Wear sunblock every day. Face, neck, ears, arms. I don't care if you're only outside to walk to the car and then drive a short distance... you're going to get a very strong dose of UV rays every day practically, so protect your skin. Skin cancer is VERY common in sunny climes like TX and you need to be protecting yourself even if you're not going to a pool.
Texas can be surface of the sun hot. You just can't imagine how awful it can be, and many times it does not cool off in the nighttime either. So take care to recognize the signs of overheating - feeling light headed, clammy, or dizzy, and get water and into a cool place ASAP.
Likely to be a conservative area politically and Texans love guns and voted in a concealed carry law in the last year or so, so be aware that there are probably lots of armed folks walking around for what it's worth. And larger cities, (not sure about the smaller ones) people just do not drive nicely - 1st in the nation for the worst drivers and rudest was Houston, and the rest of Texas that I've seen isn't much better. Be very careful if you decide to ride a bike on a road, because you will be at serious risk and need to be very aware of your surroundings. Lots of road rage in the big cities including shootings/deaths.
Oh! And this is just my area (SE Texas) but likely to be state wide, drunk driving and alcohol related assaults are very sadly common. Because the state is not hard on drunk drivers, it happens far more often than it should. I personally know of a co-worker's husband killing a father and two children under the age of 10 that only received 4 years in prison! And that wasn't his first offense either (he was a rat bastard and should have gotten the death penalty really). :(
Hope you like the state flag, because they plaster that sucker on EVERYTHING. Sigh. State pride is somehow a huge deal to the point where folks seem to think they're better than everyone else just because of the happenstance of being born in the area. I still don't get it, and my husband is a native Texan and doesn't get it either (and is frequently flabbergasted at the silliness).
Here's the something that is true, whenever you move out of your comfort zone.
If you make an effort to fit in, you'll do just fine.
If you decide "I don't like all them Republican rednecks with their trucks and guns" or whatever, you'll be miserable (as the person who wrote the post above clearly is). People who choose to "hate" a new area because it's not what they grew up with will be miserable. Those who can embrace change will do fine.
I've never had a problem in new areas. I grew up in far upstate NY (probably pretty similar to Canada). I have lived in a number of places, from Germany to Maryland/DC to Texas. Traveled around the world for business and pleasure.
My opinion on Texas is far different than that of Miss Grumpy Pants.
First off, the part she got right. It's damn hot from June through August, sometimes into September. But we have something down here called "air conditioning" that renders this largely not a big deal.
I chose to live in San Antonio after I got out of the military here. Far from what Grumpy Pants posted, I find drivers in Texas to be RIDICULOUSLY POLITE. When I first came here, I noticed vehicles in front of me pulled over for no reason. Coming from NY, where driving is considered a competitive sport and a test of manhood, I had no idea what they were doing. It turns out that in Texas, slower drivers tend to pull over as a courteous. That was one of my first "culture shocks" in Texas.
And it's not just driving. People in Texas are just a whole lot friendlier and more polite than the folks in the NE USA. You'll meet some rude people. Most of them are transplants from CA or NY or PA. Texas is growing very quickly, and that means lots of economic refugees not just from Mexico, but from states like NY, MA, PA, CA, etc.
And in 24 years here, I've never seen all this "road rage" Grumpy Pants was talking about. Maybe it's different in Houston, which is a massive city, and maybe more like the big cities on the coast. But I just haven't seen it in San Antonio (which is pretty damned big, too).
Yeah, Texas is mostly Republican and pretty religious (the Dems down here tend to be religious too- lots of Hispanic Catholics).
So what? I'm an atheist Libertarian Yankee, and I get along just fine here.
so be aware that there are probably lots of armed folks
You know how many armed folks (other than when I was in the military) I've seen here in Texas in 24 years? ZERO.
That's not to say that there aren't armed people, but they don't typically wave their weapons around. It's not "shootout at the OK corral."
"State pride is somehow a huge deal to the point where folks seem to think they're better than everyone else just because of the happenstance of being born in the area."
Grumpy Pants is right about the flag, but she's pretty clueless about why Texans takes pride in the Lone Star flag in a way that other states don't. Texas is the only American state that was a long-term successful nation in it's own right (as opposed to, say, the California "Bear flag" Republic that lasted less than a month) before agreeing to join the USA. Texas fought for, and won it's own independence, just as the 13-colonies did from Britain. That's why they are more proud of the flag than, say, Nebraska or Oregon or Florida or Indiana.
Regarding the car, Uvalde is a pretty small town. It's got a Walmart, a few bars, a few restaurants, but not much else. You are probably going to want a car to make the ~80 mile trek into San Antonio from time to time.
Did I mention that Texas doesn't have a state income tax? Even if you don't like the politics/religion/weather/whatever, you've got to love that! :)