>Steve,
>
>>By the way, I used to go to Richland High School (once called Richland Rebels back in the 70's) in Northeast Fort Worth off of Loop 820. I lived in North Richland Hills. I miss Texas. I was born in Fort Worth and also lived in Houston for some time.
>>
>
>We are visiting a church in Watauga, and might move over that direction (I work in Irving).
>
>>California, with Gray David as our Governor, stinks! The Senate is trying to find 26 Billion Dolalrs to try to pay off the humongous deficit they have created. of course, they won't cut any of the budget, only the increases that were planned will be cut. So, what will they do? They are talking about tripling DMV fees. The need is to get $500 from every man, woman and child to pay the deficit down. Well, if I could go right now, I'd move right out of Calfornia. The only thing I'd miss would be the fact that you can go to the desert, the mountains and the beach all in one day.
>>
>
>Tom Whitely already tried to send gov. Davis to Texas, but we wouldn't allow it. CA is a great place to visit...when my inlaws lived in the bay area I thought it was so cool how many different things there were to do. Texas has a major deficit right now....might be $12 billion...all of the departments are cutting back.
>
>>In regard to Texas, there is no State like it, except maybe Utah or Wyoming, as far as attitude about some things. What other State has an Alamo or brave men who knew they would die, who refused to surrender and died for General Sam Houston to have more time. What State has more history than this State of Texas? I sure don't want to hear about any Yankee states.
>>
>
>Went and saw The Alamo at the iMax in San Antonio this summer. The Alamo has always intrigued me.
>
>I can't speak for any other states *grin*

Steve;

California has more people (most from other states or countries) than any other state in the union. May I ask all “flat land foreigners to please remove yourselves immediately? Imagine we have more people than Canada! Having a lot of people is not a blessing in my book!

We have an interesting history with the English (Sir Francis Drake), the Russians (Fort Ross), the Spanish (missions and settlements), and Mexico.

The California Territory was a vast area. The gold rush put the state on the map however since 1928 the value of our agricultural output for each year has been greater than all the gold found during our history. Twenty five percent of our nations agriculture is produced by California. Twenty five percent of the exports of the country come from Silicon Valley. If we were a nation our economy would be the fifth richest in the world. We also have the world’s fifth largest navy.

We have mountains, valleys, and the Pacific Ocean all within a few hours drive from each other. The tallest trees in the world are found here the Redwoods, and they are among the oldest living things on the planet.

Our climate varies according to location so you can enjoy a variety of climates according to what you like.

Members of my family arrived in Yerba Buena (renamed San Francisco) in 1846 from Ireland, and I am fourth generation San Franciscan. I was at a party some years ago and said, “anyone less than fourth generation Californian should leave the state”! Someone said, “I am fifth generation”! Yikes – I am in trouble now! Guess I will have to leave if they impose a 5th generation minimum for residency. :)

By the way I lived in Texas for about one year while in the Air Force at San Angelo, (Goodfellow Air Force Base – Security Service) where my wife and I were married 37 years ago. We enjoyed San Antonio very much and had lots of things to do there. I do remember the jokes about “it can rain so hard and the wind will blow sand in your face at the same time”. I thought it was a joke until one day that happened while we were driving North of San Angelo. It created instant mud and we had to stop driving because we could not see out of the cars windows!

When I was a child there were 3.5 million people living in California and today we have about 35 million. I can assure you that too many people do not make things better regardless of where you live! :)

Tom

P.S. Are you sure you will not reconsider taking Governor Davis?