I grew up in Corpus Christi, but spent quite a bit of time in San Antonio as well. Id say that Bishop and Alan Summers pretty well hit the nail on the head for you. To keep the green in the landscape shy away from West Texas. Work and my kids have me stuck in NM for the time being, but one day I shall return to the Promised Land that is South Texas...

 

Not true...I have a little over an acre, do not live within city limits, and can shoot my weapons all day long (bullet cannot leave the property).

I grew up in Southington/Bristol/Torrington areas of CT and feel your pain.
I have lived in Corpus Christi, San Antonio and now live in Central Texas area.
North of San Antonio off hwy 281 and up towards Blanco areas nice..
Georgetown, Marble Falls, Liberty Hill all areas with acreage avail and within quick distance to major cities.

I'm near Lampasas, Kempner, Copperas Cove, Killeen, Harker Heights area and my 2000 sq ft house, 3bdr - 2bath, sitting on a little over acre lot was $140,000 in 2002. yearly property taxes at 3k, no state income tax, but high sales tax, and gas is heck of a lot cheaper here than CT...

 

I have lived in San Antonio most of my life. It has become more of a city than a town now, but still has character. It is a very short ride and you are in the boonies almost any direction. North, and northwest of San Antonio would definitely be the place to look. Like someone also said, Marble Falls and towns in and around the lakes are also great. And yes Austin is liberal, not really sure how it remains part of Texas. The property taxes are pretty high but no state income tax, you pay one way or the other.
South and west of Fort Worth is also nice but you can get real winters in north Texas, snow and the works. West Texas and South Texas are out, parts of east Texas in the Piney woods are also nice, if you like trees. Houston and most of the Gulf coast are also out, lots of industry, oil refineries etc.

 

The Texas Medical Center in Houston employs 90,000+ people, including my wife and several friends. I'm unaware of any other place in Texas that offers employment opportunty like that. Traffic in Houston ranges from free-flowing (at 6 AM) to near-stagnant (between 4 and 630 PM), so a 30 minute commute can mean 30 miles away or 5 miles away. Houston is not zoned, so there are large plots of land with farm animals right beside multi-million dollar facilities. East of Houston is highly industrialized (oil refineries, chemical plants) but the other points of the compass lead to suburbs and open spaces.

I ride quite a bit on the freeways and tollways in Houston though I live south of Houston. Houston is close to Galveston and the Gulf, 5 hours from New Orleans, 2+ hours from Austin (and UT), 75 minutes from College Station (and TAMU), and is serviced by two large airports, Intercontinental and Hobby. There are lake communities north of Houston and the 'piney woods' to the northeast. West to Brenham and Hempstead there are lots of 'farm-sized' tracts available.

Most of Texas is gun-friendly, though Austin tends to be very liberal (and proud of it). Texas is a 'shall-issue' state if you want a concealed-weapons permit. Houston has an idiot as a Congressional Rep named Sheila Jackson Lee, but most of the rest of the state's delegation is pretty traditional apart from the majority-minority, urban areas. For now.

I don't think there is much snow south of I-20. Texas is one of the few states where there is job growth, though not enough. But the state did not suffer to the extent that many other states did. Gas is not terribly high, and electricity and natural gas are relatively low (compared to most other states). I think the state sales tax is 6.25% and many/most local governents add another 2%. Property taxes depend to a large extent on the individual school district.

There are lots of great places to live in Texas (Montgomery, Gatesville, Kerrville/Ingram/Hunt), but nowhere else has the Texas Medical Center.

 

You might want to consider Waco, Texas. Do not let the Branch Davidian thing scare you. Waco is growing by leaps and bounds. Still it is not to big. Like Dallas, Austin, San Antonio or Houston. It has a new Hillcrest Medical Center built on I-35. Check it out. I live on one side of Waco and work on the other side. Takes me 20 minutes to commute. I live 3.5 miles from Walmart. I have 3.250 acres. I shoot on my property any time I want.
It is called HOT. Heart of Texas. Approximately 100 miles between Austin and Dallas. Want to ride to the Piney Woods of East Texas or to the Texas Hill Country. Take your pick. You will be there. No matter where you land on your transplant. Welcome to TEXAS. Glad to have ya.

 

As many have suggested...look west and south of Austin. There's a lot of good hill country in that area. You're also close to major medical centers in Austin and San Antonio. I'd want away from the cities...the traffic is pretty aggressive but you'll find paridise in some of the area mentioned.

 

Don't be afraid to take a look at East Texas - Tyler & Longview area. You will get more cold weather then the Hill Country and Austin but that area is still VERY CONSERVATIVE. You are an hour and a half away from Dallas - Shreveport. Tyler has a great medical community and still has the small town charm, especially if you live outside of town in the smaller towns.

The riding is very good out that way as well.

 

Moved to TX from RI, love it out here, there is no comparison....everything is better out here...hell, even the air smells better, LOL. Still kicking myself for not doing it sooner.

 

It does snow in Texas!!! It's less likely the further South you go.

Couple of things, Austin is very liberal, very green, nice riding country if you don't get run over by a cager.

San Antonio has some great riding, lots of greenery, traffic is better than Austin.

Now here's where I differ with the rest of the posts above, Corpus: last snowfall was several years ago and 109 years prior to that. It green in some areas, mostly flat with some backroad twisties, wide open spaces. We got a an actual beach (pretty girls in bikinis) more conservative. Several hospitals, living in Portland, Aransas Pass, Rockport or Port Aransas are all close to Corpus for hospitals. Taxes are cheaper in those cities mentioned than Corpus.

I ride all year round and almost never need a jacket or gloves...

And then there is the Rio Grande Valley (Harlingen, Brownsville, McAllen and a boat load of little towns in between. Lot of money and considered the cheapest place in the entire counrty to live. There is also the Mexican Boarder and all the good and bad that goes with a Boarder to another country (way to many things to list)

Google any of the cities mentioned and see for yourself. I gotta go, it's lunchtime and I'm needing a riding fix.