Gathering of the Clan

Since Gene wants more posts, I'll tell you about my trip to Texas.

First thing to like about Texas, if the road is paved, the speed limit is 75 mph. I kid you not, we spent the night in Colorado City and then headed south for San Antonio. The road leaving Colorado City (63) was a tiny two lane road with something dead on it every 100 yards. I was scared to death that I was going to hit a deer or skunk (lots of skunks).
We drove for 1.5 hours and only saw one vehicle. You gotta love that.

On I-10 the traffic was extremely light with one truck behind me and no one in the oncoming lane. I could see for a loooong way, so decided it was time to do a top en run with the wife's new Q5 TDI. I planted my foot in and it jumped to 132 mph where it hit a limiter. Looking at the tach, I think it would have made around 140 or so at redline.
I let up on pedal and was coasting down to 88 mph where I had been running and the next car over the hill coming at me was a state trooper. I just waited for him to pull me over.

He asked if I knew how fast I was going and told him not exactly because I just did a top end run and was going back down to the speed limit. I told him that with be being the only car on the road I thought it was a good place to try it.
Luckily, I have the "thin blue line" sticker on the rear window showing my support for LEO and was also wearing the matching shirt that day. He mentioned them and I told him my son was LEO and he handed me back my stuff and told me not to do that again and have a nice day. I now love Texas troopers.

Had a great time in San Antonio and went to the coast and walked on the beach. Looked into a few places that might be candidates for retiring (4 or 5 months out of the year - we're getting tired of snow).

In 5 or 6 years, might join Brad down there.

Everyone I have met from Texas has liked it.

_________________
Laugh at me if you can't laugh with me.

Texas has a lot of positives but, after 4 years here, I find the summer heat really bothersome. I spent August time in upstate NY last year and in Colorado this year to get away from it. That may become a pattern for me.

The big pluses of TX for me have been house prices and family. House prices have been going up fast as the population grows, but remain well below CO. My sister and brother in law are 5 minutes away and two nephew's families are within 30 minutes.

You may want to check out the Reno/Carson City part of Nevada before deciding on TX for retirement. You can get the lower house prices and lack of state income tax without a major climate change.

Brad

My boy, John, liked it. I nearly got shot in a Dallas bar in 1970.

You almost got shot in my yard in 2017.

Getting shot or taking shots?

_________________
Laugh at me if you can't laugh with me.