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North Texas Travelogue – Necessarily AbbreviatedYou could fall blindfolded out of an aeroplane and land God-knows-where, but within the first five minutes or so you’d know you were in the Texas Republic. The place has a certain, confident sense of self that permeates everything, license plates, air waves, attitude. The Lone Star flag flies over pretty much everything, right up there alongside Old Glory, proud to partner, yielding nothing. Although just as close culturally to Old Mexico as Southern California, North Texas eschews the pretty convention of Spanish names for its major arteries. People lived here, big men for a big country, and their names are everywhere remembered: I don’t know who Joe Pool was, but I don’t doubt that many a Texas schoolchild does, and people like George Hopper and Walter Stephenson, just to name two, left their names on the boulevards of the burrough of Midlothian as well. I even saw a George Bush highway and a John McCain Road. There’s something to that, I think. A ten year old growing up on a lane carrying someone’s name might grow to wonder how that man got a road named after him, ask himself what he’d have to do to leave something of himself behind as well when he grows up. Thus are planted the seeds of ambition for an ambitious place. Thus does a prestigious foreign car dealership carry the proud, if unintentionally evocative moniker of “Grubbs Infinity”. It’s halfway home to Virginia, and I could almost feel a bit of that mid-Atlantic breeze blowing down through the live oak trees, the fading remnants of a riotous fall sweeping across the streets. A big sky pressed down above to remind me that I wasn’t quite home yet, if all those flags fluttering proudly above everything hadn’t hammered the point quite home. Drove all over hell and gone yesterday, looking at neighborhoods, visiting friends. Hit the stockyards in old cowtown for a bit of a bite around noon, walked out of a chill north wind and into the Star Cafe because I think I might have trod the boards there 15 years or so ago, having flown in to Alliance airport in an F-16 for an airshow. There was a lady of a certain age that ran the place with a familiar grace and grave dignity, and I was sufficiently reminded of my manners to say, “yes ma’am” and “no thank you, ma’am” when the opportunity was given, knowing that these would be taken not as a courtesy but rather as a well-earned right. Thence to posh Southlake, which is, non-intuitively, north of Fort Worth in the Grapevine area, where a good friend lives in the kind of house that would not have been out of place in some leafy suburb of Northlake Chicago, which is in fact where he and his lovely bride came from. I bought a pair of Cabernet at an upscale market hard by to warm the visit up, one for his family and another for some old friends that I’d be visiting afterwards for supper. Were it not for that portentious chill in the air outside and a certain majestic sweep to the horizon, I could easily have imagined myself in Southern California. The wine was a lovely, buttery red, Tangley Oaks ca. 2005 (lot 9) and I really must track some more down once I get home. My friend was blooming at a local defense giant, as was his beautiful family more prosaically at home. Then down to Midlothian, south of the metroplex, to meet a very dear pair of friends I have seen far too little of over the years. In a kind of marked contrast to the northern suburb, they lived in a ranch house at the end of a lane with acreage, horses and a creek in back. The house looked warm and inviting from down paddock, and the dinner conversation was very fine. All of this was wonderful, and it has given me a very great deal to think of as I prepare for an interview some two and one-half hours from now. Meanwhile, back at home, the Kat judiciously searched for “more affordable” housing in the Carmel Valley area, at least as contrasted to the Crushing Burden of Debt we currently call home. The notion being thought – in her mind at least – no oxymoron but rather an eminently rational counter-proposal to this mad, impetuous adventure her father had gone a-tilting on. With that informing the moment, I’m all about earned value management, cost, schedule and performance, wondering, like my imaginary 10-year old on Joe Pool Road, what it is that I’ll be when I grow up. 48 comments to North Texas Travelogue – Necessarily Abbreviated |
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Good luck with your interview Lex.
I have several family members residing in Fort Worth. They rave about it. Affordable housing, low(er) taxes, lakes nearby where Dad can take the kids sailing. What is not to like?
Hope the day was favorable to you Lex. I trust that your interviewers will have the good sense to make you a generous offer on the spot.
Ah, Lex. Thanks for the travelogue. Brought back memories of time spent with two of my sisters (one lives in Grand Prairie and the other in Midlothian) and a reminder that I’m overdue for a visit.
Midlothian is not just horse country, but aviation country. There are “subdivisions” that have airstrips for private planes in their backyard much like subdivisions in other areas have golf courses. The lower cost of living might allow both you and Kat to fulfill your avocations.
Yes indeed, that IS the key question, isn’t it…….What do we want to be when we grow up? Or as someone else once said: “Life is what happens to you while you’re planning something else.”
Good luck today, Lex. Hope the interest at the interview is mutual.
P.S. I liked Midlothian – daughter began her TX sojourn there.
Virg – I heard it said in a song somewhere along the way that if you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans.
Though I doubt you’ll need it – good luck with your interview, Lex. Hope the job is what you’re looking for.
Brian
Welcome to Texas, not just a place, but a state of mind. Even though Houston and the “MetroPlex” are miles apart in space we are all Texans and we welcome anyone with the presence of mind to come. You should do as Davy Crockett did in Tennesse and put up a sign on the door, “Gone to Texas.”
Jump on in…the water’s fine!
I still miss my Pensacola, but gotta go where the jobs are…
I’m not a bike rider, but a SF Bay Area transpant friend is on his BMW nearly every weekend and hasn’t grown tired of the variety he is finding yet.
He also just got his (Very Sweet) Cessna 195 over here and is starting to stretch his sojourns out a bit farther.
There are “subdivisions” that have airstrips for private planes in their backyard much like subdivisions in other areas have golf courses.
Speaking of which, another friend of SO’s has a house on the lake over in Spicewood just off the end of the runway, and the plan is to pile up and head over there this weekend or next…Big Sky willin’
Thats down in Travis County outside of Austin…which is the “Hill Country”…Not too far removed from Marin County I might add
You see bumper sitckers that read, “Keep Austin Weird”
But the good news is, the denizens are much more of the Kinky Friedman, Willie Nelson variety.
Guns are allowed.
If you find yourself in those environs, you gotta eat at the Blue Bonnet Cafe in Marble Falls. Just double up on the Lipitor.
So, like I say…The Water’s Fine!
One of the cool things about Texas is that west of 99deg. Lat there wasn’t ever any settled population. Comanche bands moved through this area at their constant peril, and only because other native tribes were too prosperous and too strong to be forced on to that land. Stopping was death. The Coahuila, Mex., towns of Santa Fe (NM now) and San Antonio/Bexar (TX now) were linked through St. Joseph, Missouri or Matamoros. Travel across west Texas was not a good idea without train tracks.
When I was a lad our schools were all named for heros of Texas or Presidents of the US. Now they are named for esteemed educators of Taylor county. I liked it the old way better.
As you noted our highways are still named for families who made the land what it is now. Winters Freeway goes to Winters Tx, but that is just a private joke- beyond Winters Tex being a hot dry dust hole. It is named after the man Winters, not the town.
The real west Texas news is that something that might be F-35s are being spotted in Stephenville and the local UFOlogists are getting a lot of new business. The Air Force still claims heavier than air flight is unlikely, but they’ll look into it. Institutional prejudice, there, I guess.
Bad news is that you’re looking hard at Texas. The good news is that you’re a half a continent closer now. Maybe we can have a Lex-ite weekend in New Orleans one day? Sure be fun, and me and Virgil can sure show you the places to eat at
Best to you, Lex.
The good news is that “The Kat” is amenable to moving out of San Diego, if not CA. Well, that is half the battle! The battleship is not stuck in the mud, so maybe the tugs can move her after all.
Deep in the shadows of my memory is a scene from B&W TV in which a comedy skit in the 1950s made fun of the German V2 scientists who moved to Texas. The skit had men in lederhosen singing “Deef in der Hartz der Texas.”
Welcome to North Texas! If I’d-a-known you were gonna’ be in my stomping grounds this weekend (Southlake-Colleyville), I would have made sure a pint of Guiness found its way to your table. Two, maybe, so the first one didn’t get lonely.
Incidently, the John McCain road of which you spoke was not named for the one you think. The McCains are an old Colleyville family. John lived around the turn of the last century. Most of our roads are named for the families whose farms dominated this area up until a few decades ago.
Back to the point – good luck on the interview. Decisions like the one you face are extremely difficult and I do not envy you. Our moves to and from Virginia were much easier due to the kids being very young.
The best little towns close to Fort Worth are on the little highway 174. Crowley, Cleubrne, Rio Vista, Blum, Kopperl, Clifton and Crawford. I have unloaded ballast(rock) on the BNSF line that runs through these towns from Ft. Worth almost to Temple. 174 is a little easier drive than 35W during rush hour.
Welcome to the great Republic Lex!
It sure is a fine place to raise a family, especially out Midlothian way. Close enough to the city for the needs such environs provide, but far enough away that you can get a ranch.
As for the Texas pride. Here’s what I tell folks. Remember how, right after 9/11, there were American flags everywhere and pride in the USA was abundant?
Texas is like that. Every. single. day.
Live there long enough and you can’t help but be proud of where you are.
Some of us were lucky enough to be born there.
I grew up in Midlothian. Dad’s last station was NAS Dallas with Dallas Adversary.
It wasn’t so much the move back to Texas from Virginia Beach that had my brothers and I worried, but rather the specific locale that bothered us. We’re moving to Midlo-what?
My parents chose it for the good schools and small town life. It was the end of life as we knew it.
Looking back I can see it for the great little town that it is. Its grown a lot, but so have we. My parents are still there, and my older brother just built a place there to raise his two little girls. Many of my friends have married and returned, though we all swore to move to bigger and better places.
For the record, I have no idea who George Hopper and Walter Stephenson are. It never really occurred to me to ask, as most of the naming goes to various teachers and public servants who quietly toiled to make Midlothian a better place.
Joe Pool was a three term Congressman from the Dallas area – I’m not sure why they named the lake after him. But, you’re right, in general, there are alot of places and things named after local grandees – especially politicians of various stripes. We do have Tom Landry Freeway…..I-30 between Dallas and Ft. Worth.
It would be welcome to have you in the neighborhood, Lex. If I might recommend, if you are truly looking for acreage, and if you will be working at LM on the west side of Ft. Worth, that you consider eastern Parker or southern Wise country. There are some nice little towns there and acreage to be had at fairly reasonable prices. The drive is a little greater, but the savings rather substantial.
Meanwhile, back at home, the Kat judiciously searched for “more affordable” housing in the Carmel Valley area
Way back When before I came along, dad built (didn’t have it built. my parents did it themselves) a house in Carmel Valley when he was stationed at the NPS.
From the pictures I would say it was just a little place; probably a struggle to make 1000 sq ft. This was up the hill towards where the airport used to be.
About 8 years ago, my sister and mother went out there, and while considerably added onto, the house was still there…And cost just shy of seven figures.
Price elasticity of a good and all that…
I hope the news is good when it comes.
Lex, I’m confident that you will get it done in short order…and hopefully get on with it… one way or the other . Best
Hope you get a good choice of options. You WILL succeed at anything you try. And the family will thrive and grow wherever you lead them.
And any employer will benefit from your services, as have we citizens for the past so many years….
I love the Texas attitude. Instead of “coexist” you get “Don’t mess with Texas”.
I hope you like 100 degree plus temperatures.
Bill C – I hear you quickly get used to the 100+ temps. At least that is what my family tells me….
They say they have AC for good reason!
Born a Texan. Back in Texas. Loving it thoroughly. But getting ready to leave. . .sigh. . .
Tejas is the first place we’ve lived (of the three we’ve been stationed) where I’ve said, “You know? I could retire here. . .” and SWMBO has actually agreed.
Best of success with the interview, Lex.
Can’t offer much thought on TX. My only visit there was an overnight to Reese AFB, all of it to straighten out a miscreant F-4. Done with watching the Skipper hie away to Roosie Roads, we scrubbed our paws, clumb aboard the C-12, and meandered purposefully back to Pt. Mugu. Later, y’all!
Being from SoCal, I can’t imagine 100 degrees being so bad. It’s the humidity that would do me dirty.
Hmm, growing up. I may be growing older, but I REFUSE to grow up. REFUSE! I tell you!
Listen up, you all… or is it ” y’all” ? …all this brave talk of Texas exceptionalism has a certain defensive ring to it… like the annoying Florida ( stop trying to convince me) snow-birds, who without being asked, constantly tout the glories of Florida living to any unfortunate Northerner clutched in their grasp…
Now I’ve lived in Florida and spent some time in Texas… both are wonderful places full of wonderful people and things to do..but in the final analysis… you all should be aware of the immutable fact that when you all go to bed at night and wake up in the morning you’re still … alas … in Texas/Florida. Best
PS, Hey SantaJim, Re the last line of your comment # 7 above… a questionable testamonial at best… if I recall correctly… Ole Davy Cs move to Texas didn’t quite work out for him as planned…
Lex,
My ancestors fought in Hood’s Texas Brigade, and some relations are still around the state. Of late, I’ve been given to thoughts of relocating down there, around the Fort Carson Springs, and Uvalde area. I know it a little bit, having spent some months there on a project.
Two points:
1.) Texas is the birthplace of Chicken-fried bacon, with country gravy for dipping sauce.
2.) The idea is to grow older, not to grow up. When you grow up, you are expected to act like an adult. I’d rather pretend to be one when I have to, and revert to my normal younger self the rest of the time. The Mrs used to refer to me as her “oldest child”. I liked that.
Its y’all snake…singular and plural…Of course that stretches all the way east to the Atlantic with some minor variations of singular/plural use.
And a soft drink, or pop, or whatever is a “coke” no matter the actual brand.
e.g.
“What kind of coke do y’all want?”
“I’ll take a Dr Pepper, thanks.”
when you all go to bed at night and wake up in the morning you’re still … alas … in Texas/Florida. Best
Beats the hell out of somewhere in the Frozen Tundra like New York!
“You could fall blindfolded out of an aeroplane and land God-knows-where, but within the first five minutes or so you’d know you were in the Texas Republic.”
You are cautioned to be careful when asking anyone ‘where you from?’ [ or, in this tale, where am I? ]… If the answer is TGSOT (The Great State of Texas) then anyone will realize That Fact soon after starting a conversation. If the answer is not/not TGSOT, then why embarrass them?
A Scotsman
by heritage,
a Virginian
by residence (presently) ..
but born and raised a Texan in The Great State of Texas
by the grace of G*d … amen.
The best answer I ever heard to that was “I may not have been born here, but I got here as fast as I could”.
The bumpersticker version was the everpresent “Transplant” sticker, which I can only presume was a response to the many proud “Texas Native” stickers one sees there.
BEST of luck on the interview, Lex. There are certainly worse places to be than The Great State of Texas! I say that as a resident of TGSoT (legally) and a bearer of a Tejas drivers license, even though I’m living 15 miles west of the state line… in New Mexico.
And beggin’ your pardon sid (@28) … but when ya say…
“Its y’all snake…singular and plural…”
… it ain’t. “Y’all” is singular; “all y’all” is plural.
I’ve known a lot of Texans… interesting thing is that the natives often maintain a pretty low-key demeanor about their home state, it’s the transplants who tend to get a bit carried away with the Texas Triumphalism. The zeal of the converted, I guess.
Anyway, good luck with your interview!
I note that others have expressed a similar sentiment as mine: “Alaskan by birth, Texan by the Grace of God.”
My father was career AF, and he avoided Texas for as long as he could (AK, CA, ME, HI, MI, France, Libya, Spain, Ohio while I was alive), but in 1966, he was assigned to 7BW at Carswell, and basically until I ran off to the Navy in 1972, I lived in Ft. Worth and San Antonio. I managed to pull a civilian assignment in Ft. Worth in the mid 80’s, and fell in love with Texas again. Even more, I think.
I recently took a job near Houston, and every day I look around and think what a great place this is, this Texas. When Hurricane Ike hit, we did not have the looting of New Orleans. No, people pulled together and helped their neighbors. Nothing else mattered. Race, creed, color, national origin, sexual preference…we are all Texans and we pull together. Plus we are armed. LOL
Oh sure, we have rabble. They live around the people’s collective of Austin. But the rest of us (and I include myself, quite modestly) work hard to make this into the greatest place in the world in the greatest country in the world.
Bring your stuff and join us. You will be amazed at how great we really are. And just how proud we are to be Americans AND Texans!!! ;^)
VR
CW4
Never heard Y’all used as singular when I was growing up in NC. Only Yankees trying to “talk Southern” used Y’all in the singular.
Must be differnt in Texas.
Brian
Here in NC y’all (pronounced like the boat Yawl) is one person. Youns (pronounces you ins) is plural.
You’ll recognize a yankee when he says “you all.” Fakers all.
Recognize the travelogue. Saw old friends around the Dayton area. One a Retired Colonel and pilot from the AF. Kinda poignant for me since he had the career I tried for. Still old friends are dear friends, and the very best kind.
Since this is written late, I hope the interview went well and they make you a good offer.
Here in AL, you is one person, singular, y’all is plural (pronounced yawl). We’ve also been known to say “all y’all” when speaking to a bunch of folks. Y’all’s is plural possessive.
I think the yankee confusion comes from our speaking to one person, but saying “y’all come to see us”. What we’re doing there is asking that person and all his kin – which he understands – to come to see us. Thus ends today’s lesson in Southern (at least AL) speak.
“Although just as close culturally to Old Mexico as Southern California”
I beg to differ…Texas may be geographically close, but culturally, it has had its Mexican culture revitalized through newer waves of immigration, not through continuity.
While Californios continued to shape the social life of that land after it became a state, Texas had a great deal of influence from Confederate planters relocating their slave populations into Texas after the war. In practice, slavery lasted much longer there. The influences of the French colony is clear through Orange, Beaumont, Galveston, and even creeping into Houston (Katrina only accelerated the Louisiana-ification of east Texas…unable to find good-paying jobs at home, college-educated Louisiana kids have been relocating to Houston and its suburbs for a long time and have done all they can to shape that part of the state in their image.)
Further, Americans had something to prove when they moved into Texas, the sense of something to avenge, and they renamed the landscape to erase the Mexican past (Remember the Alamo!)
In California, the Mexican inhabitants were not pushed out, just pushed off their lands…California, particularly the north, also had a large influx of southerners, starting in the Gold Rush, but the racial system in place was more fluid than found in other states–it was Spanish and allowed for upward mobility in a way the “one drop” black/white/red system of the original colonies did not. In California, the Irish, the Jews, the East Europeans, Italians and Sicilians were considered white (by the 1870s) long before they were in Texas, or the rest of the country.
And just to clarify, in Baton Rouge, anyone who lives north of the city tare declared to be ‘damn yankees’…thus explaining some of the confusion over “y’all”..more of you are northeners than you ever expected.
QM – intersting what you said about the use of Y’all in NC. When & where ’bouts did you grow up?
I grew up in Newton (40 NW of Charlotte – now NASCAR country), graduated from NCSU in ‘87. Only heard “You ins” from my older aunts & uncles.
Lex, you’re a VA gentleman, how’d they use Y’all up there? Singular, plural, or both?
Good grief, Lex. I read pieces like this and I think, “Why in the hell do I continue to blog?” Beyond well written… we were there with you, seeing it all through your eyes, the people, the places, the ambience.
Best of luck in your interview and with the family. The vision of Kat looking for more affordable housing made me grin. She gets major points for tenacity. I’m impressed… she’s getting her data ready. I feel most certain that at her age, I’d not have taken such a logical approach… even if Al Gore had yet to invent the internet.
Join us Skipper. It is your destiny.
In the Old Dominion, y’all is plural. You is singular. Like Miss Birdlegs says, if someone says “Ya’ll come see us,” to an individual, it’s understood that kith and kin are invited.
Been my experience there are distinct Southern dialects. I’d break it down more or less like this (tongue kinda sorta in cheek)….
Virginia, Carolinas Interior, Hatteras, Charleston, Geeche, North Florida/Central Florida (South Florida they speak New Jersey or Foreign), Kentucky, Tennesee/ Georgia Interior/Alabama Interior/Mississippi Interior(sub differences here though), Lower Alabama/FL Panhandle, Mississippi Coast,Cajun,Louisiana Interior/East Texas, Arkansas/Oklahoma/North Texas, South Texas.
Three Generations of exposure to national media is rapidly eradicating the differences. Listen up while you can!
I thought y’all was singular and “all y’all” was plural. So I was told. I live around Chicago and all of us talk like Al Capone.
I hear the flying in Texas is great. Get a horse farm *with* a grass strip in back for the Husky!
Welcome to God’s Country, Lex. Make yourself at home. Permanently, I hope.
Ft Worth is the best of the best. The former Mrs. Subsunk was born there and she sure was proud of that place, as am I.
I hope you will come to settle down and stay. The flying is great here also.
SnakeEater,
“Ole Davy Cs move to Texas didn’t quite work out for him as planned…” However, his move worked out to the betterment of Texas, as planned. Dying in combat against a tyrannical empire which massacred thousands of Mexicans in Zacatecas province in Mexico, and hundreds of Texicans in Texas itself, while outnumbered over 10 to one, is far from a demeaning ending to a fine Life.
‘Twere it so, I could find my end in just such a fashion, I’d be durn proud, to say the least. Mr. Crockett and Capt Lex can one day both say they found fun and adventure, and a Life well lived, in Texas.
Subsunk
Hey Brian!
I was an that specise of MILBrat known as an AFBrat. Born on Hunter Air Force Base near Savannah, GA (AAF), and grew up in Germany, Oregon and Texas. Grad of Tennessee Tech and worked in SE Ohio and now WNC (work for the Cherokee as Engineer and Land Surveyor) and living in Waynesville. I hear Youuns all the time from the natives in these parts. I heard occasionally from East Tennesseans, and even a WV native or two. It seems to be a highland expression that has died out in the Piedmont, but not around here. The natives are getting smothered, however. Too many Yankee imports.
I’ve noticed about 6 southern dialects personally. Three in Tennessee (Western NC (WNC)/East Tennessee, a mix between central Tenn and East Tenn, and central TN (similar to KY/ Southern Ohio)), SE Georgia, North Mississippi, and central Texas around San Antonio. I know there’s more, and shades between them as well. Yankee dialects seem to be more consistent among themselves with linguists basically painting the northern tier with the same brush. Yankees like to paint the south as ignorant, but I’ve seen more diversity and vibrancy in the south than I ever saw in the north.
Yeah, that Austin enclave is a bit strange. Was back in the early 70s when my father was at Lackland. The only good thing about it then was the Longhorns, and we considered them kidnap victims for which we couldn’t muster the ransom.
Here are two dialects:
“Carolina Interior”…
(on the left…)
“North Texas”
Apart from the gender difference, not the harder “s” sound from Texas. Its almost a whistle…
Subsunk, That Ole Pecker-Wood Davey Cs been a hero of mine since my Coon Skin Cap days back when Fess and Buddy bought it at the Alamo…I just thought it …a might strange… to mention him in a testamonial for relocating to Texas thats all… and hey can I assume that “the former Mrs. Subsunk” is your ex?… If so that too is a mighty strange source for a testamonial…must be a Texas thing…verdad?? Best
My Dad’s family speak the fast-talking Piedmont accent. My Mom’s family, from Mississippi, speak the most beautiful form of the English language. If one of them were to tell you that he was about to kill you, and you were a Yankee, you wouldn’t believe him until the weapon entered your body. Being a bit autistic, and assuming that people actually literally mean what they say, regardless of body language and tone of voice, can be helpful there.