Funny you should mention them. I was living in Vegas when Salt Lick opened at the Red Rocks Casino. We heard about it and visited to eat some bbq. Wasn't too bad...but I could definitely tell something was different. When I found out they use mustard-based sauces, I then knew that's the difference I was tasting. I really prefer a tomato-based sauce. Salt Lick wasn't bad...just not my first preference. There was a California-based chain in Vegas, Lucille's, which had some great (IMO) Texas-esque bbq. Them serving banana pudding in a giant glass jar sealed the deal for me with Lucille's.
That tracks. Last time I drove to Indiana we took the route right through the middle of that heavy area between Texas and Indiana. The signs on gas pumps weren't advertisements for drinks, food or whatever, they were for meth rehab. 'Murica, ya'll.
Tough to see, but it looks like the Marble Falls/Burnet area has more meth labs than Austin. I've heard meth was a problem there, but surprised it would beat a city. Though, Austin is more a weed town.
East Texas not as meth-y as I would have thought compared to the "meth basket" of the lower Midwest and Appalachia.
Austin loves its coke too. Just guessing here, but I'd imagine a good part of it is headed to Austin. Easier and cheaper to find places for a lab in the sparsely populated rural areas here, plus it's a big county (over 1000 sq mi) with less than 100 patrol officers (County and various municipalities, not all on duty at the same time, for instance the County Sheriff has 6 officers in the field per shift). Not that there isn't any demand here, it's a big problem with property crimes and it's very difficult for blue-collar-type businesses to find employees.
Tangentially related, when the US set up their Sudafed database, 90% of the Meth production moved to Mexico.
One of my brothers-in-law lives up there, and his pickiness on teeth has hurt his dating pool. Well, that and being a dead beat.
I must run in different circles, I have no contact with the toothily challenged outside of an occasional trip to the VFW for darts and cheap drinks, and those are mostly old-timers.
I assume the being a dead beat limits his dating pool such that the toothily challenged would make up a larger percentage than the average person's dating pool.
San Bernardino County is the huge dark blue county in California. That is just north of the Salton Sea, which is in Riverside and Imperial Counties. All together, they are part of the Inland Empire. Inland California is pretty meth saturated from Mexico to Oregon though.
The Bootleg Fire in Oregon is now bigger than Phoenix (517 sq. miles) and within a day or so will be bigger than Houston (599 sq. miles). This is a basic map, but for reference, it takes about 90 minutes to drive from Medford to Klamath Falls.
