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VMI77 wrote:Years ago when I was forced to live in the Northeast I remember hearing about some survey that asked people if they identified first with their state or with their country. I don't remember the exact numbers, but for every state except Texas something like 95-99% said country. In Texas something like 15% said state.

I've heard something similar, supposedly reported by people in other countries when they ask an American where they're from. People from other states tend to say "America" or "The United States. People from Texas say they're from "Texas."

Sort of like the joke about the young man leaving home (joining the military, maybe?). His mother tells him not to ask people where theyre from. He asks her why not. She says, "If they're from Texas, they'll tell you. If they're not, you don't want to embarrass them."

bnc wrote:Now if we could just head up to Utah, Colorado, or Idaho and drag some of those mountains and cool weather back down here I'd be all set.

When we take back the territory Texas claimed befor the Compromise of 1850 . . .

cheezit wrote:ive been here for 4 years. so far all I can say is my truck fits in the parking spots at homedepot. . . .

I recently spent three years in San Diego, CA. (Native Texan who has always lived here other than that time.)
We take our wide open spaces for granted. Out there, I was surprised to see as many full-sized pickups and full-sized SUVs on the road there as in, say, Dallas. But the places you have to drive and park are just not really built for them. I drive an extended-cab, half-ton Chevy pickup. It was a challenge to get through the drive-through at Wendy's. Just finding a drive-through ATM was tough, at least half the banks don't have drive-up tellers either. Parking spots were always a squeeze. Even at Home Depot, where one could logically expect to find full-size pickups, if two full-sized trucks are parked next to each other, and they're both centered in their parking spots, you would have to be very skinny to get in and out the doors between them.

People I knew out there seemed just as friendly and helpful as people here, and just as willing to help a stranger too. (That surprised me a little.) But they don't show an open friendliness, if that makes any sense. If you smile or nod or wave or say "hi" to random people you pass them on the sidewalk, they look at you strange like they're trying to figure out if they know you from somewhere or if you're just a freak. I felt like Mick Dundee when he was walking down the street in New York greeting everyone and they acted like he was from a different planet. Sitting at a stoplight, I make eye contact with someone, and out of habit, I'd wave or smile and nod. They'd either wave and then look confused, like "Do I know you?" or they'd quickly look away and make a point of not looking again in your direction.