Several years ago, my parents decided to set up a home base outside of Fort Worth, Texas. It’s a relatively cheap place to live.

They live on a lake and from what I can tell, it’s a bit of six-pack resort in the summer as everyone tries to get on the water to escape from the heat.

I was lucky in that I got to visit a sophisticated townie in Dallas, who showed me some of the city districts before heading out into the boonies with my folks. So perhaps I got a small taste of the vast difference of lifestyles in the Dallas area.

Of course, my mother was in Niemen-Marcus trying on $50,000 bracelets in her fur-lined crocs she picked up from CVS just an hour earlier, so perhaps those differences blur more than I’d ever know.

Waco is one of the bleakest cities I’ve been too, and I’m sure is even more oppressive in the summer heat, when everything just withers and dries up. An nearly shuttered downtown with that cluttered four lane shopping bleeding from the edges of town. Everything about it felt tired and exhausted. I couldn’t help but think that a city that is using a street lamp as its logo is likely in need of a new marketing team. I did enjoy watching some kids play by the Brazos and to see the river made famous in so many cowboy songs.

What really struck me most about my first trip to this part of the country was how constraining it felt; like the people were all being diminished and made fearful by a life spent in cars on the edges of dying towns and a fast sprawl of destruction of all that may have once been charming here.

There’s still plenty to see in this part of Texas, so at some point Vic and I will likely go together to see my parents, which is always a hoot and a time of fierce card-playing. I’ll look forward to spending more time looking at the fine art collections of Fort Worth and hunting for some great food in Dallas. I’m also going with lowered expectations.

A Small Look at a Big State