Ohio license plates (Houston, San Antonio, Austin: house, job market, high school)

[PhoenixIsRad]

Everywhere I go in SA I see a lot of Ohio plates.Ive already met 4 separate people from Cleveland and 1 person from Toledo(my girlfriend).Is San Antonio the city of choice for Ohioans moving to Texas?What do the native Ohioans think of San Antonio?Peace..........

[Bo]

Couple of possible reasons come to mind for the influx...

- Auto plants closed in Ohio, but the local truck plant is expanding.

- Military folks whose units in Ohio are closing or moving could be moving here, too, thanks to BRAC.

Even before both of those trends began, I saw license plates from most of the other states in the union. Active-duty military folks aren't obligated to register their vehicles here, so they may have been here a while and are just keeping their Ohio plates.

[ashbeeigh]

You're probably going to see a lot of different license plates this time of year. A lot of people "vacation" in the winter. I would too if I was originally from Ohio.

[sapphire]

Moderator cut: orphaned

I see a lot of plates from all over. Michigan is one that seems to be especially popular, but that's understandable.

[OH2MD2TX]

My boyfriend and I just moved down here from Ohio...(well after living in Maryland for a year) and he's here for military training (Air Force) I'm down here to work and to be close to him. One thing I like about it so far is the weather is really nice.

[majormadmax]

I think I see more Californian, Florida and Mexican tags than Ohio, I suspect the first to be people moving here to escape that state's collapsing economy, the second to be military (FL and TX are popular with the military as they don't have state income taxes), and latter to be people visiting (and shopping). I've honestly not noticed an inordinate number of plates from O-H-10! (As my friend from Ohio always called it).

Oh, and although it is not noticeable, a number of military people do become Texas residents because of the aforementioned reason...

[Dopo]

From Schertz to the airport (35 & 410) I see a lot of: Mexican, California, Alaska, Ohio, etc.

[svg210]

well we'll be getting more Mexican visitors soon as black Friday approaches! Last year I saw a crammed up toyota corolla that was packed full of clothes, toys, and shoes, etc... That lady ended up getting pulled over by a DOT State Trooper (the ones on the Trailblazers) near Moore, TX. I could see two of her kids sitting on top of her piles of clothing, looked like a fun way to travel but safety is a concern though.

[Dopo]

Originally Posted by svg210

I could see two of her kids sitting on top of her piles of clothing, looked like a fun way to travel but safety is a concern though.

Can't get much safer than a car full of clothes

[tmaz]

18 years ago when I got out of the Navy, my wife and I spent 2 days in Amarillo - our first time ever in Texas, on our way back to Ohio. At that time we said someday we would have to move to Texas. We lived in the Youngstown area, and if you know anything about that place, it pretty much died in the 1970's. I was lucky enough to have one of the better paying tech jobs, until it was outsourced this past summer. I looked for jobs for 3 months, and there were only 2 in my field. Not good odds at all. At the time, my wife's employer was selling their facility, and the place was a shambles, and she was ready to get out. My daughter had just graduated High School, so there was really nothing keeping us in Ohio. We were actually sitting watching the tribute special to George Strait, when we said pretty much simultaneously, its time to make that move. We knew we wanted to be in Texas, but weren't sure where. We didn't want anything to do with the DFW area, or Houston - too many people. We didn't want to go too far south - hurricanes. To the north you are getting into tornado alley, and to the west, there really wasn't the business to get back to work in my field. So that centered us on Austin or San Antonio. I leaned towards SA for its history and such, but the jobs in IT seemed to be around Austin, so we originally tried to stay around San Marcos, so both cities were viable job markets. We made a weekend trip to Austin, and got the feel for the area, and dropped off some resumes, to which we were told to look at craigs list down here. Which we did - and wife found a job in a matter of weeks - in Boerne. So we packed up, and here we are.

On a side note - I see a lot of posts about us 'northerners'. I would think that although not born a Texan, I have had the Texan pride, attitude, etc my whole life. Most people who know me from the Navy or Ohio always thought I was a born Texan. Especially the fire department who was called on me - a neighbor called thinking my house was on fire, when in fact I was smoking a brisket. (An old boss from Houston taught me well!) I must say, I as well as my wife, daughter and son all feel more 'at home' since we have been here, than we ever did in Ohio! Thanks to all the great people and neighbors. Its kind of funny - I tell all my friends back home that you really don't know how bad Ohio is until you have spent some time in Texas!

As to what we think of San Antonio - we haven't done a whole lot in the city. Been to the Alamo - very moving. Absolutely love hill country. We love driving through the city on Saturdays and instead of smelling factory smoke and pollution- smelling BBQ! We love the culture and history.