I think you can see why I no longer live in Texas.

Lars, you seem so well informed and intelligent usually. Your statement does not seem to be a joke, and I am really surprised that you have painted an entire state with the same broad brush.

Lucille, it is a joke. However, most people do not get my sense of humor. One of the main reason I do not live in Texas is that I cannot handle the heat. But also, I was harassed frequently while growing up in Texas, not only by rednecks, but also by the police. I often feared for my life while living there, especially since I saw so many pickups with gun racks and rifles in them. I've also been slandered in Texas, once by one of my brother's friends to my father. He accused me of making a pass at him in town on a day when I was at my grandparents' house with my father. My father at first believed my brother's friend until I pointed out to my father that this incident was impossible since my father and I were both out of town together at that time.

I don't think he hates Texas lol. I have seen him speak positively about it on a few occasions. You know all the years I lived in Dallas, I never once went to the stockyards. And only went to visit a friend of mine in Ft Worth a few times. I wish I had experienced that area.

I don't hate Texas, and I liked living in Houston when I was at Rice. I probably like southern Louisiana better, however.

I was given a ticket in Fort Stockton (after stopping for gas) for not stopping at a "Yield" sign while getting back on the freeway, even though there were no cars in sight. The Fort Stockton police said that there was a car a mile down the road, and I was supposed to stop for it. Then they took me to a 7-11 to make a cash withdrawal to pay a $60 fine immediately or go directly to jail. This was because I had California license plates.

I used to visit Texas every year to visit family, but after my parents died in 2012, I have only been back twice, and I've told my relative that it is their turn to visit me in California instead. I have not invited my brother in Texas to visit, however.

I like San Antonio, El Paso, and the lower Rio Grande Valley, and I've told my sister that I would like to meet her in Big Bend. Laredo is another scary place, at least at the border crossing, and I learned to cross at McAllen instead, when going by land from Mexico City to Texas. I used to have very good friends in Mission that I would visit. I used to cross at Laredo because there was a train, but the train between Nuevo Laredo and Mexico City was taken out many years ago.

I love THAT sign Lars! I was born in Texas & love the silly sayings, ie: "Everything's Bigger In Texas". People tying long horns to their car grill, the drawl. But I see your point......and agree with you. Live where you feel safe. And I also do not like "the heat". It's suffocating!

I still have a bit of a Texas drawl, I think, like my maternal grandfather had.

There are lots of very nice people in Texas, but it has more than its share of people who are not nice, from my experience. I think the same was true of San Francisco when I lived there, and there were definitely neighborhoods in SF that I would not go through, particularly skid row (6th Street south of Market). All places are changing now, it seems, and nothing is like it used to be.

If you lived in Mission back in the 1960s, you might know of my friends there, Enrique Flores, for one, who owned a movie theater and showed old Mexican movies. He also owned an art gallery called Estudios Rio, and he sold custom handmade jewelry that he made, mostly out of silver. My other friend, Xavier, was an artist who sold paintings at that art gallery.

I have so many horror stories to tell from growing up in Texas that I will not even begin to try to tell any more of them. Let's just say that cowboys in central Texas did NOT like me. I was not cut out to be a farm boy.

I've heard that The Valley has become dangerous, especially Brownsville. One of my first roommates in college was from McAllen, and I also had an aunt who lived there. I have a cousin in Mathis (just west of Corpus Christi) who had a crop dusting plane that he converted to use to drop beneficial spiders and insects on crops, but the big chemical companies went after him and tried everything to put him out of business. His story was shown on an episode of 60 Minutes, and an article in the March 1989 Texas Monthly magazine. Buddy, however, had a cruel personality, like many of the men in my family.

I'm so sorry that you had bad experiences here, I think you are a lovely person and do not deserve such experiences.

Lars, could there be one in OKC, and one in Texas?

I was out on a 61 mile bike ride, and then went shopping with my daughter. I am plumb worn out.

Moni