KnowYard Community

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.

bring a reusable bag. you will buy more than you planned

Get the AllTrails app and search your area. Filter by difficulty and distance. Some of the best trails aren't in official parks — they're along creeks, power line easements, and greenbelts.

Army Corps of Engineers parks around the lakes are always less crowded than city parks. Free or cheap, good trails, water access. Google the nearest lake to you and look for Army Corps sites.

Nobody in this state understands the zipper merge. Two lanes go to one and everyone treats it like a personal insult.

The deregulated market is the problem. Nobody wants to invest in reserve capacity because there's no profit in power plants that only run during emergencies. So we have zero buffer.

Urgent care clinics do physicals and basic checkups. It's not ideal for ongoing care but if you just need a checkup done this month, they can do it.

Minor league sports are the cheat code for families. You get the live sports experience without selling a kidney for tickets.

Parking strategy: find shade, even if it means walking farther. A shaded parking spot saves you 20 degrees of interior temp compared to full sun.

I moved here from SF in 2020. Austin is expensive but compared to the Bay Area it felt cheap. I realize now that my arrival was part of the problem.

The East Side beer crawl is the correct route. Three excellent breweries within walking distance. Bring a designated driver or use rideshare.

I bring my own parts and pay labor only. A good mechanic won't care. The ones who insist on using their parts are marking them up 50-100%.

Crunch Fitness is a solid middle ground. More equipment than PF, actual free weight area, $25-30/month at most locations.

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

Keep a cooler in your trunk in summer. Cold water, some snacks. If you break down on a Texas highway in July, help might take 30-45 minutes. You want water available.

Urgent care clinics do physicals and basic checkups. It's not ideal for ongoing care but if you just need a checkup done this month, they can do it.

Call your insurance company and ask for a list of in-network providers accepting new patients. The online directories are always outdated but the phone reps have current info.

Army Corps of Engineers parks around the lakes are always less crowded than city parks. Free or cheap, good trails, water access. Google the nearest lake to you and look for Army Corps sites.

Whataburger loyalty is not a meme. People here will defend that place with their lives. I said it was mid ONE TIME and almost got run out of the office.

Unpopular take: la Barbecue across town is 90% as good with 25% of the wait. You're paying the other 10% in hours of your life at Franklin.

Ask on your neighborhood Facebook group or Nextdoor. Mechanic recommendations are the one thing those groups are actually useful for.

parking on the east side of 37 and walking over is the move. free parking

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.

Following this thread. Want to hear more takes.

the alamo bowl is legitimately one of the better bowl games every year