Posted on 09/06/2013 6:21:36 AM PDT by urtax$@work
Seeking FReeper comments of living in Odessa-Midland. A relative (Texan by birth) may have a chance on relocating to Odessa Texas. The person is not in the oil bidness. but a professional in the Medical field.
I see where both together now have a pop of 200k+. I have never been there but always heard talk of all the roughnecks in Odessa.
The old story of oil owners living in Midland and the oil workers living in Odessa.
First hand info most welcome.
Your neighborhood?
I have never spent much time there but, I have been through there several times. If your friend is coming from the east or the Rocky Mountains, he needs to remember that this is WEST TEXAS.
I like it.
That whole area has the most wonderful smell of any place I have ever been. It just smells of money.
‘91 to ‘95,Midland,loved it.
What always surprised me about this area are the vast stretches of empty land and how the neighborhoods are so crowded with such small lots! Probably the water problem. I always advise any family moving anywhere to rent for the first year. The advice about understanding that thus is high prairie and a very different landscape is good.
Been here (Midland) 2 years and, it is essentially true. odessa is the home of roughnecks, hot-shots and roustabouts. More serene neighborhoods are being built East and Northeast.
If the move involves kids, your kin might want to consider Midland. It’s only 20 miles away.
Pretty much still true IMO, but the area is growing so the two cities are not as separated by miles as in the past. But I live in Oil Patch City, NM, so what do I know.
I’m from Abilene (east of Midland-Odessa), but my Dad and Uncles lived in Midland for many years. It’s not a pretty place, and the water smells bad (or it used to anyway). But, hey, it’s TEXAS, and that’s a good thing.
Midland is way better than Odessa. Odessa has a more blue collar, lower income population and some bad neighborhoods on the west side. While both are heavily Mexican, Midland less so.
The wind always blows, always. Summers are miserable hot and winters are cold, wet, and windy or cold, dry, and windy.
3+ hours to El Paso, 2 hours to Abilene, around 1.5 to Lubbock.
You smelled oil rigs.
Nice growing oilfield town. These towns do suffer the feast or famine effect of the oil booms.
I have a coworker who was raised in Midland. If I really want to irritate her I remind her she is from Odessa. Man does she see red and get mad! Looks down her nose at Odessa. I remind her that both small towns are unknown to most of the world, and amount to a flyspeck on humanity! Then she does not speak to me for a week or two.....
Just remember, its west Texas, it can be 100°+ All summer long then below 32° in the winter with severe blue norther’s blowing through! Oh yea, don’t forget the dust storms, just like the dust bowl of the 1930’s!
Other than that, it’s better than the idiot east and west coast areas!
I've lived in Odessa since 1983.
The open space and flat landscape can be disconcerting if you are used to trees, mountains...mole hills. LOL!
I'm not sure about the crowding and small lots, some of the homes slapped up during the boom in the 80’s were like that, as are the majority of houses in the lower income neighborhoods. Plenty of homes have quite nice large yards with plenty of space between dwellings. That is, if you can find a house!
We are experiencing a drought, which is usually manageable, but for all the new arrivals in town. The traffic has become a nightmare.
I hope your not allergic to dust.
The seasons in west Texas: Spring - warm, very windy, dry, dusty and tornadoes; Summer - hot, windy, dry, dusty; Fall - warm, dry, windy, dusty; Winter - cold, very windy, dry, dusty.
Example of how Midland is growing:
Energy Tower would be 6th tallest building in Texas, developer says
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2013/07/10/striking-tower-proposed-for-midland/
A developer is pitching what would be by far the tallest building in downtown Midland, a booming oil and gas town in west Texas.
The project would be 58 stories (the tallest building there is about 25 stories), and it would combine office space, condos, a hotel and shops. It even would top the skyscraper that oil major Chevron is planning for downtown Houston.
The cost to build the structure is estimated at around $400 million. The building would be developed on a two-block site that would also include convention space, an entertainment center with a movie theater and an outdoor area for concerts.
Driving a hundred miles or better a day is our Texas way of life and it's worth it.
We grew up in the hills of SoCal; my brother moved to Chicago for a year or two and said if a dog takes a dump, the locals break out their skis.
My parents retired and moved back to Texas, I followed them in 1983.
Talk about Culture Shock! It took me over three years to get comfortable out here. Living in West Texas is not the same as visiting relatives in Texas on vacation once a year.
I miss Trees. I miss the color green. I miss ponds and lakes and streams and cool ocean air.
Having said all that, I would live nowhere else but West Texas. It has something greater than beautiful landscape and wonderful weather. You have to experience it to understand it.
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