27 days.  27 days left in this God-forsaken shit hole.  27 days until pure bliss.  Unless I get arrested while stopping to pee on the "Welcome to Pennsylvania!" sign.   August 11th the movers come to pack our stuff and August 18th I start the 19 hour drive to Texas!





We're moving to Keller in the area of the DFW Metroplex.  Since we know nothing of the area we need some recommendations on good dentists, pediatricians, family doctors, veterinarian, rheumatologist.  And whatever else I can't remember at the moment.  We're going to be close to the Alliance Town Center off of 35 and just north of 820 around Fort Worth.





Also, I need to find the best chocolate malts and pretzels in town.  





Go!

 

That's not my part of town but welcome to Texas! Shoot me an IM when you get settled and we'll hit the range or grab a beer.

See I knew I'd forget important stuff.  Absolutely need to find a nice range; and preferably one with an outdoor range.  Grandpa got my 5 year old daughter her first .22 Cricket rifle for her birthday.  



We'll definitely have to meet up finally.

Shoot Smart Gun Range.

Alliance Animal Health Center

Baylor Family Medicine at Keller

Get breakfast at Stevies on Tarrant Parkway.  

Kwik Kar car wash and Kwik Kar oil change on 377

You are going to be in a great area!

Awesome, thanks investigator.  Seems like a nice area; it feels a lot like home where I am originally from in Ohio.

Welcome to Friendly Texas......You might consider Angie's List for service providers: doctors, pediatricians, as well as restaurants.   Customers rate the providers.

Welcome! I'm not near DFW, but am a former resident of PA as well.

You`ll need to get ready for the heat. Worst of it every year is right when you`re arriving. Other than that welcome!

Bad News is that You are coming in at "Peak Heat!"...  

Good news is that you won't wear out your snowblower nearly as fast here in Texas!  

BIGGER_HAMMER

Congrats.

You will have a Cabela's right there on I-35, just north of Saginaw.

Hking

Welcome to Texas!
We looked at the Keller area, great schools! If we had  kids, probably would have bought a house there instead of central FW (not good at all schools). Might end up in Keller yet once kids come along.

If you don't mind me asking, what don't you like about PA, and what part did you live in?

Welcome to Texas!
My parents made the trek from PA in 1956 and I am glad to say I was born here (there are some interesting Civil War discussions between me and my brother who was born in PA  ).

As other have said you are moving into a great area - Keller / Southlake is booming right now but in a good way.
You will be very close to Cabellas and not too far from Texas Motor Speedway.    

I am a littler further Northeast of you in The Colony so I can't provide any specifics other than to say one of my nieces and her husband moved there for the great schools for their kids and based on my visits there are tons of great restaurants and infrastructure.  You should have no issues finding many choices on the items you are looking for.

Welcome to Texas!

I'm another refugee from PA, Selinsgrove, Synder County.

When my next shipment of Yuengling and Middleswarth BBQ chips get in we may need to meet up.

Shoot Smart for Indoor, Alpine for Outdoor.

Cook Children's has a great physician network for kids.

Welcome to freedom brother!!

Thanks all.  I didn't realize so many refugees from PA were there.





Yes, we're coming at "peak heat" but I don't have to shovel heat.  And I don't think I'll be shoveling 12 feet of snow come January.  



I hadn't even thought of Angie's List; I'll have to give it a look-see.



We found and drove past the Cabela's a few times, though I'm not sure I remember exactly where it is.  OR where we were, ha.  Got a little lost a few times, even with the GPS.  I really like the whole Keller, Saginaw, Haslet area and especially the area around that Alliance Town Center.  We definitely won't be going hungry down there.  We even looked a little further out and almost ended up in Justin just to the west of the speedway off 114.  Really liked the neighborhood out there but since we're renting for now there weren't any houses available out there.



As for PA; we're in the Pittsburgh area close to the airport and most of it is just a dump.  That said I spent my first 31 years basically in the same upper-middle class suburb in flat western Ohio that was incorporated in 1981.  There are some nice neighborhoods here in my part of PA but they are surrounded by shit in every direction.  They seem to really like their row houses and townhouses here.  Everyone is waiting for the steel industry to come back and the river fronts are littered with decrepit run down warehouses.  The roads suck which means the traffic is horrible.  The locals all use the excuse, "well there are a lot of hills around here".  Fine.  What is this, 1850?  Get a fucking bulldozer out here and build a decent road!



Almost the only place to buy alcohol are state run stores (some places sell beer by the 6 pack if they have a "restaurant" inside but for the most part you have to go to a state store and buy a case of 24) and if you do end up buying liquor there it's double the price of what it should be.  There is STILL a tax on it to "support the families" of a damn flood n Johnstown in 1930-something.  EVERYTHING is taxed to death around here.  Gas is generally about $0.50 higher than back home and in Texas (taxes).  Oh I almost forgot.  They do this thing they think is really cute called a "Pittsburgh Left" here.   NO ONE understand basic rights of way and I've had people in front of me slam on their brakes to let someone else make a left turn out on the road.  The locals all say, "well we're just being courteous."  No, you're being an asshole because no one knows when you're going to do it!!  And the people around here are just ... blah.  Rude, unfriendly, unhappy.  You see someone make eye contact and give them a friendly "Hey how are ya?" greeting and you get back mumbles in return as they stare at the floor.    Maybe it's the lack of sun up here six months of the year.



Anyway this was only a temporary stop and on to bigger and better things.  

Welcome, you will get to meet the Texas summer in August your first year.

It is the responsibility of every out of state arfcommer who moves here to kick out any liberal transplant coming from California, New York or Illinois.  Get that done first then I'll let you know about who the good docs are.





Welcome!

 

. I'm from Pa also and moved here  to Keller Aug 8th 1994. I'm from the eastern side of Pa 40 mile N.W  of Philly. You have gotten some good advice so far from previous posters, however you are never going to find that pretzel down here. Shoot Smarts a great place to shoot. There is plenty of medical doc and dentists,it will take you awhile to get used to the way they drive. lol. For the most part its all good. Property taxes here suck though. Insurance rates are high auto and home. Cost of water from the city is high. Sales tax is high. they will argue no state income tax. I like it here though except in the bad weather months ( July-Aug). But it beats shoveling.

I live near that area, and my wife is a pediatric surgical nurse. She knows the best doctors and specialists, dentists, etc.
Shoot me an email when you get ready and I will give you some specific recommendations.

 



Texans are awesome.  IM inbound!  Thanks!

I have a friend who is a dentist in your area. He did great work on the SO and I recommend him highly.

https://www.zocdoc.com/dentist/daniel-atkinson-dds-19430


Oh yeah- welcome!  I hope you enjoy it here.

Thanks jammer, will check him out.  What's with the abundance of dentists down there?  We noticed a ton of them while driving around.  

This will be opening up soon just 10 minutes north of you.  One of the partners is Dave Gregor.  One of the finest men and THE.. finest gunsmith I've ever worked with.   Advanced GunWorks

My family Doctor  Dr. Bill Burke

I've lived in Texas my entire life (except for the years with Uncle Sam) so the heat is something you just learn to except, however, the traffic in the area will beat you down to no end.

Looks like we'll be neighbors.  I live near the Alliance Town Center.  We have more than that in common; I grew-up in Pittsburgh (North Hills) and moved to Western Ohio (Celina) when I was in 8th grade.  I then did a 21 year career in the USAF and found my dream job at Lockheed Martin here in Fort Worth.  Fire me a PM when you arrive and we can grill some steaks at my place.

I don't know the DFW area, but welcome to Texas!

If you like beer, check out the Lakewood brewery in Dallas.

 
Thanks for the invite!  We'll be close for sure; we're going to be right by the Fossil Ridge High School.

Found a sign for you


Howdy and I hope you and your family have a safe trip to your new home!

 
Love it!  I need to get that made and framed to hang up.

Dental; Fossil Creek Dental, 6300 N Beach St, Haltom City, TX 76137. Just south of Keller.

Dr. Ricky King and Dr. Carie King. Great folks, Carie is a second generation dentist as is her brother. I've know Carie and her brother since we were kids. Ricky and Carie will take care of you.

Best liquor store ever:

Spec's



 

Welcome to Texas. Nothing like Texas weather in August. :-)
I too am a transplant from a place far worse than PA. Been here 20 years now and wouldn't move for anything.

Thanks for the great info so far guys.

The wife wanted me to ask about churches.  Specifically "New Age" churches?  I have no idea what that entails but she is looking for a good place to go.

I would suggest burning and Philadelphia Eagles stuff that you might have. Steelers stuff seems to be OK. For some reason Cowboy fans don't hate Steelers fans, well, as much anyway
That story about Terry Bradshaw being mugged and beaten was  just a misunderstanding.

The only problem with August in Texas is that it lasts until October!

We attend Gateway. I'm not sure what she means by new age but ours is non denominational and considered modern rather than traditional services. We love it and our pastor.

One more thing. If you have trouble communicating with the locals, put it on paper. While the same language is spoken, the North Eastern and Texas dialect differences can cause misunderstandings in daily conversation. I am sure many folks here are fluent in the two dialects, and would be glad to assist if help is needed.

I have friends from NYC and Boston. If I can understand them he will have no problems.

We have a guy in the office now who sounds just like Boomhauer from King of the Hill.  Good ole' North Caralinah boy.  We can, mostly, understand him so I think we're good to go.  Thanks for all the suggestions folks.



Headed down Monday to get the kiddo registered for school!

Just got back from two more days down there.  It's cold up here in PA!

We've noticed we never see anyone in the pools.  Why is that?


Also, need to find a good shop to take the car to.  I have a place here the guys will let me bring the parts and they do the labor for a fair price.  Anyone have a good recommendation for a shop like that around Keller?

It's not quite that bad here in Dallas. One thing I like about Dallas is that it is still Texas but only unbearably hot 2-3 months out of the year.  I grew up in San Antonio where it's unbearably hot and super humid 8-9 months out of the year.

We are getting into the time where you have to be careful. It is hot enough that you may want to place a towel on your steering wheel  to avoid having your fingerprints removed.
It will be 108 Monday.

BigFellor,

Although he is way too professional and classy to mention it, mojo is a damn good Optometrist in the Fort Worth area.

House up for sale in PA.

Victoria or Houston.

Family and free land to build on or more jobs.

Hard to pick.

Made it!  
Left Pittsburgh Tuesday night about 6pm and pulled into my driveway in Fort Worth at 5:30pm Wed afternoon!  I won't do that again but it was a very scenic drive through Missouri and Oklahoma.Route 69 through Oklahoma sucks though.

If you have fillings you may want to  check if they're still there.

Isn't that the truth.  I was more pissed and annoyed with the speed changes; 70 to 55 to 35 to 70 to 55 to 35 every 5 damn miles.  For 300 miles.

Should have taken the Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas route. Much more scenic. So, you work for US Air?

I thought about that but wanted to stop in Dayton to see family and friends before I left. Yep, US Airways.  Well, American now...

I would choose the land but earning a living is pretty important too. LOL. If you choose Houston, let me know and I will buy you a beer.

I live SE of Houston, and hunt a little south of Victoria.

I love the Victoria area, good hunting and fishing if that's your thing.