With its proximity to Mexico, its lengthy historical past of ranching and its more moderen historical past because the USA’s industrial hub, Texas has all the time had a vibe that’s all its personal, and an inclination to bounce to its personal tune.
The fact is, there may be nowhere fairly just like the Lone Star state. Here are just some enjoyable and shocking information you may want to bear in mind subsequent time you go to the Land of Boots and Hats.
It’s Big (Like, Huge!)
Texas is large – very large. Alaska is the one US state that’s bigger. But Texas can also be larger than any nation in Western Europe. In truth, if Texas was a rustic, it could be the 40th largest on the earth.
Perhaps it’s as a result of it’s so massive that Texas tends to do the whole lot massive. It is house to the most important ranch within the USA – at 1,289 sq. miles King Ranch in South Texas is larger than Rhode Island.
You Can Drive at 85 mph
If you prefer to drive quick and don’t need to get a rushing ticket, head for Texas. Here, you’ll discover the quickest common velocity limits within the USA.
Texas can also be the one state the place you possibly can legally drive at 85 mph – however solely alongside a 40-mile stretch of SH-130 between Austin and San Antonio.
You Could Get Arrested for Playing Texas Holdem
Texans love their poker, and the state offers its title to the most well-liked variation of the sport. There are dozens of poker golf equipment throughout Texas, so be taught the whole lot you’ll want to find out about poker palms on-line earlier than you arrive.
But additionally do your homework about the place to play. Two high-profile poker golf equipment have been raided by police in latest months for unknowingly breaching the state’s playing legal guidelines.
These legal guidelines are fairly convoluted, and are anticipated to be revised in 2023 for higher readability – till that occurs, it is likely to be safer to play poker on-line.
Big on Bats
The largest recognized colony of bats in all of North America is in – you guessed it, Texas.
Bracken Cave is situated simply exterior San Antonio, and is house to an estimated 20 million Mexican free-tailed bats that fly as much as 100 miles to roost there between March and October, earlier than returning to Mexico within the winter months.
The bats are welcomed by native landowners. By consuming tons of bugs each evening, they’re thought to save lots of Texan cotton farmers about $1 million yearly.
Independent Power
The USA has three energy grids. One covers the states to the east of the Rockies, one covers states to the west of the Rockies and one covers Texas. So what makes Texas so particular?
A historical past instructor may inform you it was arrange within the Nineteen Forties to make sure Texas factories could be self sustainable in serving the battle effort. That’s a part of the explanation.
The grid was really established within the Nineteen Thirties, simply across the time President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Power Act, which gave the Federal Power Commission oversight of interstate electrical energy gross sales.
That’s proper, fiercely impartial Texas needed nothing to do with it and stored energy technology inside state strains.
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