I don't get it either. I was born in Abilene where I lived until the age of 10, at which point my mom got a divorce from my step-dad, and we moved to SoCal to be with my real dad. We lived in the beach town of Ventura. It was everything I thought it would be. I voluntarily left Cali to go to college in the Midwest. I never went back to living in Texas (ugly, republicans) nor Cali (too expensive). This Texas pride. What are they proud of? 90% of the landscape absolutely sucks. The heat is unbearable. DFW is the ugliest "Metroplex" I have ever seen. Or is it Houston? And this doesn't even speak to the politics. Any Texas republican is blind to what this country could be.