KnowYard Community

Red light running is the Texas state pastime. The light turns red and three more cars go through. I wait a full two seconds after my light turns green now.

Port Aransas for a cheap beach trip. Not the prettiest beach in the world but the vibe is chill, the fishing is good, and hotels are way cheaper than Galveston.

Cat shield or cage. $150-300 installed. It's a metal plate bolted over the catalytic converter. Doesn't make it impossible to steal but makes it take 10+ minutes instead of 90 seconds. Most thieves move on.

The worst drivers are always the ones on whatever highway I'm currently on. This is a universal law.

The recyclers buying these no-questions-asked are the real problem. A stolen cat sells for $100-500 in scrap. Until that's regulated this won't stop.

Comprehensive insurance covers it but file the claim and your rates go up. My deductible is $500 and the replacement was $2,200. Insurance covered it but my premium went up $30/month. So I'll pay it back in 5 years. Cool.

Whoever designed highway interchanges in Texas clearly wanted to see if humans could navigate 5 lanes merging simultaneously at 70mph. The answer is no.

Big Bend is 100% worth it but you need at least 3-4 days. The drive is brutal but once you're there it feels like another planet. Camp at the Chisos Basin if you can get a spot.

Apartment dwellers are still screwed though. No home charging means relying on public chargers which are slower, more expensive, and sometimes broken. Until apartments have chargers, EVs are a homeowner thing.

The friendliness is real. People wave at strangers, hold doors, and make small talk in checkout lines. Moved from the northeast and this took months to get used to.

The best part is when they finish one section and it's beautiful for about 6 months before the potholes come back because they used the cheapest materials possible.

Toyota Tacoma, Tundra, 4Runner, and Prius are the most targeted. Higher ground clearance = easier access, and Toyota cats have more precious metals. If you own one of these, you're a target.

My concern is long road trips. I drive to other parts of the state regularly and charging adds 30-45 minutes to the trip. Not a dealbreaker but it's not nothing.

The $300/month savings is real. My coworker and I compared over 6 months. Her EV costs about $60/month in electricity vs my $340 in gas for similar driving.

Made the switch 6 months ago. Home charging overnight is a game changer. I wake up to a full "tank" every morning. Never going to a gas station again.

Volunteering. Pick something you care about, show up regularly, and you'll meet good people. Food banks, habitat builds, trail cleanups. Shared purpose builds bonds faster than shared drinks.

Texas pride. I've never lived anywhere where people fly the state flag more than the US flag. And they're not being ironic about it.

The Dallas Arts District is the largest contiguous urban arts district in the country and nobody outside DFW knows this. Better marketing could make Dallas an actual arts destination.

I genuinely think some of these projects are designed to never finish so the contracts keep paying out. Call me cynical but 3 years for a highway widening is insane.

High school football being a religion. I thought people were exaggerating. Then I saw a high school stadium bigger than most college stadiums. These people are not playing.

Everything IS bigger. The steaks, the trucks, the highways, the distances, the portions. My first time ordering a "small" drink here I got what I'd call a large anywhere else.

Check the TxDOT project tracker website. You can see the actual contract, budget, and timeline. It won't make you feel better but at least you'll know when to expect relief.

Brazilian jiu jitsu gym. I know it sounds random but hear me out — you train with the same people 3-4 times a week, you suffer together, and the community is insanely tight. Changed my social life.

Be the one who initiates. "We should hang out sometime" means nothing. "Want to grab tacos Saturday at 1pm?" is a plan. Most people want friends but nobody wants to be the one to plan things.

Dog park if you have a dog. I've made more friends through my dog in 6 months than I made on my own in a year. Dogs are social lubricant.