Possible Move to TX?

Hey ~ watch it!!! I live near Possum Trot ~ yes, there are towns & communities like that in TX. LOL Arkansas has Toad Suck instead. 8 )

Never been to Muleshoe but that was my thought when Amarillo was mentioned. If I could live down in Palo Duro Canyon, maybe. The rest is plumb flat and bOrrriiinnng!

The only way to travel thru west Texas is at night. Then it doesn't look so barren. You can see lights in the distance and think it is civilization. You will never see where those lights came from in daylight. I like the trees and will tolerate the humidity.

Fun to read everyones' opinions and apologies if I've stepped on your locales' toes.

It's pretty impressive out there when there's a thunderstorm rolling up, too.

Okay. Now I HAVE to tell an old family story. My late father, born in 1907, would tell us about traveling from Texas to Arkansas on the train to escort a crew of men back to Texas to pick cotton at harvest time. These were people who had never traveled and lived a long ways from any cities and this was before the Rural Electrification Act of 1936 brought electricity to rural areas. It was nighttime as the train neared Dallas and they were sleeping. One of them woke up and, when he saw the many lights of Dallas all around in the distance, he got very excited and fearful, yelling to the others, "Boys, boys, wake up, the stars are on the ground!!"

Glenna

Quilt , anywhere in Texas is heaven .More later .

It wasn't civilization I was seeing?
The sky is falling! LOL
Loved the story ~ Glenna.

=D!

Podster - too funny with all the town names. Aren't they all a hoot? Funny, the only time I drove to TX, we went from El Paso to Midland at night. Midland to DFW area was next morning and it was pretty flat, but then again, I find a great deal of the area between SoCal and DH's hometown of Las Cruces flat and boring. Then again, I am not much of a car traveller. Coming from CA, where we have such a varied terrain and so many mountains and hills I used to tease my family after they moved to Plano, that they were so devoid of hills and such that the highest point (outside of buildings) were freeway off ramps.

Terri - your Muleshoe clerk will wonder who 'turned him in' for story telling.

Sharondippity - love your call name. As a builder, my husband has put some mobile's on city in-fill lots. I like manufactured homes and we currently live in one (2004 Champion Infinity 2100 sq. ft) on property. It has tons of storage, huge closets, cabinets, etc. It is all 2x6 construction with dual pane lowE windows and all drywalled (no panels or connector strips). When I lived on the coast I had a 1440 sq. ft 1974 Silvercrest that was in a 5* park overlooking the ocean. Being an older model it did have paneling, walpaper and the strips. I did do some remodeling of one bed/ba and kitchen. That all being said, I would look at living in a manufactured/mobile home much differently in a tornado or hurricane zone. I know, I know, we live with earthquakes, BUT, I figure the home is made to travel down the road so has some give similar to earthquakes, but not made to travel through the air, LOL. The property there sounds like a GREAT deal and sounds very pretty.

Y'all might be interested in a thread on the Trash to Treasure Forum called How Did You Choose Your User Name: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1138808/

Glenda-That story is great. I'm going to have to share it.

Guilty-The drive from So Cal to Las Cruces is the interesting part, its the drive from El Paso to Junction that is boring. But I'm not much of a car traveller either. : )

Quilty, we have had tornados in the area but never a direct hit, the closest hit about 3/4 mile away. There have had very strong winds and rains and hail. I bet your Champion is tied down like ours with steel staps going over and around the unit and screwed into the ground about 6 feet deep. I have never felt threatened in it in all the 20+ years we have owned it. I hope it is not just a false security.

I didn't see the Champion when I went to a manufactured home before buying the Solitaire, it may not have been available in this area back in the 80s. It sounds extremely well made as is ours. I envy you all the storage.

When we first got the Solitaire we cut and installed an oversized 7x6 ft custom made tempered glass sliding door leading out to the 30x24 wooden deck so we have always had great views and a large outside entertainment area. I just had new bamboo floors put in the kitchen/dining and it certainly added some class. I really like it. I had upgraded the carpets a few years back. I enjoy it still as much as when it was new and feel as comfortable in it as in the brick home we built on site 7 yrs ago. I think if it had had more storage we would have lived in it after retirement rather than building new.

DH is on a new kick since seeing the website www.tumbleweedhouses.com/houses/. As a builder he thinks this should be the wave of the future and wants to design his own "tiny house" plans for others ond for us to put 'on property'. Tell me, why would anyone that has several acres want to live in a closet? He was telling a friend that 'maybe' there could be a garage. Heck yes a garage. About 1500 square feet of garage to have the: living room, laundry room, pantry, closets..... Bet one of those houses could fly well in a tornado!

Sharondippity - I would still want a basement in your neck of the woods, or at least a cellar. 3/4 of a mile is pretty close! When I was a kid in WI, it scared the day lights out of me when there was a tornado watch/warning. I know, I know. I live in earthquake country, but do feel better about it being away from the city. I used to commute 28 miles to downtown LA to work and was pretty complacent about earthquakes, but now that I am away from there I think about it all the time if I have to go toward/into those metropolitan areas - especially while under/on overpasses and such.

I do not believe the Champion is available in TX as the Solitaire is not here in CA. Champion is now part of maybe Cavco out of AZ. Everyone get swallowed up

the chances of actually being in a tornado here are probably about the same as actually being in a 4+ earthquake where you are, maybe less.

hardly anyone in this area have basements (some who have moved from a northern area and built here) a few natives have cellars or tornado shelters, there might be 10 total in my small community. There are public shelters at schools or court houses all built years ago and most in disrepair. Gainesville, TX has actually had more tornados touch down than any other place in the U.S, fifteen miles north of me