Monday January 31, 2022

Haha

Hi all from Fredericksburg TX! Very cute downtown and lots of neat old German settlers buildings. TX is still on my list, but the heavens didn't open and angels didn't sing alerting me I'm supposed to live here. Why aren't signs a consistent a thing? Why can't God or the universe or your departed relatives let you know you're on the right track?

Although I heard loud and clear Arkansas is not my people. As much as I loved driving through almost all of beautiful TN (Memphis wasn't great, but everything else was), I equally disliked AR. The end part of the drive to Fayetteville was pretty and the UofA campus is impressive, but I was not feeling the vibe. I don't want to live in a college town again (college was enough). When a town's whole identity is a school you have no affection for or affiliation with, I can't imagine living there.

Here's an interesting phenomenon I need to make peace with. The city I live in is one of the country's largest master planned communities. While it can be smothering and anger inducing (like taking a year to approve landscaping plans and charging $500 for the privilege or only allowing rectangular pools), there is no doubt all those rules and plans make for a lovely city. TX is the antithesis of a master planned community. Ratty mobile homes, expensive houses, commercial truck yards all can share the same block. You wouldn't dare leave junk in your yard where I live, the daily fines would sink you. But in areas with little in the way of community rules, it's anything goes. Hmm, I find I like tidiness rules. But I'm drawn to states that don't micromanage their residents. These factors may be mutually exclusive. I might have to loosen up.

I struggle eating in restaurants alone, so I just got fast food tonight - Whataburger in honor of Texas. I splurged and got a Dr. Pepper shake. Heaven! But it'll turn your face inside out trying to get it out of the straw it's so thick...

I'm still deciding whether to explore more of the hill country tomorrow or just drive on to AZ tomorrow... Hmm.

My BIL lives in a small community near Fredericksburg called Greune. It's also near New Bruenfels. I know his community has covenants, because he was the HOA president one year and he heard about everything!

I have only been to visit in a few "planned" communities. I like the access to services and cleanliness but maybe because I come from New England they seem very cookie-cutterish (not a word, but you know what I mean). There seems to be a lot of them in Florida. I also had friends who lived in Reston VA for a while.