Originally Posted by Scalded Dog
I moved from CA to Spring, TX (which borders the Woodlands). I'm an outdoorsy- type, pretty conservative, and figured that Texas would offer more "outdoors" and like- minded people than CA. I also liked the idea of no state income tax, and the always- spoken- of lower cost of living.
Holy crap. I spent three and a half years there. I learned that you can't really go outside, because every patch of land within 200 miles is either sealed- off private property, or is a swampy waterway. You don't swim in rivers or lakes or ponds, because they are infested with alligators, cottonmouths, and snapping turtles. Plus, it's too hot and humid for 360 days of of the year, and too damn cold the other five days. If you like mountains, fuggedaboutit! Not one bump on the horizon for hundreds of miles. If you like surf and blue ocean water, you won't find it (the Gulf is brownish seawater, with waves that compete with ripples for "most underwhelming").
And, as a conservative, I was WAY out of my element. My experience leads me to believe that the good ol' boy/ rancher/ country- type/ patriotic description of Texans is little more than a myth. Maybe random chance over those three and a half years led me to ONLY meet those who mock the flag, think guns are just scary (and have no place in a civilian's hands), and think that higher taxes are a GREAT way to solve all of society's woes, but, that's about all I met. My beliefs in personal freedom, self- reliance, smaller government, and so forth, were foreign to all who I met there.
And speaking of taxes: Sure, no personal income tax... a nice little perk. But, they say that "they'll get you ONE way or another," and damn if that's not the truth. Property taxes are through the roof. In my area, I ended up with a 6% tax rate... others in neighboring communities have it as high as 10%. Buy a $100,000 house (you can get a decent suburban house for that), and pay between $6k and $10k... just to the gov't, for the privilege of owning something.
Schools? I was not impressed. Our initiation was, at the beginning of the school year, my two kiddos (then grades three and four) were given a substantial list of supplies to purchase. Most items were personal items, but a lot of was reams and reams and reams of paper.... for the school. But, I dutifully filled the shopping list, and did so with quality, expensive items. When the kids brought it all to school, the school first took their cut, then all children were required to dump their piles of stuff into a giant heap in the middle of the room: at the command of "GO!" every kid dove into the pile to get the good stuff. My kids ended up with shit, after I spent $1000 on their school supplies. Oh, and this is the same school that spent $4000 apiece for these freakin' headset gadgets for non- English speaking parents to receive "translated" information when they attend the open houses... once per year. No idea how many headsets they had... but it WAS quite a few. That's really nice and all, but knowing that such a huge portion of the school budget went to cater to that contingent, but therefore FAILING to have the funds for a hundred (every week, we were shoveling more money to the school, because of endless notes and pleas to "help provide for our struggling school") other more worthwhile expenditures really rubbed me the wrong way.
My anecdotal citations of why the schools there were not impressive to me could go on all day long; it's the sum total of a thousand things like this that put a bad taste in my mouth.
Bottom line for me? I figured the grass would be greener in Texas, and I learned otherwise. I earned $10,000 LESS than I earned in CA (doing the same job, for the same company), and had a much higher cost of living in Texas (yep, that turned out to be myth, too... all told, Texas cost me more to live: Housing, food, insurance, utilities--- and taxes!--- came to a sum total much higher than I have ever paid in California). I came back to CA, tail between my legs, defeated after being laid off, losing my house to foreclosure, and having not been able play outside for three and a half years.
The grass is greener here, in CA, for me. There's a far more conservative environment here (yup... it's true), I earn more money, it costs less to live, and I can go outside and play! I have mountain ranges, oceans, and deserts. I can go to places where's there's not a human within 50 miles of me, and even to places where it's possible that no other white man has ever set foot. I can swim in lakes and rivers, and no giant reptiles are going to eat me.
The question was asked, and that's my opinion. I'm sure there are people who will be offended and indignant that Texas' fine reputation would be besmirched--- especially by a CALIFORNIAN!--- but, that's my story, and I'm stickin' to it!
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