Life in Amarillo Questions (Houston, Dallas: sales, power lines, house)

[grashopa]

Hello everyone, So, We are from northern Minnesota, I was cruising through some job postings of MN based company and the only posting that match my profession/qualifications was a position down in Amarillo... We have never even considered moving anywhere (let alone out of the state), but we are seriously considering moving if i get offered this job so we just had a few specific questions about life in Amarillo and Texas.

It seems to me that Amarillo and the Texas panhandle is like a different region from the rest of the state, like its more like Oklahoma than Texas... is this true?

What pests are there around Amarillo? Here we have mosquitoes. I see people saying stuff about bugs and rattlers, what kind of bugs we talking about here? how bad is the rattle snake population really, if we go visit the canyon or go hiking somewhere are we likely to encounter any rattle snakes?

I currently own 3.5 acres of wooded land, we enjoy our campfires, we have more than enough wood for a million campfires right here on our land. Is there anywhere near Amarillo where we can harvest our own camp fire wood or do we have to purchase it from a wood distributor? Are there fire bans often?

Are there often water use restrictions? like to the point where you have to water your lawn at night or even not at all?

How often to you have to mow your grass?

Is it pretty easy to get a garden going? we don't even garden here, but since down there it seems we will have a large open flat yard we will probably try to get a garden going (also since we would be moving away from our family and friends we would have time for such endeavors).

I have read that Amarillo stinks of manure whenever there is a SW wind, how bad is it? I believe if/when we move down there we will probably end up living in Canyon, since its at least a little ways out of the "city" and still close enough to not have a ridiculous commute, is there the same stink in Canyon?

I hear Amarillo is the 3rd windiest city in the country... true? Is it just a slow constant wind where you can go out and fly a kite or is it stay hunkered down inside howling type wind?

How is the traffic?

We intend to road trip down to Amarillo sometime next month for a couple days to feel it out, anything specific we should try to check out?

Thats all i can think of for now, i look forward to hearing your responses.

[TexKnox]

Hey there! TX Panhandle native here.

To answer your questions one by one:

It depends on what part of OK that you're comparing the TX Panhandle to. The TX Panhandle, OK Panhandle, and the region west of OKC are very similar. However, the region west of OKC up to Elk City, OK is hilly compared to the Llano Estacado of the TX Panhandle. The TX Panhandle is flat with miles upon miles of open ranch land, and has of course some break from the flat wide open prairie when you're in Palo Duro and the caprock escarpment that winds through he middle of the Panhandle.

Pests:

Wear your long socks and tall boots when you're hiking through Palo Duro. Rattlers are a very real hazard. You can always hear them before you see them. You will hear them rattling their tails in the distance, and it's not difficult to tel how close or far you are from one. Always use caution when hiking and turning over rocks to pull yourself up.

There are Mosquitos in the summer and they can be nasty. Horse flies and tons upo tons of house flies in the summer. You'll see grasshoppers like you've never seen before and at a size that you've likely never seen before. You'll see thousands of tarantulas crossing the road before a flood or rain and it's fun to stop and watch them as the migrate to higher ground. They're harmless...just a little creepy looking.

Jackrabbits abound and a lot of people who TRY to garden have some trouble with prairie dogs or jackrabbits.

Concerns about wood:

There aren't many trees in the TX Panhandle. The most common ones are mesquite. You will likely not find any land where you will be harvesting much wood (not to say it's impossible). Most of the trees that are on people's property have been planted by those people. You will more than likely be buying your wood. In fact, people actually give directions in the Panhandle with trees (i.e.- turn left at the TREE...yes...the one and only tree for thirty miles...turn left there).

The Panhanlde has had a few bad years of drought for the past two to three years. Unless there is a major change in precipitation this year, there will likely be some fire bans at certain times of the year...specifically during the Fourth of July. Occasionally you may run into bans on watering your front lawn or washing your car. This of course makes it difficult to garden. However, there are quite a few folks who have great gardens...of course, they also have very green thumbs, lots of money to invest in good top soil and fertilizer, and lots of time to devote to changing the chemistry of their soil. If you've heard of the Dust Bowl (which I'm sure you have) you might be aware that the TX Panhandle suffered tremendous loss of good topsoil during that drought. The area is still in recovery from the dirty thirties even today...and soil conservation is a big issue. If you plan to garden, it will pose more of a chore to you in the Panhandle than it would many places further east.

If it's a good year for rain, you'll mow your grass more, of course. However, some years your lawn may just blow away due to drought. I have many pictures throughout the years that show what years were drought years and what years were wet years. The Panhandle can come to life during those wet years. The dry years can be extremely dusty and difficult to get through though. Expect to see your lawn blow away, leaving behind nothing but dust if you're there for anywhere from three to five consecutive years.

As far as the smell of manure goes:

The smell comes from the Herford stock yardsl if you live in Canyon you will be directly downwind from Herford and will get a much greater exposure to the smell than you would living in Amarillo. Canyon, by far, gets the biggest brunt of the Herford stink than anywhere else in the immediate area. It's not an everyday thing though. It's also not unbearable. Growing up in the Panhandle, smelling that smell meant I was home. Lol! In other words, it won't kill you. Lol!

Wind:

This is no exaggeration. The Panhandle is EXtREMELY windy. If you're wearing shorts on a windy day, the wind will whip up unexpectedly and literally sand blast your legs...which hurts. Always hold onto your car door. The wind can LITeRALLY rip it off the henge or bend it and slam it into the hood of your car. It can blow your front door or cardoon shut on your fingers. Trash cans (the big heavy metal ones..lot the cheap plastic ones) will blow down the street...along with tons of dirt, debris, and trash. Always be careful on those horribly windy days. Those are also the days when the fire bans will be most enforced as many wild fires are caused by the wind ripping down power lines across the area. The wind is usually always blowing a little. Very few calm days compared to other parts of the country. Bring hairspray....not that it will help...your hair never stays in place in the Panhandle. Invest in a brush to keep in the car if you have long hair. Oh! Also, invest in some lotion. You'll need it due to the arid climate.

The traffic isn't horrible. Amarillo is relatively simple to navigate. Canyon is even easier to navigate. I-40 is of course the busiest hwy in the area.

If you take your trip down in March, that's about one of the windiest times of year you can come. So, that would give you a pretty good taste for how windy it is in the Panhandle.

You should check out the Cadillac Ranch, Route 66, The Big Texan Steakhouse, Palo Duro Canyon, he Botanicle Gardens, (if you come in summer be sure to catch the musical "Texas" in Palo Duro Canyon), the Quarter Horse Museum, the Amarillo Globe Performing Arts Theatre (especially the Nutcracker during Christmas...other plays going on all times of year)...and you definitely HAVE to check out the Panhandle Plains Hisorical Museum in Canyon on the WTAMU campus. It's a fantastic museum! If you need a break from the heat, check out one of the lakes in the area like Lake Meredith...or creeks like Blue West and Plum Creek (in drought years these places can dry up...but Lake Meredith is usually dependable as it is a fairly large body of water). During wet years, the Canadian River brings the Palo Duro Cayon to life!

I hope you enjoy your trip!

Some of the best things about the Panhandle are the friendly people, the stars in the sky at night, the wide open spaces, the fresh air, the lack of crowded places, and the lack of smog, light, and air pollution. Oh!!! And the fantastic sunsets! ...which, btw, you can thank the wind and arid climate for. There's a lot of dust in the atmosphere in the Panhandle...which absolutely makes for some of the most spectacular and stunning sunsets you will ever see.

[losttechnician]

Most of what I have to say is gonna echo what TexKnox has to say, so expect more Amarillo cheerleading here.

Originally Posted by grashopa

It seems to me that Amarillo and the Texas panhandle is like a different region from the rest of the state, like its more like Oklahoma than Texas... is this true?

Different from much of the rest of the state, however it is all relative. Dallas is different from Houston, who is different from Austin... But if you are looking for a medium sized city to share a good life with great people, the Tx Panhandle is a great place to look. If you need a big city fix, the DFW metroplex is close enough for a (rather rushed) weekend visit.

What pests are there around Amarillo? Here we have mosquitoes. I see people saying stuff about bugs and rattlers, what kind of bugs we talking about here? how bad is the rattle snake population really, if we go visit the canyon or go hiking somewhere are we likely to encounter any rattle snakes?

Rattlesnakes are a very real thing. If you do much hiking in Palo Duro Canyon (and you should), you will likely have an encounter at some point. Rattlers do live out there, but hordes of folks are in that park throughout every year with little problem from them. A more real chance of emergency will come from falls, or dehydration. Those are much more likely to impact the average visitor. Bugs... mosquitoes, grasshoppers, and flies are the biggest thing. If you don't live next to standing water or have stagnant water sitting around your house, the mosquito problem is significantly reduced.

I currently own 3.5 acres of wooded land, we enjoy our campfires, we have more than enough wood for a million campfires right here on our land. Is there anywhere near Amarillo where we can harvest our own camp fire wood or do we have to purchase it from a wood distributor? Are there fire bans often?

No wooded land around here, getting to wooded land will require some driving, likely to the forests of NM. Nice drive, fun times to be had, and nice areas to visit though. There are places in NM to harvest your own firewood too. Firewood is easy to come by around here though, plenty of folk sell it. Burning it won't be as easy as it might be where you are living currently. Fire bans are a fact of life right now because of the drought, and that means you can't have a camp fire, or a fire in the back yard. Kind of restricted to fire in the fireplace right now. That ban will go away as the drought eases up, which hopefully will be soon.

Are there often water use restrictions? like to the point where you have to water your lawn at night or even not at all?

How often to you have to mow your grass?

Water restrictions are not as tough around here as they are in some parts of the state, but last summer Amarillo and Canyon both had some sort of restrictions on lawn watering, swimming pool filling, car washing, etc. If the drought eases up, the restrictions will go away. Lawn growing and gardening could both be accomplished during those restrictions though, it just took some extra planning. I mow my lawn about once a week, but some folks may do it more or less, depending on what kind of lawn they have. I like to keep mine groomed, even though it is nowhere close to being like a golf course or anything.

I have read that Amarillo stinks of manure whenever there is a SW wind, how bad is it? I believe if/when we move down there we will probably end up living in Canyon, since its at least a little ways out of the "city" and still close enough to not have a ridiculous commute, is there the same stink in Canyon?

Yes, you can get the stink in Canyon, but I don't notice it much. I have left to drive into Amarillo and smelled it when I got to Ama, even though I did not smell it in Canyon. Vice versa too, but it is not an everyday thing.

I hear Amarillo is the 3rd windiest city in the country... true? Is it just a slow constant wind where you can go out and fly a kite or is it stay hunkered down inside howling type wind?

Constant wind. Believe the horror stories about much wind. The wind is fairly stiff some days, and howling on others, but it is seldom NOT windy. If the dust is not blowing, a stiff wind is easy to ignore though. When the dirt gets up though, it is more enjoyable to stay inside. That said, I have camped in Palo Duro Canyon in high winds and blowing dirt more than once, and still had a great time. Just know that you will need to learn to live with the wind if you are going to enjoy life around here. Gripe about it, the rest of us do, but you just gotta live with it.

How is the traffic?

If you plan to commute from Canyon to Amarillo, you will likely drive I-27 and I-40 daily. Both those are heavy traffic, guaranteed there are idiots to be found, but traffic delays will be minimal and infrequent. From most anywhere in Canyon, it is very realistic to make anywhere in Amarillo in 35 minutes or less. Plenty of folks commute both directions daily.

We intend to road trip down to Amarillo sometime next month for a couple days to feel it out, anything specific we should try to check out?

Thats all i can think of for now, i look forward to hearing your responses.

I will second all the suggestions from TexKnox, especially the museum at WT. That is a place worth visiting often.

I would welcome a direct message from you if you want to know more, you and I might have a lot of things in common.

[eddie gein]

Amarillo is going to be a LOT different, but not necessarily bad. The very things that make Amarillo "undesirable" are the very things that make the people some of the kindest folks you'll ever be around. It's very much a cowtown so if that turns you off then don't come, but because it's the cultural, and commercial center of a vast area larger than some entire states it has more in the way of amenities and culture than one might expect at first glance.

In so many ways the vastness of the skies is breathtaking. The Canyon country to the north and east is very unique and impressive and Palo Duro is an absolute treasure.

Canyon is a nice little college town and is a good option if you want good schools.

All in all, while Amarillo is a lot different than a lot of Texas, it is representative of a whole big chunk of Texas.

[grashopa]

well, i guess we were right to be concerned about those things... Im sure we would be able to get along down there if it comes to that. Who knows, i may not even get interviewed since im in MN. But we may come isit anyways even if i dont get the job... we already got the cost of our trip figured out...

[csboston]

Thinking about relocating from Boston. I am very familiar with Amarillo as my Mom was raised in Hereford but moved to the Northeast when she married my Dad in the 1960's. All her family are farmers in the surrounding towns. I used to work on my Uncles farm every summer from 2nd grade until freshmen in high school.
I have always loved the Panhandle as the people are great and it offers a better lifestyle than most city areas. I was curious to how the job market is. I know the unemployment rates is lower than the nation's average. I have a history in technology sales such as software and hardware. Does the Amarillo area offer this kind of career opportunities? If not, what kind of sales positions would I be expecting to see. How has Amarillo been on proactively bringing new businesses into the city such as tech or large corporations?

[losttechnician]

Originally Posted by csboston

Thinking about relocating from Boston. I am very familiar with Amarillo as my Mom was raised in Hereford but moved to the Northeast when she married my Dad in the 1960's. All her family are farmers in the surrounding towns. I used to work on my Uncles farm every summer from 2nd grade until freshmen in high school.
I have always loved the Panhandle as the people are great and it offers a better lifestyle than most city areas. I was curious to how the job market is. I know the unemployment rates is lower than the nation's average. I have a history in technology sales such as software and hardware. Does the Amarillo area offer this kind of career opportunities? If not, what kind of sales positions would I be expecting to see. How has Amarillo been on proactively bringing new businesses into the city such as tech or large corporations?

Still much farming around here, but much more farming the closer to Lubbock you go. Same for hardware/software sales. Not saying there is none in the Amarillo area, but Lubbock is a lot deeper in that kind of stuff.

Amarillo is much more blue collar than Lubbock (IMO), but there are some big corporations have installations around Amarillo. Bell Helicopter, Xcel Energy, and Owens Corning come to mind, but I have no earthly idea what the market for hardware/software sales is.

There are jobs to be had though, so do some research and see if you can make a living here. If so, I certainly think the quality of life is here for the taking!