Please tell me about life in Amarillo (Lubbock, Hereford: how much, motel)

[OnTaMove]

I'm thinking about relocating to Amarillo. What is it like? Is the weather as bad as people say?

[GayleTX]

The summers in Amarillo are wonderful compared to the rest of Texas.....the temperature seldom gets over the mid-nineties and the evenings are cool and pleasant and the wind tends to die down in the evenings. In the winter there are usually some pretty servere cold spells and some snow and ice but it's not constant - and even when it's cold the sun shines a lot; unlike most of Texas, Amarillo is equipped and prepared to deal with the streets during the bad weather. Amarillo is on the prairie and the wind does blow year round.....how much that bothers you depends on how much you're outside, I guess. Sometimes it blows the high-profile trucks on I-40 over but not often.....and that's usually outside of town on the open prairie, not in town. I've lived in Amarillo and I've lived in Colorado.....I'll take Amarillo or western Colorado any day!!

[txsizzler]

GayleTX is pretty much on the money. I would like to add that Amarillo does see its fair share of heavy thunderstorms in the late spring, some of which have been tornadic, especially east of Amarillo. Amarillo is at a bit higher of an elevation too (compared to the rest of the state). Being in the panhandle, you do experience a GIANT variety of weather, in particular from mid fall through early spring. I have personally seen Amarillo have temps in the daytime not exceed 10 degrees in the midst of winter, while a couple days later, they may be up to near 70 degrees!

Amarillo does not experience alot of the ice storms you see further south in N. Central Texas, but they do get alot more snow. Amarillo's growing season lasts from mid to late April until mid October.

To summarize: if you like alot of variety with your weather, Amarillo is definatley up you alley!

[jmking]

Back in the 1970s my brother and I took a road trip from DC to San Jose, California. We stopped for the night in Amarillo and got ourselves a motel room. We went out to eat and this nice lady saw our tag plates and started talking with us with her young daughter at her side. She ask us if we'd like to join her family for dinner. I thought is was a little strange that someone would trust two strange young men to enter and eat in their home. We accepted and went to her house and met her husband and 3 children. It was one of the most friendliest gestures I've encountered in my 51 years, and I'll never forget them for their hospitality.

[ocean2026]

There are plenty of feedlots - at least in nearby Hereford and the cows get plenty to eat. IT is cooler in the summer and dryer - it is not a diverse community - and perhaps the most redneck in the country. You may have heard of the case outside Amarillo where the community refused to punish someone for hurting or was it killing a kid who dressed and looked different - punkish.

Some of those counties voted 92 and 93% for McCain and Bush - so there isnt much diversity in though. Overall its my least favorite part of the state.

[scootiepie]

I lived in Amarillo in the 80s. It was the only place I lived that ever had snow, and in Texas that is a rarity. You can see for miles and miles on the edge of town and see some beautiful sunsets. My mom tells me she never had problems with allergies there. Some days the smell of the feedlots is overwhelming but the wind has to be blowing a certain direction.

[High_Plains_Retired]

Amarillo is okay but Lubbock is better.

[DiscoTex]

Originally Posted by scootiepie

I lived in Amarillo in the 80s. It was the only place I lived that ever had snow, and in Texas that is a rarity. You can see for miles and miles on the edge of town and see some beautiful sunsets. My mom tells me she never had problems with allergies there. Some days the smell of the feedlots is overwhelming but the wind has to be blowing a certain direction.

I live in DFW and my folks live in Albuquerque and everytime I drive through Amarillo from the East I am 'blown away' by the smell of manure.
I want to ask...

How bad is the smell of manure in Amarillo?
Is it something you just get used to?
Is it worse on the West or East side of town?

Any input from any residents of Amarillo (past or current) would be greatly appreciated.

[north_carolina_cowboy]

I would like to look at the Amarillo area to get closer to my family, and to get closer to the life that I love the most. What kind of nice BIG Wrecker companies do they have up around Amarillo? Here are some pictures of what I do, what I've been doing for a living for the last fourteen years. When I tell people I work for a wrecker company they either think I'm saying that I tow cars, or that I'm a repo man, well actully I've never done either. The company I work for is in Heavy towing & recovery and that's what I'm looking for in Amarillo.

[GayleTX]

Amarillo should be an ideal place for you then!! Since it is on I-40 and is isolated, there are many truck stops there and heavy truck traffic on the highways there. It's not uncommon for the wind to blow high-profile trucks over on the highways and not uncommon for trucks to slide off the roads there and on up into the Panhandle during the winter months. Amarillo has a lot of warehouses and is a distribution center for many companies and there are lots of huge feedlots all over the Panhandle so there is heavy truck traffic both in the city and all over the Panhandle. (Makes driving a challenge sometimes, especially on the icy roads). I would think services such as yours would be able to stay busy.