logistics companies and retail due to Walmart and JB Hunt and Tyson foods, but outside of those industries, pretty sparse pickings for someone who needs the higher income and earning power of a Houston or Dallas. Same problem as Oklahoma in that regard, but it sounds like a great destination for those on the downhill coast part of their career or retired.

[Vegas64 678]

1 hour ago, Beau Vine said:

I had been looking at Bend (even talked to MC Fresh Breath about it), but houses there have just gotten stupid expensive in the past year or two.

Plus, there's not a major university there.

Have you considered Flagstaff, AZ? Though I wouldn't consider NAU major, it's still something. And that far north its essentially South Utah.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Vegas64

[Beau Vine 54432]

2 minutes ago, Vegas64 said:

Have you considered Flagstaff, AZ? Though I wouldn't consider NAU major, it's still something. And that far north its essentially South Utah.

Yes I have -- 100 inches of snow per year.  No thank you.

Edited June 23, 2022 by Beau Vine

[B00M 6465]

29 minutes ago, Patricio Swayze said:

Without any nudging, my wife just now started talking about our plans to go back to Brazil for a couple of years. I honestly thought she had forgot we talked about this as she loves living here (but also misses certain things about Brazil). Y’all got her ears burning. Anyways, she is talking moving back in 2024 and staying for 2-3 years. I am down for that. Mostly for our girls to learn their culture and language (one is doing ok with Portuguese, the other not so much). Have a couple of things to take care of before we do this.

Based on stats and all the damn video of "off duty police" ending criminals, Brazil looks like an extreme (or future?) version of America with respect to gun violence. How are you mitigating that?

[South Austin 52614]

57 minutes ago, Tuco said:

I remember that I am paying roughly $100 a day in rent to be here

You pay $100 in rent on a daily basis? Is it a Motel 6?

[StassneyHorn 6638]

Got a friend in Fagstaff that loves it there. Gonna go up there “homecoming” weekend where the bars open at 6am for Tequila Sunrise this year.

For all the we’ll never go blue crowd, as a percentage, we were the 9th closest state by percentage. Still like the demographics.

Also Alaska was only 36k votes from flipping if you’re an outdoorsy type. Has ranked choice voting. Had the oil dividend, loves unions and pot.

Edited June 23, 2022 by StassneyHorn

[Zepol87 9191]

Gf has family in Colorado Springs and south Denver so we are in the process of lucking out with a cheap rental place in the next 2 years while they are working on moving back to Alaska for family. Love the area except for the fires, that scares the shit out of me but I will be pushing to try out that move for a year or so. 

[Pancho 44999]

10 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

Got a friend in Fagstaff 

[South Austin 52614]

11 minutes ago, StassneyHorn said:

Also Alaska was only 36k votes from flipping if you’re an outdoorsy type. 

That’s practically half the state.

[South Austin 52614]

11 minutes ago, Pancho said:

1. I can’t believe I missed that on my first read.

3. He also edited his post and still missed “Fagstaff.”

3. I’m dying here.

Edited June 23, 2022 by South Austin

[Beau Vine 54432]

2 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

Gf has family in Colorado Springs and south Denver so we are in the process of lucking out with a cheap rental place in the next 2 years while they are working on moving back to Alaska for family. Love the area except for the fires, that scares the shit out of me but I will be pushing to try out that move for a year or so. 

One of my wife's biggest objections to Los Alamos was the chance of fires.  I said, "You have lived nearly your entire life in places that have tornados, of which you get literally minutes of warning, and now you're afraid of wildfires, where you get warnings to evacuate in hours and usually days?"  

That actually kind of worked.  

[Guadaloopy 11014]

I haven’t lived in Texas since 1994.  I always thought that I would move back to Texas after I retired from the Navy.  Ended up living in Monterey, CA for four years after retiring and then another four years in Chula Vista, CA.  
 

Early last year my wife had enough of our jam-packed neighborhood and started making noise about moving somewhere with a bit more elbow room.  There was no way we were getting space in SoCal without taking in another 30 yr mortgage, so we started looking elsewhere.   Our criteria was simply “reddest part of a blue state or bluest part of a red state” where we could afford the space and peace that we wanted.  

 

Ended up south of Tulsa, and we are pretty pleased.  We timed things pretty well selling in SoCal and managed a nice upgrade in home size and lot size (plus pool) and will have it all paid off in no more than five years.  
 

We’re no more than a day’s drive from family and far enough away that we don’t get sucked into drama. 
 

I have zero desire to get back to Texas to live.  I have 12 acres in Texas that will probably never be used for anything but grazing now.  

[Chewbacca 7786]

Yes I have -- 100 inches of snow per year.  No thank you.

Seasons are a good thing. Nothing better than a warm fire on a cold winter night.

[Zepol87 9191]

1 minute ago, Beau Vine said:

One of my wife's biggest objections to Los Alamos was the chance of fires.  I said, "You have lived nearly your entire life in places that have tornados, of which you get literally minutes of warning, and now you're afraid of wildfires, where you get warnings to evacuate in hours and usually days?"  

That actually kind of worked.  

The logic makes sense but we went and helped her aunt unpack from the last fires they had in Colorado Springs. Came within a few blocks of the house and god damn that was a scary thing to see. 

[Degenerate Gardner 4085]

Left Austin for Washington in 2014 and now live in Oregon. We haven’t used air conditioning yet this year, have no roaches but do have recreational weed and an absence of Texas government. So we’ve got that going for us.

[Beau Vine 54432]

6 minutes ago, Chewbacca said:

44 minutes ago, Beau Vine said:

Yes I have -- 100 inches of snow per year.  No thank you.

Seasons are a good thing. Nothing better than a warm fire on a cold winter night.

I agree that seasons are a good thing.  Even some snow is fine with me.  100 inches is not.  

[Biggus Duckus 89]

I have no skin in this game as I've never been to Texas, but I can't help but chuckle at the TX -> CO talk.  Not because it's a bad idea (I would certainly do it too) but I know a few people from Denver and Durango who moved here (Portland) because of all the Texans moving to Colorado.

I will say this: even the bluest cities in the US are completely milquetoast as far as climate action is concerned.  Nobody wants to build housing, zoning laws are still preventing infill, and NIMBY pensioners are still controlling any sort of public process.  Between that and the fact that blue states are often climate and social refuges, it's gonna get ugly.

[gmr548 16617]

1 hour ago, Tuco said:

I moved from Omaha to Seattle a year ago this month. Politics were a big part of it, particularly since my wife worked on a failed Congressional race. She was all sorts of fuck-this-town, and I like her quite a bit, so whatcha goin to do.

My parents are old, and dying, in the general cantankerous way old, smart, insane people do. I left my sisters to deal with that. I feel bad about that. I’ve got the Catholic upbringing to reinforce the guilt.

Other than that, no regrets. I mean, you pay those prices for a reason. And frankly, anytime I think about sitting on my ass for a weekend, I remember that I am paying roughly $100 a day in rent to be here, and I get my ass to a mountain. Or a sound. $150 to go watch some whales, with a glacier capped volcano backdrop seems perfectly reasonable. And it is. Because orcas are badass apex predators, who, for some idiotic reason, don’t attack humans. My lust-for-life is primarily driven by the fact that I am a frugal bastard.

And my daughter moved to Dallas. Fuck.

Seattle area is probably number one for us. We visited last summer, which I understand gives one rose colored glasses, but I was blown away that people live in that setting. The Puget Sound region is astonishingly beautiful.

[We’reTexas 1473]

45 minutes ago, South Austin said:

You pay $100 in rent on a daily basis? Is it a Motel 6?

Lol no he pays >$3k a month, that’s just the sad math everyone does at that point. 

[Zepol87 9191]

Agree. I have 1 coworker in Longmont and 2 in Denver. They say their neighborhood is pretty much all Texans now and not blue Texans.

I've been to Seattle 7 times in the past 2 years for work. It's crazy beautiful especially when you grew up in Dallas but I don't know if I could live there

Edited June 23, 2022 by Zepol87

[Post Oak 20276]

6 hours ago, SmokeyTheBear said:

Sounds like I need to go ahead and buy my plot of land in Colorado before the rest of this site does. 

Headed up to our favorite spot in a few weeks. 

Find a good place for the Surly happy hour

[Thatguy 8866]

50 minutes ago, South Austin said:

You pay $100 in rent on a daily basis? Is it a Motel 6?

What Motel 6 you been to that's $100?

[Beau Vine 54432]

1 minute ago, Thatguy said:

What Motel 6 you been to that's $100?

The one that includes his mom's services in the price?

[Goredho 17420]

1 minute ago, Thatguy said:

What Motel 6 you been to that's $100?

He’s factoring in the 20 minutes of her “time”

[Beau Vine 54432]

6 minutes ago, Zepol87 said:

I've been to Seattle 7 times in the past 2 years for work. It's crazy beautiful especially when you grew up in Dallas but I don't know if I could live there

I lived there for 6 years.  Couldn't wait to leave and couldn't live there now.   Would be maybe the greatest place in the world to have a summer home, though.

[Thatguy 8866]

1 minute ago, Beau Vine said:

The one that includes his mom's services in the price?

  Still a skosh short of a 100 then....

[Fudge Nuggets 19225]

It's cute that all of you think anywhere in the US is going to be safe once these fuckhead republicans sink their claws into everything.

I'm bolting the country, burning my passport, what have you and what not.

[HenryJames 66179]

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Cool. You can go to the Festival Confederada if you get homesick.

No thanks. I lived very close to Americana and never visited. Got enough of that I Texas proper.

[Patricio Swayze 17058]

Based on stats and all the damn video of "off duty police" ending criminals, Brazil looks like an extreme (or future?) version of America with respect to gun violence. How are you mitigating that?

We wouldn’t move to Rio or Sampa. We would move to a smaller city in southern Brazil. Something like Joinville or bombinhas. Maybe Caxias do Sul. I have lived in Brazil, I am familiar with it. My grandmother was Brazilian. My wife was born and raised there. We are fully aware of the situation. Thanks for your concern.

[F250 28823]

2 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

Was Libby Mae Brown working there?

 

1990's vintage Parker Posey, yes please.

 

[Nice Guy Eddie 13523]

What’s the word on living in NM especially Santa Fe?

[Gil Bang 26025]

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.

“Once you’ve seen Karl Hungus…”

[Gil Bang 26025]

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.

You’re about to get a fat, ugly, vile cunt for your Governor

[Beau Vine 54432]

2 minutes ago, Nice Guy Eddie said:

What’s the word on living in NM especially Santa Fe?

Los Alamos is the only place I'd consider living.  The rest of the state is kind of a mess largely due to terrible public education.