I live in the most prosperous, populous state in the most powerful nation that has ever existed (although it is a schizophrenic, and surprisingly hollow power like all empires). It’s easy for me to rag on my state (and it has plenty of problems) or my country (because it has and causes many more) but it’s the way people pick on the number one team. Always expecting more. Always grousing.

Texas is a huge beautiful industrious state of which I only have a passing familiarity - literally. That is to say, I drove through it on my way to see eclipse: Dallas by way of Amarillo and then back through El Paso in a manner of five days. I don’t claim to be an expert but here’s what I saw.

While I can, and do, bash on California where I live– I’ll say that Texas seems to have an incredible chip on its shoulder. They are in love with their state, the way 2nd placers are in love with their team. In particular, Texans seem obsessed with the shape of their state, and do subtle things like renaming the accepted ‘New York Strip’ steak cut to ‘Texas Strip’ which reminds me of the brief (mostly congressional) fad of the early aughts of attempting rebranding French Fries as ‘Freedom Fries’ for the perceived sleight of France being insufficiently supportive of the invasion of Iraq.

I noticed billboards communicating that I was in a very different state (or at least far from Urban Southern California as some of them might have been more at home in eastern or central California). First, plenty of advertisements to call such and such lawyer when arrested for Marijuana (these usually featured a handcuffed gummy bear, which I found very cute). There was ‘keep New Mexico Abortion Trash out of Texas’ which I wasn’t sure if it was referring to a local issue of New Mexico border abortion clinics dumping their waste in Texas dumps, or they were making some reference to some segment of the population border hopping to dodge Texas abortion bans. There was ‘Stop Educating Illegal Aliens.’ And finally, ‘Trump, born in New York but Texas in Spirit’ which I rolled my eyes at -not that some (most?) Texans would like Trump… I’ve accepted he’s of wide appeal I struggle to understand but the attempted ‘rebrand’ a very New York sort of character under the aegis of Texan chauvinism.

The ‘make everything bigger’ instinct for which Texas is famous was utterly charming when it came to Bucc-ees, less so for the endless parade of oversized trucks in Dallas that made parking often an adventure (with lots of signage to keep fire lanes clear). The concrete of Dallas was a different color than the concrete here in San Diego. There the turnpikes (most seemingly named after George W Bush, who is more Texan than Trump certainly, but still a New England elite import) are yellow-tan rather than the gray-white of my home.

Texas was far more verdant than I expected. I’ve been consistently shown how ignorant my expectations are when I foolishly extrapolated out the stretch of mojave between the Southern California & Vegas as my mental template for what the rest of the southwest would look like; the portion of Texas I explored was (largely) not like that at all. I enjoyed the wildflowers in the medians. Dallas especially was far more ‘lakey’ and wet than I expected, and all the more beautiful for it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the steak and beef generally, it was simply better than what I’m used to eating. The In N Out wasn’t crowded, when every In N Out I’ve been too around my home is full to bursting. Cadillac Ranch was a psychedelic dream of bright decades of spray paints encrusting vertical car chassis until it was doubtful you could truly identity the cars underneath all the constantly growing stalactites and decades of paint. As I mentioned, Bucc-ees was worth the adventuring to it; a spectacle of happy go lucky consumerism and the best imaginable gas station food.

I enjoyed myself and would travel again, though (like the rest of the southwest) I suspect it’s a spring or fall trips that would work best; I’ve little experience (and limited desire to experience) weather severe enough it could kill me.