Oh! You must've known Charles Moss then? I think I remember the land being purchased by the the Nature Conservancy around late 70s early 80s.

Sounds like you did the primitive camping then? We've done that a few times now, usually with a little psilocybin cubensis involved, and it's always an experience.

Love the caves and mini slot canyons!

My last pup was blind, so would run into things that could poke her in the eyes while out on walks. We got a set of Doggles and while it took some getting used to, she ended up tolerating them well. Depends on the dog and the training!

Yes, I'm sure I was born and raised here. Maybe that is a normal amount of traffic to be in now, but that only started being an issue about 5-8 years ago, when so many people really start migrating here. It was too much, too quickly.

Apartments are not any cheaper, unless you share with multiple people and don't own a car. I'm not sure if saying you have "former friends" who you are "guessing" are in similar financial situations is a good supporting statement to make.

But it makes no difference to me either way. People can show to here themselves and see what it is like.

I just listed some musicians from this decade, and you just blew them off as not mattering because it wasn't enough. No, I'm not going to waste my time on naming even more, because you'll say you haven't heard of them or find another way to discount it. Calling a record label "major" is also a pretty ambiguous descriptor that would need to be better defined (such as, brings in a certain amount of money per year? Or has a certain number of artists?)

I guess you'll need to define "affordable", since that's a bit different for everyone. 45-60 min was never a normal drive for me, in Austin. Maybe in Houston. I just bought a house here this year and it was anything but affordable. The suburbs, like Cedar Park, Round Rock, Pflugerville, Buda, Kyle, Lakeway, Manor, Elgin, Lago Vista, Tyler Georgetown, Jonestown, Leander Hutto, are all in the $400K range now. That isn't affordable to most musicians like the OP who are young and just trying to start out.

For living and playing in the city they live in.

No way! Pantera, Butthole Surfers, ZZ Top, Willie Nelson, Beyonce, The Toadies, Polyphonic Spree, The Mars Volta, Nora Jones, Kelly Clarkson, Usher, The (Dixie) Chicks, Barbara Mandrell, just to name the ones I know, all came out of Texas. I'm not sure if you're talking about a particular era, but all of those musicians were/are wildly popular. And there's many more than that.

Austin is too expensive for musicians now. It has been for several years.

Source: have lived in Austin for over 40 years.