What can you fine folks tell me about Missouri?

Thanks everyone for the comments. What I know is, I am a red guy, in a red place with a sea of blue all around me, and shrinking my red island.
The houses in my school district here with three bedrooms and two baths are $700k.
I do pretty well, but thats too rich for my blood.
I have been all over this great country, top to bottom, left to right, and all the corners. But I have only LIVED in the east and west coasts.
 
squidsix, I've lived here (Southwest of the "greater St. Louis area") for all of my 69 years.

Amazingly, it has only gotten better.

What other Missourians have said about the geography, flora and fauna, people and politics is true.

When I was younger I thought about where I might retire.

Now that I am retired, this is where I want to be.

If you would like to discuss it, send me a PM and we can exchange phone numbers and I'll give you all the inside dope.

John, in the foothills of the Ozarks.
 
Well Missouri is north of where I live in Arkansas.
Seriously though I have lived in Arkansas for 68 years but if I were to move again, not likely, it would be to Missouri. In the southwest part of the state if you stay away from the Branson area you will find good country living if you want or small towns if you prefer. You may even like the Branson tourist town thing I don't know.
The summers are hot and humid but not oppressively so like further south and east. Winters can be cold and icy but not like Maine. The fall colors in the Ozarks give up nothing to the colors of Maine but maybe I am biased as I truly love the Ozarks. A gun friendly state with good hunting and fishing.
I like the fact that it is a gun friendly state...
 
Speaking of shooting, I just got back from an indoor range about 45 minutes away. I belong to an outdoor range that is about 20 minutes from the house and there is an outdoor conservation range just as close.

As to house prices, I think you could buy two of those here for that 700k!
 
Southwest Missouri and northwest Arkansas are getting quite a few folks moving there to retire. I know personally of a few from the Chicago area and California. The result is the prices for land and houses is going up, but is still a lot more reasonable than what you quoted in Maine. The Ozarks are beautiful.
 
I grew up about 30 miles west of St Louis until I joined the Navy in 1973.
At that time that 30 mile radius was at the fringe of the suburbs and the beginning of the "country". I would think a little farther than that these days you can still find plenty of open space, peace and solitude. A few times I've been back there it looked like most of the expansion of the 'burbs was to the northwest (St Charles to Wentzville) and south (down I-55)
 
In winter you have to keep a heavy and medium coat and a windbreaker in your car. Saturday is waking up in the 20's. Sunday is mid 60's.
 
O'Fallon is just an extension of the metroplex, lots of traffic and pretentious people. Head down 44 and get past Eureka and it's rolling hills all the way to Springfield. You could buy almost any home in Missouri for a $2900 per month mortgage.

Gun friendly, cheap gas, pleasant people, my bartender(s) pour my beer when they see the Jeep pull up.

We get all four seasons in Missouri, sometimes in the same day. Gonna happen tomorrow down here in the sand flats.

Stay in Maine. We don't need the trouble . . .
 
I visited for a few months in '66. Basic at Fort Leonard Wood, so my view may be colored. Take your salt pills, stay in the middle. Drink all you can.
Be prepared to take on an accented speech.
Nice place for target practice, and free ammo. Cheap PX beer, and be prepared for overseas travel. Watch out for ticks in the woods.
Drove by once years later, and rendered a special salute.
 
As mentioned before there is more Jesse James gold hid there than in Ft. Knox. That even oozes over into Arkansas some. LOL
There are a lot of "Yankees" moving into this country but they usually tend to bunch up at least in north Arkansas. Easy to spot and avoid for us old hillbillies.
 
Don't get real real deep in certain parts of the Ozarks. There are still people there who live in the 1800's and you don't want to mess with them.
 
Thanks everyone for the comments. What I know is, I am a red guy, in a red place with a sea of blue all around me, and shrinking my red island.
The houses in my school district here with three bedrooms and two baths are $700k.
I do pretty well, but thats too rich for my blood.
I have been all over this great country, top to bottom, left to right, and all the corners. But I have only LIVED in the east and west coasts.

Went duck hunting in Missouri once, in the "boot heal" section of the state. My observation was that there were good people, and good ducks in Missouri.

Much like what happened to Colorado and Utah getting California's escapees, Southern Maine and Southern NH are becoming refugee centers for Boston people that are sick of the high costs of housing, taxes, insurance, etc., etc., and horrible policies of their delusional governments.

This influx has driven up prices for real estate, and they've changed the government and schools to reflect the same that **** they were fleeing from; they're just recreating the same thing in their new place! Clueless. No appreciation or understanding why the costs are lower, the crime is lower, why it may be a 'nicer' place to live. They arrogantly think they are smarter than the existing people in this 'less sophisticated' place, with it's less sophisticated people; you know, the ones that made it so nice to begin with…

It's happening all over our country, and the "red islands," as you put it, are getting smaller everywhere. The indoctrination is real, and it works, and in my opinion it's degrading the quality of our society.

I escaped New England years ago, which I absolutely loved growing up and still do in many ways, and I've witnessed the same problems happen in the South, and the Midwest. It truly makes me sad, especially for my kids, and their kids. We humans are like locust, we move on to the next stand of crops and devour/corrupt all the good stuff, and then move on to the next. Problem is that the good stuff left is fewer and further apart.

I suppose Missouri is a decent solution to your situation.
 
My lovely wife's sister, one of my favorite people on this planet or any other, lives in O'Fallon, Missouri.
We are struggling pretty hard under the crippling weight of living expenses here in Maine. I pay $2900 a month for a 1500 square foot townhouse in Maine. No garage, no basement, etc.
My concern, and I think its a legitimate one, is that when my kids go off to college and decide where to live, this area will be totally impossible for them.
Thusly, Missouri has sprung up in conversation. We are seriously considering a move.
I am not terribly concerned about employment. My wife can work anywhere, and I can do basically anything I need to support my family.

What can the collective tell me about Missouri? Specifically about the areas southwest of St. Louis?

Thanks!

I'm very familiar with New England, born and raised, and family has been there for generations. I grew up in Boston, with a second home on a lake in rural New Hampshire. Thank God I had country, along with city, life growing up. While I moved away years ago, I still have a lake house in NH.

Traditionally, New England is very parochial, if you're not from there, it's very hard to "fit in," and/or be accepted. This is especially true in Maine and New Hampshire, and especially true outside of city-proper areas (which are pretty non existent in Maine and New Hampshire). Mainers have always been a bit of a special breed…. ;).

True New Englanders are hard nosed, hard working, very independent, and generally intolerant of any sort of BS, and anybody or anything that brings things counter to these values. People outside of New England may think, 'hey, many people are like that,' but you really need to live there to understand.

If your family stays, then your grand children, or their children may become more accepted. The good news is that once you're in, you're in…. They're good people, but just very wary of outsiders, and resentful of what outsiders have done to their communities and way of life. I suppose over time the influx of city folk to Southern Maine has, and will continue to dilute a lot of this parochial dynamic. The culture of Boston has changed so much, due to people coming in from all over the country, and world, I hardly recognize it anymore when I'm back there. I won't get into the politics of it, but you know what I'm saying.

Southern Maine, much like Southern NH has been overrun by Greater Boston folks looking to get a better quality of life and lower costs. In NH, they're referred to as "flat-landers" and/or "M*******s." And they're slowly, but surely, transforming those great states into what they escaped from.

Don't get up there enough these days, but I'm keeping my lake house in NH, unless, and until they change the state motto from "Live Free or Die." If that happens, we've lost the war, and I'm out!
 
I live in Illinois south of St. Louis,and worked in North STL most my life.(stay away from there)...spent a lot of time,have lots of friends south of STL...if not for my kids here, I'd move to Mo. in a heartbeat. Out of Illinois, home of hi taxes, corrupt politics ect....
 
I grew up in far Northeast Missouri and still have many relatives there.

I have no experience with the SE part of the state though. Sorry.

O'Fallon and places near there would not be my choice. Way too close to St. Louis and their crime rate, etc. Also I'd avoid the KC metro area and Columbia for the same reasons.

Otherwise, I'd seriously consider the Jefferson City area, Springfield area and about anyplace north of I-70. Moniteau County has a nice little town called California about 20 miles west of Jeff City on Rt. 50. It's a bedroom community for many who work in Jeff, Columbia and the "lake area" to the south. My son lived there 2 or 3 years and I really liked it.
 
O'Fallon is just an extension of the metroplex, lots of traffic and pretentious people.

I agree with you, Muss.

O'Fallon and eastern St .Charles County (along the I-70 corridor) are what my friends and I call the "North St. Louis County extension", and that is a place to stay very, very far away from.

But the O.P. has family there and St. Charles county is still mostly red and the O'Fallon area is not too bad yet, but it's definitely coming.

Head down 44 and get past Eureka and it's rolling hills all the way to Springfield. You could buy almost any home in Missouri for a $2900 per month mortgage.

Muss, the O.P. is a smart guy, and he will figure this out pretty quick when he starts getting familiar with the area.

Gun friendly, cheap gas, pleasant people, my bartender(s) pour my beer when they see the Jeep pull up.

We get all four seasons in Missouri, sometimes in the same day. Gonna happen tomorrow down here in the sand flats.

Yup, that's the Mo. I know.

Stay in Maine. We don't need the trouble . . .

The O.P. (IMHO) is a rock solid supporter of the sorts of things we tend to believe in, and folks like that are always welcome, in my book.

We need more of his kind to offset the lefties who ruin their own communities and then move to nice places like Missouri and then try to ruin them.

John
 
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