I Chose Texas

Nearly two decades ago Bob and I knew that we needed to leave California. The state of our birth was quickly becoming impossible to live in. Higher taxes,higher prices for essential goods, fewer jobs, declining schools were all making California less and less the lifestyle we wanted. Thus we began our quest to look for someplace else to live.

Admittedly Texas wasn’t on our radar in the beginning. Maybe we watched too many movies. I, in particular, had visions of all of Texas having an environment like West Texas. I had no desire to live in a desert. So we looked in other states with more trees, running water, and rain.

Then in 2005, we visited our daughter in Austin. What a delightful surprise we found in Central Texas. After traveling around the area during that initial visit, we became enamored with the idea of living here.

Austin and San Antonio were definitely NOT where we wanted to live. We traveled the area from San Antonio to Georgetown, Lago Vista to Bastrop and finally to Caldwell County. This was it. The rural lifestyle we were used to and wanted, while close enough to Austin to visit family. Green pastures, tall trees, wild flowers, clear air, and wonderful people.

In 2010, we found and purchased our property in Harwood. We packed the moving truck and the trailer with our possessions. Loaded the car and truck with two dogs and two cats, and headed east. As we pulled out of our former home, we looked back for a moment, then left California behind.

Unlike people who have been transferred here because of their careers, we chose to live in Texas. We chose to leave California where it belongs, next to the Pacific Ocean. We left our birth state behind with no desire to bring California with us.

We came to Texas to leave behind high taxes, the burden of regulations, air pollution, and weirdness. We came to Caldwell County because of the people, clean air, lower taxes, fewer regulations, and the lack of weirdness. This is home.

As the saying goes, “I wasn’t born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could.”