Just when I think that Texas is the bottom of the barrel, I get a gig in Oklahoma and find out that there's even worse.
Happens regularly. The last time was a ball for the Speaker of the Oklahoma State Legislature, the first Republican to hold that position in some long time. To call the experience surrealistic would be putting it mildly. Miss Oklahoma offered a 15 minute prayer, and the entertainment before us was a school orchestra that consisted of a core group sitting in a corner, miked, with the rest of the kids (including cellos and contrabasses) strolling among the patrons, who were completely (and often pointedly) ignoring them. If 10% of the strollers were actually playing, I'd be shocked.
Then there's the time I got a speeding ticket for doing 30 in a 25 MPH zone after playing a wedding reception up there. This was two blocks from the country club where the reception was held, mind you, at 1:30 AM, and damned if I ever saw any speed limit signs. But the rather bovine officerette who ticketed me lectured me sternly about maintaining a safe speed in "their" neighborhood.
Then, there's the turnpike exits that exist but aren't marked or even hinted at. Miss one of those (and I have...), and it's easy to go another 50-60 miles before you say, "Hey, wait a minute, where the hell AM I?"
The liquor stores are all state-owned, and you can only get 3.2 beer. But they do have Indian reservation casinos out the wazzoo. It's that kind of state.
It's not that Texas is better, it's just that Oklahoma is worse.