They say everything is bigger in Texas... This is a beautiful space and covering a tremendous area of Texas and Mexico.
I have been blessed to have called it my home, and a fitting one, given the station I built is right there on that same stretch of border.
There's something poetic about "Amistad" friendship being the name over water that quietly separates and joins two countries at once, and me having spent part of my broadcasting life telling stories from exactly that line.
For my grandson, that landscape will give him something most kids never get: a place where geography, history, and family memory all sit in the same spot. Whenever he travels there he won't just be visiting a lake he'll be standing where his grandfather once built a television station on the edge of two nations, near where the Rio Grande and the Devil's River carve some of the clearest water in the state.
A few things that make it worth the trip, beyond the scenery:
- Winter is the sweet spot — clearer water, cooler temps, better visibility for diving or just seeing the canyon walls drop into the lake.
- The paddle trails on the U.S. side genuinely explore, not just look from a dock.
- No cell signal out there, which sounds like a drawback until you remember that's exactly what makes a place stick in ones memory.
https://archive.org/details/Spirits_of_the_Canyon_Ancient_Art_Along_the_Pecos_River
OLD TEXAS https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wiOo925_veQ
TX Pluses +
- No state income tax — one of only a handful of states that doesn't tax personal income, which is a real draw for retirees and business owners alike.
- Lower cost of living — housing, especially outside the big metros, tends to be more affordable than coastal states.
- Strong job market and business climate — Texas has aggressively courted corporate relocations (tech, energy, finance) with incentives and a lighter regulatory touch.
- Size and geographic diversity — you've got desert, hill country, piney woods, gulf coast, and border country all in one state, which makes for a lot of variety in lifestyle and scenery (relevant to my living on Lake Amistad).
- Cultural richness — deep Mexican-American and Tejano heritage, distinct regional food traditions, live music scenes (Austin especially), and a strong sense of state identity/pride.
- Energy independence — Texas runs its own power grid (ERCOT) and is a major producer of both oil/gas and, increasingly, wind and solar.
- Growing population — steady in-migration means expanding infrastructure, new business, and cultural dynamism in metro areas.
TX Minuses -
- Property taxes — to make up for no income tax, property taxes run high, which can be a real burden for homeowners.
- Extreme weather — brutal summer heat, and vulnerability to hurricanes (Gulf Coast), tornadoes, and occasional severe winter storms.
- The grid issue — ERCOT's isolation from national grids means Texas has faced serious reliability problems during extreme weather (the 2021 winter storm blackouts being the starkest example).
- Urban sprawl and traffic — cities like Houston, Dallas, and Austin have grown fast, often outpacing infrastructure and public transit.
- Water scarcity — parts of the state, especially border and West Texas regions, deal with ongoing drought and water management challenges.
- Healthcare and social services gaps — Texas has one of the highest uninsured rates in the country and hasn't expanded Medicaid.
- Political polarization — the state's politics can create friction, particularly around border policy, voting laws, and education curriculum battles — topics that hit close to home for someone who covers civic and voter engagement issues.
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/state/texas/article316495160.html
