It may be a little further East than you had in mind, but like Barnstormer said....I'd try west of Austin. I'm especially fond of the Hill Country in Texas. The little towns NW of San Antonio are neat...
Another vote for the pa-20 or converted -22 if you can bend on the metal/fabric deal. My first plane was a pacer; I regularly operated out of 1200 to 2000 feet. Great back seat and rear compartment...
I've lived on one air park and rented a hanger on the other. One good experience and one fair. Politics is always an issue but rarely to the point that it interferes. You just gotta do your homework...
Our airplane ownership has evolved or sort of over the years.... Or maybe more correctly described as ebbed and flowed.
We first made the mistake of getting out of college/military with too much student...