pithy typically Texas sentiment/sign from the road ride

[marni]

"
"Education is important.
Beers are importanter."

hey at least the verbs match the nouns. sigh.....

[Crankin]

Still don't know how you can stand it...

[thekarens]

Lmao!

[polly4711]

Does not surprise me!

[OakLeaf]

I'm just trying to imagine what kind of sign this might have appeared on. A bumper sticker I can see - a sign, not so much ...

[marni]

I so miss living in Europe (the Netherlands) and in Massachusetts.

[rebeccaC]

I so miss living in Europe (the Netherlands) and in Massachusetts.

well, you could be living in Tyler Tx....

[Crankin]

Come visit, Marni!

[Triskeliongirl]

Texas isn't that bad. Every place has pluses and minuses. I grew up in New England and while the politics suited me better, the weather in texas in great and we have the Texas Hill Country for riding year round. Also most of the major citys did vote blue in the last election.

[Crankin]

Eh, I had enough of living in a blue pocket of a red state in AZ for 16 years. That, plus almost 5 years in FL, taught me that there's more to life than endless summer.
In fact, just 5 days in southern California a couple of weeks ago, made me irritable, with constant sun, heat, and everything just being the same, same, same.
I don't want to sound snarky. I just like living in a place where I don't have to justify my beliefs and my kids didn't have to explain why they didn't celebrate Christmas. And, I have found that I am happier when the weather is different all of the time. I love the change and diversity of the seasons. I suspect that if I did live in a place where I could ride all year round, I would get burned out. I so look forward to the very short x country ski season! There's the anticipation of it for 6-8 weeks, and then, at the end (never more than 8 weeks), I almost always am on my bike the weekend after my last x country ski in the beginning of March.

[thekarens]

Texas isn't that bad. Every place has pluses and minuses. I grew up in New England and while the politics suited me better, the weather in texas in great and we have the Texas Hill Country for riding year round. Also most of the major citys did vote blue in the last election.

I have to agree, I'm about as liberal as they come and I still enjoy living in Texas. I hate anything under 50 degrees and snow is best viewed on a television. I lived in places that had snow and 4 seasons until I was 29, you couldn't convince me to go back. I like being able to ride year round and I like not being cold.

Besides, if no with different thoughts/opinions lived here there would never be any change.

[OakLeaf]

Yeah, I guess stereotyping places just kind of rubs me the wrong way. There *are* good and bad things about everywhere, and especially to characterize a state as "red" or "blue" is mainly just a question of which party was in power when that state was gerrymandered beyond all recognition, and the populace is usually very closely split on a variety of issues in at-large elections, and very often a majority of the population disagrees with the goals of the party in power.

My little sister found herself drawn back to Dallas as her adopted home, after several years away - she's maybe not as political as I am, but I don't think there's much of anything we disagree on. It's not the climate for her either I don't think - of all the many places we grew up, none of them was warm or southern, and she never complains about the cold when she travels to a cooler climate. She's very much at home in DC too and visits often, but Dallas is where she bought her house and started her business, and she loves it there.

[salsabike]

Besides, if no with different thoughts/opinions lived here there would never be any change.

Yeah, I guess stereotyping places just kind of rubs me the wrong way. There *are* good and bad things about everywhere, and especially to characterize a state as "red" or "blue" is mainly just a question of which party was in power when that state was gerrymandered beyond all recognition, and the populace is usually very closely split on a variety of issues in at-large elections, and very often a majority of the population disagrees with the goals of the party in power.

Love both these statements.

I have a Latina niece in Houston who is very liberal, as is the Texas family she just married into. Her first job after college at Rice was canvassing door to door for an environmental non-profit in Houston. She has some of the funniest stories ever about doing that work. She used her charm and humor to do that job in a conservative, oil-based city, and she and her hipster crowd are a big and delightful part of Houston culture. Just thinking about living in Houston makes me sweat (heat/humidity wuss) but I'm sure glad they're all there and part of it.

[Crankin]

Well, you guys certainly put me in my place. But, I'd be lying if I said I didn't *choose* to move back here because of the issues I brought up. The weather is one part of it, and not a small one, either. I am not as political as you, Oak, but for me, it's a question of feeling like I "belong" somewhere. And, when my parents moved to AZ, in 1971, it was politically quite different. Over the years, the changes were quite apparent, and I saw the writing on the wall in the mid eighties. Yes, I had a very nice life there, a beautiful home that I could not have afforded here at that stage of my life, a good job, and lots of friends. But, I pretty much lived in a bubble of my own making, to avoid some of the political/lifestyle comments I sometimes, no often, heard at work. I lived in a university town, which helped. Most of all, I wanted my kids to be brought up in the same type of environment that I was, because it had a very deep influence on me. My life did NOT change for the better when I had to move to Miami in 1969. Let's see, I got called a "N"-lover my very first week at school there, for supporting a local protest group. When I was learning to drive, and my dad took me out a bit from South Miami, there were KKK signs on the trees. I was in shock.
And part of it, I found, as I got older, was the transience of Sun Belt cities. People move to places like Phoenix because they think a warm climate is awesome, and they can make a "fresh start." Trouble is, they bring all of their problems with them, to a place where they have no social or family support, in a state where there are terrible social and medical services.
Yes, I am a snarly New Englander, and at this point in my life, I'm kind of proud of it.

[salsabike]

My husband went down to Texas last spring to do the Texas Rando Stampede 1200k. At some point, he and several other riders were stopped so he could fix a flat. A woman drove up to them and said (read all of her remarks in a heavy Texas accent), "Are y'all incapacitated?" He said, no, he just needed to fix a flat. She said, "Do y'all have the means to repair it?" Yes, he said. She said, "Well, how industrious of y'all." They thanked her, and she drove off. Very gracious, they thought. Love that story.