Texas Expatriates

I had several errands to run this morning, and as I drove around Nashville, I decided to write about something that I notice during my morning and afternoon drive times: lots of Texas license plates. On average, I'd say I see about half a dozen daily. Compound that with Texas flag stickers, Texas Longhorn emblems, Texas neon signs in bars and Texas bumper stickers of every stripe, and you've got a gen-you-ine Texas subculture brewing right here in the verdant hills of Middle Tennessee.

Now, loyal reader, I ask you this: with all this Texas swagger and pride, why are all these people living in my Tennessee town? To put it more bluntly, if the great state of Texas is, in point of fact, so great, why have all these people left? I know there's a lot of reasons for people to leave home and hearth so I really don't expect an answer to that, but there really seems to be a disproportionate amount of eau de Texas wafting through the corridors of the Capital City.

I used to see a lot of Michigan tags during my college years, and they are still abundant, but the Texas plates outnumber them at least two to one, even on the streets surrounding Vanderbilt University, where in a given week or so you can see just about every license plate from the lower 48 if you are paying attention.

We know a lot of people from and living in Texas, and they all seem to be very proud of their home state. State pride is a nice thing, I suppose, but seeing as how I have none to speak of, I can only guess as to what it is about Texas that pulls the heartstrings of its former and current residents and often causes them to wax poetic about the big and bright stars at night. Is it the flat prairies for as far as the eye can see? Is it the cowboy persona? Is it the American made truck in every other driveway and/or front lawn? Is it the sheer size of the place? Is it the Lone Star beer?

Maybe we'll find out soon, but until then we'll have to remain in the dark on what makes these folks so gosh durn happy about living in a state with over 22 million other people spread out over 260,000 square miles. By the way, that's over 7.5 acres per person. Californians only get a measely 3 acres. As for us Tennesseans, we have a respectable 4.5 acres per person. I know you can get better odds in places like Alaska (a whopping 640 acres or 1 square mile a person), Montana, the Dakotas, Idaho and Wyoming, but whoever heard of "Don't mess with South Dakota"?