exbiologist
Member
I lived there and I agree. And Kingsville has to be the biggest dump of a college town in the country.
why I can't sleep in
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Mike1234567
member
Cripes... you went from Corpus Christi to where you are NOW?? That's one heck of an improvement. What did ya' do? Make yer millions in the oil industry and jump out of the scum as fast as ya' could??
exbiologist
Member
No, no, no. Went to grad school at Texas A&M-Kingsville, but lived in Corpus because Kville is such a rat hole, along with pretty much the rest of South Texas as far as I'm concerned. Worked on some ranches outside of Carrizo Springs and Eagle Pass. Also dumps, so was pretty much every town between Kingsville and those places. Liked the Alpine and Big Bend area (but certainly can't give a blanket "like" to all of West Texas), some of that oaks and prairies country around La Grange and whatnot, East Texas has some charm, but may as well be anywhere in the South.
MCgunner
Member
Well, I moved down from Port Lavaca, another superfund site. Trying to sell land and looking around Rocksprings which is between Kerville and Del Rio in the western hill country. It's a little wetter there than further west. I've lived on the coast my whole life aside from 4 years in College Station. I'm sick of mosquitos and humidity. But, I really wanna stay in Texas.
My wife passed away over a year ago and I met a woman who lived in Corpus, how I wound up in Corpus. We were married 3 months ago. She was teaching at A&M Corpus, professor of computer science, but has retired now as have I. Now, I'm selling land in Port Lavaca, sold the house owner finance to my daughter and son-in-law, and we're lookin' to make the move soon as i can sell that land. But, times are tough for selling, I'm afraid. Might take a while.
Trying to sell land and looking around Rocksprings which is between Kerville and Del Rio in the western hill country. It's a little wetter there than further west. I've lived on the coast my whole life aside from 4 years in College Station. I'm sick of mosquitos and humidity. But, I really wanna stay in Texas.My wife passed away over a year ago and I met a woman who lived in Corpus, how I wound up in Corpus. We were married 3 months ago. She was teaching at A&M Corpus, professor of computer science, but has retired now as have I. Now, I'm selling land in Port Lavaca, sold the house owner finance to my daughter and son-in-law, and we're lookin' to make the move soon as i can sell that land. But, times are tough for selling, I'm afraid. Might take a while.
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The-Reaver
Member
Most people would be upset that you fellas have " beautiful " land... but like I said before.
Different strokes for different folks. I'll stick to the swamps, those mountains and those temps, Can & will kick me in the butt.
Different strokes for different folks. I'll stick to the swamps, those mountains and those temps, Can & will kick me in the butt.
MCgunner
Member
Every place I've been to hunt, I've found SOME beauty in. The salt marsh is probably hell to you all, but being a life long duck hunter, sunrise over the marsh is a beautiful thing. hearing the whistling wings of birds fly over before shooting time after you've set the deeks and are patiently waiting, soaking in the sights and sounds, that's sorta what keeps me around the coast. It's some of the best duck and goose hunting in the country down here. I've always loved the mountain views, but I can't get TOO far away from the marshes.
todayshighlights
Member
My kids are 3, 5, and 6. That's why I can't sleep in.
MCgunner
Member
Big Bend. Art lives out near the park on the west side of it. It's beautiful country, stark and very rugged. The mountains have an arid beauty to them, though there is pine/juniper forest up in the Chisos. The basin is a great destination for mountain lovers.
That Canyon is Santa Elena carved by the Rio Grande, something over 2500 ft walls IIRC (don't remember the exact number). Trust me, the pix don't do it justice. I'd still like to float that river through the canyon....but on a dry year when the river is down.The Guadalupes are also beautiful in the same way as the Bend, but less volcanic stuff around 'em. The Bend's mountains are mostly ignious in origin. The Guadalupes are an anchient coral reef, Guadalupe peak being over 8,000 feet of coral reef. These aren't the high, year round snow capped mountains one finds out west, but EVERY place like this has its own beauty IMHO. New Mexico side of the Guadalupes is national forest and great mule deer hunting, too. I've hunted it a couple of years and loved it up there. All this beauty is in our back yard, don't have to drive 2500 miles to enjoy it.
MCgunner
Member
And, since people are badmouthing the coast, Corpus, I'll add some opposing thoughts, though I really don't think the area is "beautiful" in the mountainous sense, of course. Hell, the tallest piece of land I know about on the coast is Damon's Mound, a salt dome...ROFL!
But, all the industry is on the north side of Corpus. And, if you think it's bad there, you have NOT been to Texas City, Baytown, or Lake Jackson/Freeport (where I grew up) or, God fobid, Beaumont/Port Arthor. THAT, my friends, is a chemical wasteland! Corpus is only a few refineries and such. I've worked in plants up and down the coast that made stuff they use in chemical warfare and killed people in gas chambers with. Not being able to hire with Texas Parks and Wildlife (Fisheries management) out of college, I made my living as a lab analyst, environmental tech, and pilot plant researcher over the years. Made a lot more money, at least. But, that's what kept me down here. Port Lavaca provided me with a good living and, yet, a boat ride to Matagorda Island, maybe down to Panther Point fishing or one of the potholes produced there by when the place was a bombing range during WW2, for duck hunting. The island is a state park, now, only accessible by boat and one can hunt ducks there as well as the fishing is fantastic. I sorta am a lifelong adict of the fishing down here, too. But, the island is as remote as one needs to get from all the plants along the coast.
Now, head south out of Corpus on the Laguna Madre. Get down past the mouth of Baffin Bay to the land cut, and you're about as wild as a coast can get! There' NOTHING down there, but the most fantastic duck hunting in all of north America and I'd compare it to coastal Mexico or Argentina. It's just too good to describe, though the logistics keep me from going down there much in my small boat. It's nearly 2 hours by boat, hour and a half, anyway, and it can get mighty rough when a norther blows in. Don't have motor trouble cause cell service is spotty and you ain't gonna easily get help. I prefer to go in groups with more'n one boat, personally. That ara has to be the most remote area on the Texas Gulf Coast. As much as I like my duck hunting, you can see why I love it down there. There are potholes that are arteasian spring fed. There are tidal pools that are high in salinity where there are gobies and killifish specially adapted. Neat thing, you find one of these bakiing in the sun, it's almost like the Great Salt Lake. There's a ring of salt around it, created from the evaporation, of course. But, I learned about all this in school and when I found it, I was enthralled. Probably wouldn't mean much to anyone else, but it's a wonder of nature to me.
Then, there's the fact that the coastal marsh is the tropical rain forest of aquatic environments where species diversity is concened. However, the marsh is FAR, FAR more productive than any rain forest. All life along the coast depends on that productivity. Many species spqwn there. Birds are at their most diverse in North America down here, too, especially around Christmas.
Okay, if all you want is mountains, stick to Colorado. I'm just trying to give reasons why I don't think it's so bad down here. That said, I'd rather live in the hill country and bring my travel trailer down here in the hunting season. ROFL! I'm sick of mequitos and humidity. I'm ready for a change. AND, I do love and appreciate the beauty of the hills/mountains, whatever.
But, all the industry is on the north side of Corpus. And, if you think it's bad there, you have NOT been to Texas City, Baytown, or Lake Jackson/Freeport (where I grew up) or, God fobid, Beaumont/Port Arthor. THAT, my friends, is a chemical wasteland! Corpus is only a few refineries and such. I've worked in plants up and down the coast that made stuff they use in chemical warfare and killed people in gas chambers with. Not being able to hire with Texas Parks and Wildlife (Fisheries management) out of college, I made my living as a lab analyst, environmental tech, and pilot plant researcher over the years. Made a lot more money, at least.
But, that's what kept me down here. Port Lavaca provided me with a good living and, yet, a boat ride to Matagorda Island, maybe down to Panther Point fishing or one of the potholes produced there by when the place was a bombing range during WW2, for duck hunting. The island is a state park, now, only accessible by boat and one can hunt ducks there as well as the fishing is fantastic. I sorta am a lifelong adict of the fishing down here, too. But, the island is as remote as one needs to get from all the plants along the coast. Now, head south out of Corpus on the Laguna Madre. Get down past the mouth of Baffin Bay to the land cut, and you're about as wild as a coast can get! There' NOTHING down there, but the most fantastic duck hunting in all of north America and I'd compare it to coastal Mexico or Argentina. It's just too good to describe, though the logistics keep me from going down there much in my small boat. It's nearly 2 hours by boat, hour and a half, anyway, and it can get mighty rough when a norther blows in. Don't have motor trouble cause cell service is spotty and you ain't gonna easily get help. I prefer to go in groups with more'n one boat, personally. That ara has to be the most remote area on the Texas Gulf Coast. As much as I like my duck hunting, you can see why I love it down there. There are potholes that are arteasian spring fed. There are tidal pools that are high in salinity where there are gobies and killifish specially adapted. Neat thing, you find one of these bakiing in the sun, it's almost like the Great Salt Lake. There's a ring of salt around it, created from the evaporation, of course. But, I learned about all this in school and when I found it, I was enthralled. Probably wouldn't mean much to anyone else, but it's a wonder of nature to me.
Then, there's the fact that the coastal marsh is the tropical rain forest of aquatic environments where species diversity is concened. However, the marsh is FAR, FAR more productive than any rain forest. All life along the coast depends on that productivity. Many species spqwn there. Birds are at their most diverse in North America down here, too, especially around Christmas.
Okay, if all you want is mountains, stick to Colorado. I'm just trying to give reasons why I don't think it's so bad down here. That said, I'd rather live in the hill country and bring my travel trailer down here in the hunting season. ROFL! I'm sick of mequitos and humidity. I'm ready for a change. AND, I do love and appreciate the beauty of the hills/mountains, whatever.
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MCgunner
Member
My first trip was 35 years ago. I've been there half dozen trips since. I love it out there. You really have to go there, though. The camera doesn't do it justice. You might drive up through Alpine (Davis Mountains) to Van Horn and up through Guadalupe pass and the Guadalupe Mts park headquarters on you way back home on that trip, too. There is pretty counrty out there interspersed with flat, boring desert creasote bush. It's worth the trip, trust me.
Mike1234567
member
Hey, esheato... I have a couple acres in Alto, NM I need to sell.
Here's a pic (B&W) taken on a trail near Bonito Lake close to my property there. Too bad I have to sell my little piece of forest. I took this photo a million years ago when I still did "real" photography.
Here's a pic (B&W) taken on a trail near Bonito Lake close to my property there. Too bad I have to sell my little piece of forest.
I took this photo a million years ago when I still did "real" photography.Attachments
Well, I guess we have the best, or worst, of both worlds. We live in Colorado but most of my place looks like the pics that The_Reaver put up.
(Arkansas River bottom, southern Colorado.)
(Arkansas River bottom, southern Colorado.)
Zombiphobia
Member
- Joined
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oh man I want to live in Southern Colorado so bad
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
Other than New England and the northern plains states, I've driven around this old country from Miami to Vancouver and most places in between. Lake Louise to Death Valley. Detroit north to above Toronto and south to Brownsville. Both ocean coasts and the Gulf coast.
Beaucoup neat places. Some aren't what I'd call pretty but there is a majesty to them.
But forget Fort Stockton to Carlsbad. That's only there to keep the coasts from falling into the oceans. And I gotta admit that there are a few places where strip mining or nuclear testing could be considered environmental enhancement.
Lotsa ground squirrels around that spring and pond, SW of King Lear Peak on the east edge of the Black Rock desert.
Then there's my front porch, before the railing. My southeast corner is near those two green cottonwoods down low. About a mile; my house is near the NW corner of the place.
Beaucoup neat places. Some aren't what I'd call pretty but there is a majesty to them.
But forget Fort Stockton to Carlsbad. That's only there to keep the coasts from falling into the oceans. And I gotta admit that there are a few places where strip mining or nuclear testing could be considered environmental enhancement.
Lotsa ground squirrels around that spring and pond, SW of King Lear Peak on the east edge of the Black Rock desert.
Then there's my front porch, before the railing. My southeast corner is near those two green cottonwoods down low. About a mile; my house is near the NW corner of the place.
Attachments
Flintknapper
Member
Art, you think you have enough dove (?) there!!!!!!!
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Mike1234567
member
Hey, Art, careful where ya' step there buddy... and wipe yer shoes 'afor ya' go inside.Art, you think you have enough dove there!!!!!!!
KodiakBeer
member
Every place has it's own beauty, except for maybe New Jersey...
When I was about 15, the family drove west along various meandering southern routes; I-10 mostly and along old route 66 for scenic detours. Somewhere in west Texas we stopped at a rest area at sunset. It was that flat, sagebrush country that everyone loves to hate, yet at sunset the sky was red and the plains stretched out forever with the sage all purple and lavender. Coyotes were yipping off in the distance someplace. There were colors I'd never seen before, and that sagey, flinty scent you only get in the west. It was gorgeous and I never forgot it. It was my first taste of the real west, since everything prior to that was fenced and farmed. When the sun finally set the stars were brighter in that dry air than anything I'd ever seen before.
That scene would probably look dull in a photograph, but with the naked eye it was magic.
When I was about 15, the family drove west along various meandering southern routes; I-10 mostly and along old route 66 for scenic detours. Somewhere in west Texas we stopped at a rest area at sunset. It was that flat, sagebrush country that everyone loves to hate, yet at sunset the sky was red and the plains stretched out forever with the sage all purple and lavender. Coyotes were yipping off in the distance someplace. There were colors I'd never seen before, and that sagey, flinty scent you only get in the west. It was gorgeous and I never forgot it. It was my first taste of the real west, since everything prior to that was fenced and farmed. When the sun finally set the stars were brighter in that dry air than anything I'd ever seen before.
That scene would probably look dull in a photograph, but with the naked eye it was magic.
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
Actually, southern New Jersey has a higher incidence of lost hikers in the boonies than almost any other state. At one time, they did hold the record. Google for "Dismal Swamp". (Maybe "Old Dismal"; I disremember.)
MCgunner
Member
Art, they're yankees ya know....
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
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