Movin' to Austin

[love roses]

I was going to offer info on freight, but my husband works in trucking, not airline, so I'm not sure he'd be much help. A cousin and Uncle in Dallas work for Fed Ex at DFW, but since that's not here, not much help to you I suppose.

[Trainwreck20]

Elroy - Tiny 'town', probably a few hundred people, if that many. It appears to be in the Del Valle school district, which is probably the worst in that area.

Bastrop - The largest city, easily, on your list, with a whole handful of stoplights, although they are building a bypass through (over?) the city. About 7,300 people as of 2005, up about 35% from 2000, so the city is growing rapidy. This is in the Bastrop School District, which, while not the best in cetral Texas, is passable and improving as more people move out there.

Driftwood - More an area than a city, it is pretty much part of Dropping Springs. I assume it is in the DS ISD, but not sure. This is a very nice (read - popular) area in general, so I am not sure about costs. Also, would be more than 30 minutes to the airport, most likely, unless you had really off peak work hours.

Red Rock - I had to look this one up, had actually never heard of it . It appears to be in an area that would meet your criteria, and is in the Bastrop ISD. A quick google search shows ~1,800 people and a much higher average income than Texas as a whole (59k vs 44k). Interesting..... Has a rail line through town, so I guess that is what kept it so 'big'

Elgin - Whoops! I stand corrected, Elgin has jumped to ~8,700 people in 2005, so that would put it ahead of Bastrop. I don't really know much about Elgin, personally, but my sister got her first teaching job there in the late 80s and liked teaching there...it just did not pay well.

Of all these place, I would look at Driftwood, if you can do the commute. DSISD is very good (the best of any of these towns, by far). Red Rock might be interesting, but does anyone know a little more than I do? Wouldn't take much .

I would avoid Elroy, or anything in the DVISD. Also, that may be a little too close to the airport.

[MovintoTexas]

What exactly is DVISD? Don't understand what it stands for, or DS ISD? Not familiar with these terms...

How's the Lockhart area?

By the way, my wife corrected me and said that our rent budget is more like $800/month...never payed much attention to these things...

She also said that living on the edge of a town would be fine for now...until we get our bearings...that way she could be close to things and if we're on the edge of town we could probably walk or a short drive to go varmit hunting...

Bastrop? What's that town like sounds pretty big but, how about the outlying areas?

[Trainwreck20]

Opps, sorry. ISD stands for Independent School District. The DV is for Del Valle, and the DS is for Drippping Springs. School districts in Texas are generally independent of county lines and can be quite large and/or meandering, which can make it difficult to tell what ISD an address is in. You will occasionally see CSDs, or consolidated school districts, which are the same thing, basically.

Personally, I don't like Lockhart that much. There are people that just like to be out in the country, and then there are those that are trying to escape. You will find quite a few Repbulic of Texas folks out there (basically, people who don't want to pay taxes) and quite a few people starting over, for whatever reason. Not the greatest environment for school age kids. Plus, it is getting closer to Luling and that wonderful sour gas smell .

Just guessing, withough know you, but I would recommend the outlying areas around Bastrop (maybe Smithville). The area can be quite pretty, with lots of trees (for central Texas) and the population density is still pretty low once you get out of downtown Bastrop. There are several relatively high dollar places on the West side of town (toward Austin), but still quite rural in most of the other directions. Bastrop itself is a pretty good sized town, though.

[MovintoTexas]

Alright...Smithville, asides from being the hometown in a chic flic...from what i can find, it looks pretty good...nice small looking town...any down sides? About how far from Austin/Bergstrom airport? looks to be about 30 miles or so

Any details concerning this area, I'd appreciate it...

[lesliegrace]

Originally Posted by MovintoTexas

Alright...Smithville, asides from being the hometown in a chic flic...from what i can find, it looks pretty good...nice small looking town...any down sides? About how far from Austin/Bergstrom airport? looks to be about 30 miles or so

Any details concerning this area, I'd appreciate it...

MovintoTexas:

When I first discovered the City-Data Forum, I was trying to figure out a place for my husband and me to retire in several years; I thought Smithville might fit the bill, so I was seeking information about it. Here is that thread: http://www.city-data.com/forum/austi...ithville+Texas .

I hope to drive through Smithville on my next visit to Austin to scope the place out! I'll try to take some pictures.

Regarding the distance from the Austin-Bergstrom airport to Smithville, I did a Map Quest search from this airport to Smithville High School, and came up with a distance of just over 34 miles.

In case you haven't found these, here are the urls for the Smithville Independent School District, www.smithvilleisd.org , and the City of Smithville, http://www.smithvilletexas.net/ .

Good luck!

[MovintoTexas]

it now appears my company is unable to transfer me to Austin. I will now have to look around the DFW area...

[lesliegrace]

MovintoTexas,

I'm sorry that your Austin plans fell through. Maybe a move to the Dallas-Fort Worth area will work out. Good luck!

[Driftwood1]

We are in Driftwood.
It's currently a solid 45 min drive to the airport. There's ONE stop sign.
Feel free to email us direct if you want to know anything specific, we'll try to help. We know all the subdiviosions houses, schools , etc.
G

Gordonx3 at hughes dot net