snow sucks, wife said lets move. im fine with that!!!! (San Antonio: house, construction)

[Willsson]

Originally Posted by RenaudFR

I don't understand, snow is so beautiful, mostly in forests

Renaud, yes.. snow is beautiful, especially in forests. But remember, half the U.S. that is not coastal (east/west coast) is buried in snow for most of the winter. And each regional part of the U.S. has its own commerce that goes on year round.

Frequently there are snow storms out of Canada, Canadian fronts, that drop tons of snow. Sometimes the passes thru the Rockies are not passable. Even the northeast U.S. has heavy snowfall. And the great lakes region has its own set of problems with heavy snow. And frankly, digging thru snow just to go to work is a pain in the butt.

It's not like hanging out in the Alps or Pyrenees for a few days.

I learned long ago that if I wanted snow I'd pay for it and go to Colorado for a week. So far, works out real well.

[virgil tatro]

Originally Posted by RenaudFR

I don't understand, snow is so beautiful, mostly in forests

yeah snow is beautiful, but have you ever had to chain up a truck to get home?? or work on a truck in the snow?? there are other reasons we are choosing to leave montana not just snow, I want opportunities for my wife and children, and I have honestly thought of going to college myself for ministry, but may never do it... Im working in a mine in montana now and want to get out from underground.. In my heart im a long haul trucker... but trucking in montana is slow, not much going out of here...

[TedH71]

Don't consider Abilene. I lived there for an year. Moved back to East Texas and eventually to Austin. Now I live in Wichita, KS.....less traffic, low cost of living, reasonably priced real estate, snow isn't too bad..it stays for 2-3 days then melts. Hot weather is 2 to 3 months..with one month being really bad. Very minor considering in Austin, it stayed very hot for months. Abilene really doesn't have much going for it and if you buy rural property, you have to fight the burrs all the time..not fun walking outside. East Texas would be a better fit for you. I have family in Tyler and lived in Tyler for years.

[doctorjef]

Corpus Christi is really a lovely little city with extremely mild winter weather. Many people find it boring and it's somewhat isolated, being a good 4 hour drive from San Antonio, though Corpus is large enough to have all the essentials. It's a different culture from the West Texas Abilene-Lubbock scene and you would definitely want to see if you were comfortable with it. For recreation you really do need to be into pursuits like deep sea fishing, beach going (besides the little beaches that Corpus itself has, there is the great Padre Island across the causeway -- not to be confused with South Padre, which is down at the very bottom of the state near Brownsville), even fishing just off the piers. I loved Corpus Christi as a kid when I lived there. However, I don't know how the schools are these days. Although Corpus Christi itself is very pretty (IMO), the country to the north of town is boring, flat coastal plain ("flat as a pancake" as my mother used to say of it).

If you consider Lubbock but find it too big for your tastes, I'd urge you to check out the little town of Post, to the east of Lubbock and right after you get off the flat farmland of the South Plains (or right before you climb onto it, depending on which way you're going). Post is sort of the end of the vast ranch country that extends west from Fort Worth and the country around there is rugged and beautiful in a lonely, rugged sort of way -- unlike the South Plains on which Lubbock is situated, where the only natural beauty is pretty much the spectacular sunsets. Lubbock gets only modest snow, except for occasional freak occurences (much more snow in Amarillo) but IME they are more likely to have ice, and winters are pretty cold -- when I lived in Lubbock I wore a real winter coat in the winter, whereas in Austin I rarely wore a heavy coat (didn't even own one most of the time we lived there). The wind in Lubbock can make the weather quite unpleasant as well.

[piyf]

Houston has plenty of trucker work that is for sure.

[Backspace]

Are you looking for something in an urban city area or something more rural where you might be able to legally park your rig on your own property?

[virgil tatro]

Originally Posted by Backspace

Are you looking for something in an urban city area or something more rural where you might be able to legally park your rig on your own property?

yeah I need to park on my own property, I had that trouble in montana where we live city ordinance would not allow it, but the city council fought it for a few truckers including myself and got the ordinance changed..

[Rakin]

Technically Snow blows, Tornadoes suck.

[Willsson]

Originally Posted by Rakin

Technically Snow blows, Tornadoes suck.

Yeah, but here in the alternate universe we call Texas, snow sucks and tornadoes blow.

And lighting travels and hurricanes strike.

[CptnRn]

A truckers wife started a similar discussion thread not long ago. It made sense to me that they had narrowed their search down to the on IH-45 between Dallas and Houston and all the trucking that originates from those locations. There are lots of nice small towns along that stretch, IH-45 provides good access to either I-20 to the north, I-10 to the south, I-25 to the West.

The community of Corsicana TX, 24,000 is only a short drive West from Hillsboro with has numerous discount malls. It almost never snows there, less then 1" in January, none the rest of the year. The area has numerous lakes around it for recreation. Coming from Montana you should change your thinking about one aspect of enjoying the outdoors. It is warm enough here to enjoy out door sports on the lakes and rivers for most of the year. Camping out on a boat, say a pontoon boat on the lake is much more comfortable then tents or sleeping on the ground, mount a BBQ grill on the back of the boat and you it becomes a great place to spend your time outdoors. Also it does get so much hotter in Texas during Summer that spending time outdoors almost demands that it involve water sports in order to be comfortable. Aside from boating on area lakes, there are numerous slow moving rivers that are fun to float down on inner-tubes, canoes or rubber rafts.

Not far east of their are the "Piney woods" of East Texas. Including Davey Crockett National Forest, Angelina National Forest, Sam Houston National Forest and the Big Thicket National Preserve. The Texas coast also has miles and miles of sheltered water with excellent fishing in the bays behind the barrier islands. Some of the barrier islands are accessible for 4WD exploring along the South Texas Coast.

You can look up demographic data including average income and housing costs, crime rates, etc. here http://www.city-data.com/city/Texas.html for any city/town in Texas.