How abotu long walks on teh beach???

 

I know that was a joke, but I am not much of a beach person. I'd rather go where there is less people and not more people. This might be why I wonder about Texas a lot, seems you don't have to go too far to change your environment.

 

define too far? you can go a few hours (2-3)and change it a quite a bit.

i dont like the beach either, its the sand I hate. it gets in everything....

If I were in your shoes I think the Austin area would be at the upper part of my list. I would check out the dallas area too. Outer Houston is good also if you dont mind how flat it is.

 

Pasadena, TX

I'm not familiar with the area at all, I just know that when we drove down there I wasn't impressed. I didn't know my grandfather's past all that well other than he was in the oil industry and one of the jobs he had was painting the inside of those big above ground holding tanks? I think he did some roughnecking too. Of course all this was back in the day, probably the 50's through the 70's?

 

I have a friend that's into web development. He had a hard time finding a job here in Dallas a few years ago. He moved down to Austin as well. If you were in Dallas you would probably be working downtown, Addison or doing contract work from home.

 

that explains it. that is on the SE side of town and is where all the refineries and other plants are. I wouldnt want to live on that side of town either.

 

You like guns? You will fit right in.

I have lived in Virginia, Florida, California, Illinois and Texas. Been here for 25 years and don't have any plans to leave.

 

Flower Mound is 28 miles from Plano by road, according to Google. As the crow flies, more like 20. I can see how it might be a bit less crowded, but is it not still flat, hot, and dry?

As for the crowding issue... what's the average residential lot size in Flower Mound? If it's half an acre or less, I'd call it too crowded. Is traffic an issue? If the answer is anything more than "rarely," I'd call it too crowded.

 

Hot and dry depends on the time of year. Flat, depends on your idea of flat. If not having mountains is flat then yes it's flat. We have some rolling hills and being between the lakes it's more pronounced than other areas.

Lot size depends where you live. Suburban areas are like what you are thinking, but in the old area of Flower Mound where I grew up it's probably about 1.5. My parents are on 2.5 and the lot next to them I want is 1.2. The issue is mainly due to all the farmers/ranchers that sold out when the getting was good. There was a guy named John Immel that owned hundreds or acres across high road. He sold out to a subdivision and we went from well water and cows to city water and a couple subdivisions on acre lots.

Traffic, that will always be an issue in any growing area. We are having issues right now though because the old 2 lane black top is getting torn up for a 6 lane divided. Both FM1171 and FM407 are under construction which are long over due.

Edit: Use Google Earth and look up this location (7696 Green Meadow Court, Flower Mound, TX) Everything to the west just went up like 5 years ago, before then it was solid trees and some pasture. East of High Road was mostly pasture where you see Immel Road.

 

Northwest / West Houston... Austin(probably around RoundRock area).. Dallas/Ft Worth Metroplex has nice areas...

All depends on your C O L....

 

What makes it so?

The variety of scenery and places to live. If you want to live in dowtown apartments, they are available. If the Burbs are your deal, lots of'em. If you want to few acres to call your own Squanderosa, land is available.

Cost of living is lower than most places.

Stable work environment ... for the most part.

No state income tax.

80mph speed limits (in some areas).

Based upon your criteria, family situation and job skill set, I would think west of I35 between San Antonio and 50 miles north of Austin. Also west if I35 between Ft. Worth and Denton.

 

I don't need mountains... all I remember is that in Plano, it was so flat that you could see for miles, and the only elevation changes were man-made for road bridges going over the interstate. Way too flat. I guess I'll take your word for it, but I have a hard time believing that it's all that different 20 miles away.

Hot... how often does it exceed 90 degrees? That's too damn hot, and I don't want to deal with it on a regular basis. For comparison, in Michigan, we might have one week in the summer that hits 90-95. 100+ is very rare, and some years we never break 90 at all.

Better than I expected. Sounds nice. I looked at Google's satellite photos, and it looks nice too.

You say it will always be an issue for a growing area, but you're wrong. It's not about growth -- it's about actual size. I live in a suburb of a small-to-medium growing metro area (Lansing, MI -- metro population ~500k), and I think the last time I hit traffic in this area that affected my travel time by more than a few seconds was on the day of the MSU vs. U of M football game (October). Before that was probably the same event the previous year.

DFW has something like 6.5 million people. Traffic is inescapable. As a driving enthusiast, I'd much rather live somewhere where I can actually drive.

 

its been getting in the uppers 80s or 90s here for a few weeks. it will continue to be those temps and a bit higher (for the most parts) untill at least Aug.

 

I'm not going to argue with you. I've lived here 24 years and the 2 lane dirt roads were just fine when we were 20K, they even went on to pave them at some point and they were fine at 30K, but when they area grows so much in so little time without the infrastructure to support it, I consider it a growth issue. The roads can't handle 3-4x as many people with no ill effects. Toss into that construction for over 3 years on the roads to bring them up to par and it gets worse.

After looking up your location I don't expect you to understand. As you said, your area is only 25K and your metropolitan area is only 500K.

 

Thanks for the info, guys. It really helps me determine if my thinking is correct and If Texas is right for me, should the opportunity present itself. Please keep it coming in my direction.