Moving to San Angelo (Houston, Dallas: 2009, rental, insurance)

[Rathagos]

Originally Posted by DesertDog

desertrose09
Thanks for the reply. My wife and I have lived from coast to coast and from the research I've done it just seems as if San Angelos what we've been searching for. We've never been there but hope to make a weekend trip soon to get a feel for the town. We'd like to have horses again and be able to go fishing whenever we want without it becoming a major event. Good luck to you and anything about the town you'd care to share we be happy to read.

Didn't see this until after I replied, DD, sorry.

If you want a place to have horses, you're looking more to the outlying areas of San Angelo. There are several areas with land available on lots (Wall, Grape Creek, & Christoval come to mind). There's fishing in Lake Nasworthy, as well as the Concho River. Within an hour there are lots of other places to go (Horde's Creek for example).

[Rathagos]

Originally Posted by scsigurl

yeah, my husband is about to retire from the service after this gig. I'm a musician, so I hope that I can find some students. We will probably move there and stay because we're both nearing retirement.

Nice place to retire. I am retired Navy, myself (retired 2003). All the places I've been, this place drew me back.

[scsigurl]

Originally Posted by Rathagos

Nice place to retire. I am retired Navy, myself (retired 2003). All the places I've been, this place drew me back.

Well, the alternative is Las Vegas, but we have about six months to decide. I don't know how I'd do with poor air quality, and the heat. And no trees...but SA looks pretty barren from the photos, also.

[DesertDog]

Rath
What would be your feelings on which of those areas are closer to the better middle and high school? Also is the humidity in the summer as bad as the more eastern parts of the state? I stayed in Waco briefly years ago and and you were soaked by the time you walked from your house to the car and I'm hoping San Angelo isn't as bad. I appreciate the info that's coming from these post it will surely help me with my research. My other target area was Prescott Arizona but when I went to take a look it just didn't meet my expectations so I'm really hoping San Angelo is everything it appears to be. I can't wait for an opportunity to drive over and spend a few days soaking in the atmosphere of the area and talking to locals.

[DesertDog]

desertrose09
I didn't get the email. Please resend I'd love to get all the info I can.
scsigurl
If you are thinking about Las Vegas Nevada as a place to live I can give you a lot of insight. I lived there 13 years and it's not the same place it used to be.

[scsigurl]

Originally Posted by DesertDog

desertrose09
scsigurl
If you are thinking about Las Vegas Nevada as a place to live I can give you a lot of insight. I lived there 13 years and it's not the same place it used to be.

Tell me about it? I think I'd have more opportunities as a musician, certainly, and probably find more students. I don't mind heat as much as sun damage to the skin, and the poor air quality and traffic I've heard about in LV.

[DesertDog]

scsigurl

Where to start. We moved from El Paso to Vegas in 1989 and it was a great town to live in. Eating out was cheap ( 99 cent breakfast, 3.99 prime rib, buffets to die for, drink for free, etc.). Housing was very affordable and the air was fairly clean. Crime wasn't high unless you lived in North Vegas and I think the people were friendlier back then. You do get used to the heat and believe it or not my kids got to where if the temps got below 100F they thought it was too cold to swim in the pool.
My company moved me out of state after 10 years to Charlotte, NC . ( what a great place to live but don't get me started on that). After 5 years of being gone I was transferred back to Vegas and all I can say is "what the hell happened". High cost of housing, food, entertainment, smog was horrorable,crime was crazy, drugs out of control, schools were dangerous and the quality of education sucked. They even had metal detectors at the school entrances. Crime against visitors in the Casinos was getting bad and the LA gangs were moving in. We lost dear friends to the Meth problem that has totally taken over and the homeless population had grown to the point there were people living all over the desert areas.
We left after 3 years for our kids sake and moved back to El Paso to be closer to our other grown children. El Paso isn't the garden spot of our country but it's a great place to live if you just give it a chance. Neither my wife or I speak spanish and it has hurt her in finding good jobs but as someone else said it's who you know that really helps when it comes to jobs. Most of the other post about El Paso were accurate to a degree but this town is different things to different people. I miss green and water but I love the warm friendly people, great food, ease in getting around, and weather. I live on the far east side of town in a 2300sq ft 2 story home that sells for 160K. The high school and middle school my kids go to are safe and seem to be really good. On my street are about 4-5 white familes and the rest hispanic. All my neighbors are wonderful. It's all in how you approach new experiences in life. Be closed minded or open up to all the new things out there. Sorry for dragging this out so long and as always this is just my humble opinion.

[scsigurl]

Well, we're certainly not going there then. Thanks for telling me.

[desertrose09]

DesertDog

I must have done something wrong when I sent e-mail. I'm still learning to use the forums.

When you visit try to go to the Visitor Center, they have been a lot of help to us.

We've lived in San Angelo and Waco and I think Waco's humidity is a lot worse some days.

Rathagos has given a lot of good information.

One of the things I really love about San Angelo is Christmas on the river and at Fort Concho.

[Rathagos]

Originally Posted by DesertDog

Rath
What would be your feelings on which of those areas are closer to the better middle and high school? Also is the humidity in the summer as bad as the more eastern parts of the state? I stayed in Waco briefly years ago and and you were soaked by the time you walked from your house to the car and I'm hoping San Angelo isn't as bad. I appreciate the info that's coming from these post it will surely help me with my research. My other target area was Prescott Arizona but when I went to take a look it just didn't meet my expectations so I'm really hoping San Angelo is everything it appears to be. I can't wait for an opportunity to drive over and spend a few days soaking in the atmosphere of the area and talking to locals.

DD,

I am not sure what you mean on areas "closer" to middle and high schools. The city is broken down by area... as strange as it sounds, just because you live next to middle school "x" doesn't mean your child will go there.

We have 3 middle schools (Glenn, Lincoln, and Lee). We live in an area called "The Bluffs". It's associated with more financially affluent families, although, I could argue that. There are two areas to the Bluffs, a "lower" bluffs... where we and everyone I consider middle class would live, and up on the hill is the "upper" bluffs, where doctors and other higher-paid professionals live. However, in that area, our kids go to Lee. Many people don't think that school is the best of the three. So, it's hard to say that.

We have basically three high schools, also (Central, Lakeview, and Wall). Most people have the notion that the "money" school is Wall. This is primarily because it's on the outskirts of town and most people that live there have land (own farms) or have small oil rigs on their land. But all three are different (because of student numbers). Wall has 6-man football teams, and Lakeview and Central (which is the largest) are in different divisions as well.

I don't know if I forwarded this site yet or not (www.saisd.org).

As far as humidity, there really isn't any. We only get about 12" of rain a year. And for real "green" you'd have to go farther east. However, most yards do have lawns, and the grass recovers very quickly after a rain.