Odessa/Midland area? Comments Please! (Houston, Austin: home, school, allergy)

[Haley]

Thanks for your insights. We are going to look seriously at Tyler.
I have heard wonderful things about Alpine, but there again, we're too used to larger city conveniences to endure it for long out there. As for Marfa, my fear of snakes is worse than my fear of scorpions and I hear tell that they have to wear "snake boots" when walking outside. Shudder! But good suggestion as for altitude. I guess we'll have to make a compromise on the altitude in order to live in a high-tech area in Texas that offers beauty as well. Thanks again. p.s. have to sell our house in Virginia --know any buyers out there?? They aren't coming fast enough for us having Texas withdrawals!

[Cathy4017]

And not Midland if it's so miserable there.

Just because someone else says its miserable here does not make it so.

Midland is no hotter than Tyler/East Texas...and to top it off, it's a dry heat. But there is NO part of Texas that is not hot, including its higher elevations in the Panhandle and down around Marfa and Alpine.

East Texas is a freaking SAUNA in the summertime. But if you're used to higher humidity, lots of lush vegetation, you'll like it. I couldn't get out of there fast enough. My allergies RAGED. It feels much hotter with 80% humidity at 90 than humidity of 25%. The heat is bad enough here in Midland....but it's more bearable because it's so much drier.

Midland is desert. The humidity is usually a lot lower out here. West Texas and the Panhandle are the only areas I'd live in because of the blanketing humidity everywhere else.

Elevations?? The farther west (and up into the panhandle) you go, the higher the elevation gets. You won't find any high elevations in any other parts of the state at all.

Houston 33 ft
Tyler 524 ft
Austin 480 ft
Longview 369
San Antonio 638
San Angelo 1807
Midland 2825 (part of the county is 3000 ft)
El Paso 3714 (parts are higher than 4000 ft)
Ft. Davis 4885 (parts are 5000 ft+)
Alpine 4493
Marfa 4672
Amarillo 3663
Texline 4723

As to the last, you wouldn't want to live in Texline (there's nothing there)...it's just to give you an idea of how high it is in the upper extreme panhandle.

If Ft. Davis, Alpine and Marfa were not so small and isolated, one of those towns is where I would be living.

You won't get lush, jungle vegetation at any of the higher elevations, but you can probably find something that isn't such a steambath in the summer. East Texas and Central Texas are both extremely humid.

Just my two cents....

[conanS]

I remember the last summer i spent in Andrews. 27 straight days over 100 degress. My wife is wanting to leave the Valley(family drama driving her nuts), but I told her in NO uncertain terms that Odessa/Midland were out of the question!! Never again will I live or work in either of those towns. I would consider Andrews, but that is it!!

[etexbill]

"East Texas and Central Texas are both extremely humid" Not as much as Houston and the Gulf area. "Extremely"??, the most miserable week I ever spent was in Midland/Odessa in August. A dry heat at 105 degrees is not fun. It might be better if there was a tree as tall as me once in a mile or two.

"Isolated", as if Midland/Odessa is NOT isolated?? I won't even go there unless I fly.

[etexbill]

Forget the humidity. Most people need jobs. As I said, Midland/Odessa is the perfect example of oil boom towns with the oil almost gone. A word about Midland/Odessa from an Austin magazine correspondent:

"Oil production peaked in the Permian Basin in 1971 and has been declining ever since," said Bob Trentham, director of the Center for Energy and Economic Diversification at the Permian Basin campus of the University of Texas.
Moderator cut: Provide a link instead of copying everything here, please

[conanS]

etexbill, I have to disagree. My Dad teaches at Odessa Junior College, and the attendence directly relates to the employment. And right now, they are close to shutting down his department because the enrollment is so poor. No one is going to school because the employment rate is so high. I still have friends in west TX that work in the oil industry and they are working near 120 hours a week!!! Not to say that it won't change if oil hits another low, but as far as the area disappearing in 10 years, I highly doubt that.

[Cathy4017]

It might be better if there was a tree as tall as me once in a mile or two.

Whatever.

[conanS]

Cathy, I couldn't agree more with ya!! I didn't know that mesquite "bushes" were actually tress until I was about 25!!!

[Cathy4017]

Cathy, I couldn't agree more with ya!! I didn't know that mesquite "bushes" were actually tress until I was about 25!!!

Geeeez.......LOL!!! Some of them can get quite huge......

And you're right....we aren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Lowest employment in the state....and still growing.

Fortunately, there are limiting factors.

[etexbill]

The article said 20 years not 10 and that the unemployment rate is because of low paying jobs in the retail and service industries and this reasoning was from two university studies in Texas. From experience in the oil industry I agree. I'm sorry, it is hard to face the facts if you live in Midland/Odessa.