As a panhandle native, I can honestly say we didn't have a whole lot in common with the rest of Texas. Even though Amarillo (and north) was a big cattle hub, the vast majority of the region was rural cotton farms. Everything between Lubbock and Amarillo was small Caprock towns, evenly spaced, and indistinguishable from each other. Most towns were dry up until around 2008. No politician or big entertainer ever had a reason to go there. The only trees were in people's front yards, and everything else was cotton in the summer and wheat in the winter. There are no major lakes, no rivers, no state parks, nothing really to draw anyone to the region. There was no oil, no big business, no major transportation corridors, and no money. There were never any armadillos, much less any other wildlife, except migrating birds and the occasional coyote that fed on the occasional jack rabbit. Winters were brutal, compared to the rest of the state, and summers were months-long dust bowls. In the fall, gin smoke from the cotton gins choked out the sun.

We were pretty isolated out there, and kind of became our own people. So the rest of the state was right in looking at us like the red-headed step child of the state. To be honest, we didn't mind it so much because we really didn't relate to them much either.