I'm back to trying to escape from Illinois, this time my girlfriend is more open to it.

We found a couple rental apartments in Abilene that are in our (unfortunately modest) price range, but don't know anything about the area. She needs ongoing care for her COPD, and there appears to be a facility she can use, but beyond that all I know is that it's in TEXAS!

Although I'm beyond retirement age, I'd like to continue working, so job services in that area would be good to know about, too.

Any help with info about the area would be great.

Thanks, guys!

Flat and windy, Dyess Airforce base, Abilene Christian University.

All this you can easily find online. I would recommend visiting for a few days. See if you can get a cheap flight into Dallas and then drive 180 miles West on I20.

I am curious, why Abilene?

Yeah, Abilene strikes me as an odd choice, unless you went through the list of Texas cities alphabetically.

Though it’s probably an upgrade from Illinois.

Sweet Eileen lives there.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
...unless you went through the list of Texas cities alphabetically.

Though it’s probably an upgrade from Illinois.

Logical assumptions, both, we looked there because it's centrally-located, affordable, and had that medical care for my GF. Beyond that, well, TEXAS!

We can't afford to live in any big city, and from what I'm hearing, Austin, Dallas-Ft Worth, Houston, all are becoming overcrowded.

I'm open to suggestions, of course.

Magnolia/Anderson puts you in the Houston vicinity without being in Houston.
Navasota too, if you don't have kids in school.

We found lots of houses in the Navasota area when we were looking, but the school ratings kept us from there.

Family friends moved there several years ago.
Flat? Yep.
Dry? Yep.
They liked it. After some research, it seems the area is also known as something of an anomaly for having top notch medical care considering it’s ‘smallness’.
They had town jobs but also ran cattle. All the kids seemed to do really well in the schools in the area.

Wichita Falls is another town of about the same size as Abilene. Closer to the Dallas Ft Worth area if you need more extensive medical care.

I live in Victoria, TX. Don't come here. Seriously, we have great medicine and a low cost of living, but we're a geographical anomaly...two hours from anywhere fun.

San Antonio - 2 hours

Houston - 2 hours

Corpus Christi - 2 hours

Its like a black hole of anti-fun.

"Abilene, Abilene, Prettiest town I've ever seen, Women there don't treat you mean, In Abilene, my Abilene"

quote:

Originally posted by hudr:
After some research, it seems the area is also known as something of an anomaly for having top notch medical care considering it’s ‘smallness’.

Thank you for confirming this! It's important for my girlfriend. Very important.

SW_Sig, I'll take a look at Wichita Falls, as well.

Other cities for you to research:

College Station
Waco
Temple
Killeen striking based upon folks feedback below
Madisonville
Huntsville
Livingston
Lufkin
Kilgore

All away from but close enough to Houston, Dallas, Austin with good amenities.

Welcome to Texas, join us in the fight.

HK Ag

This message has been edited. Last edited by: HK Ag, October 17, 2023 02:32 AM

If you are open to suggestions, may I suggest that you take a look at San Angelo, Texas. I lived there for several years and really liked it. Pretty much everything there you could ask for. Ninety miles or so from Abilene. Home to Los Lobos, J.Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers, Goodfellow AFB, Angelo State University, lots of retail stores and history.

I agree, San Angelo may be an option as well.

We currently live in McKinney, North of Dallas, and like it here but the cost of housing may be more than you are looking for.

quote:

Originally posted by HK Ag:
Other cities for you to research:

College Station
Waco
Temple
Killeen
Madisonville
Huntsville
Livingston
Lufkin
Kilgore

All away from but close enough to Houston, Dallas, Austin with good amenities.

Welcome to Texas, join us in the fight.

HK Ag

FIFY.
Killeen is a dark place we don’t talk about. Crime rate thru the roof, shootings, murders, etc

I live in Temple just near the river/boundary between Belton and Temple and we have excellent health care. There is also a VA campus/hospital.

quote:

Originally posted by MikeinNC:

Killeen is a dark place we don’t talk about. Crime rate thru the roof, shootings, murders, etc

Thank you, Mike! I need to know things like that.

Kerrville might be worth looking into.

Killeen is a fucking dump. Not bad like Memphis or Baltimore but by Texas standards, it's not in the top 50% of places I'd want to live.

Don't bother with El Paso. The US should give that shit hole back to Mexico and be done with it.

quote:

Originally posted by Edmond:

Don't bother with El Paso. The US should give that shit hole back to Mexico and be done with it.

No shit!!!

Texas is huge. What kind of terrain do you like as it has desert, plains, coast, swamp, rice patty, pine forest, etc? What kind of weather do you like as we have really hot & dry, hot & dry, hot & humid?

I've lived in:

Midland which is about 150 miles west of Abilene. It's just as dry and hot.

Outskirts of Dallas. Great medical care, but the DFW area is a sprawling mess and they always have the highways tore up. I'd take Dallas' weather any day over Houston's. The terrain is more plains/pasture and you even see corn growing in the outskirts.

2 suburbs of Houston. Best medical care in the State, but the weather is miserable (hot & humid) and I run my AC 9 or 10 months a year. The terrain is swamp and lowland. I'm moving out of Houston metropolitan area after I retire.

I used to do a lot of business in East Texas where it's hilly pine forest. The largest city in that area is Tyler and they have a good hospital system (Christus Mother Frances Hospital) according to US News. BTW, US News ranks Abilene 20 and Tyler 17, and both are high performing for COPD.