Impressions of Missouri (St. Louis, Fulton, West Plains: motel, travel, work)

[herewe2go2mo]

ORexpat, you were in the Kansas City area--did you by any chance have the opportunity to enjoy the best bar-b-que on the planet? Bryants? Gates? And jazz...and fountains...K.C. is ahead of Paris for fountains so I've heard. I am truly looking forward to departing CA for MO soon! Until this forum, I had honestly forgotten about many of the wonders there. Thanks you all!

[ORexpat]

Originally Posted by herewe2go2mo

ORexpat, you were in the Kansas City area--did you by any chance have the opportunity to enjoy the best bar-b-que on the planet? Bryants? Gates? And jazz...and fountains...K.C. is ahead of Paris for fountains so I've heard. I am truly looking forward to departing CA for MO soon! Until this forum, I had honestly forgotten about many of the wonders there. Thanks you all!

I actually saw very little of Kansas City this trip. There are so many things there I would like to see and do, and I want to return soon. I had some other things I needed to do in the area, and the mono was really slowing me down. KC seems like an exciting city. And, just as important, it IS a city, not a collection of people like the Phoenix area.

[Magnolia33]

I stumbled on to Mexico, Mo and I'm curious about it. To those of you who have been there what can you tell me about it?

[ShadowCaver]

Originally Posted by Magnolia33

I stumbled on to Mexico, Mo and I'm curious about it. To those of you who have been there what can you tell me about it?

Nice proud little burg - but IMHO kinda dying... lost much employment in past few years. Good buddy lives there, he and his family like the area - it is good, but jobs are hurting last I knew.

[desertsam]

I too decided to look over MO and I also live in the Phx area. We visited several times in the Clinton/Warsaw area and never really made a connection. The area north of KC is nice but still no connection. The first trip I made to south central Mo touched my inner soul. It was a toss up between Mountain Grove and West Plains. We finally choose Mountain Grove, bought a great little place and will be relocating in the spring, or as soon after as we sell our QC home. Every day I am on the freeways driving to Tempe I wish I were back in MO where I find the drivers the most courteous I have seen in years. And my horses can finally graze as God intended. Life is good!!

[ORexpat]

I'm glad you were finally successful, DesertSam, and found a home in Missouri. Isn't it wonderful to anticipate getting out of Phoenix?
Interesting about your feelings on locale. I expected to like south central MO the best, but went totally cold inside when I was there. It just wasn't my scene. I preferred the northwest, at least of what I saw.
It's really becoming hard for people to keep horses around here. At least one horse rescue group, on Lindsay, has had to move. I know your horses will like their new home.

[bryanh]

I live in Columbia, MO and its really nice. We have 3 campus' downtown which makes most nights very exciting. The music scene has been building recently as I can attest to playing with my band.

I would really recommend visiting Columbia, its a great place with lots of stuff to do. Just visit the Columbia Convention and Visitors Bureau for more info.

Thanks.

[Maxine3]

Originally Posted by ORexpat

Sorry I didn't find the pizza place in Rolla! I ended up having lunch from the deli at the supermarket. Then I got out of town real fast.
There's more I wanted to say. (I'm sitting here in Gilbert, AZ this morning simply LONGING to be back in Missouri.) I talked at length one day with a man who lives near Hannibal. He warned me to very careful of some places in Missouri. Some towns have officials who are in league with the Mexican drug cartels, mostly meth. He says that in some places, also, single people without family have been put in nursing homes by the authorities, and their property confiscated. He also said his relative had $80,000 worth of logs stolen from his property on some flimsy pretext, by the local authorities, who threatened to put him in jail if he kept complaining.
I found some places quite friendly, and others closed in and standoffish. For instance, Carollton was very friendly; people said hello to you on the street.
But, some places seemed hostile.
The reason I went first to NW Missouri was that I wanted to visit the grave of my great grandmother, and great great grandparents. I had heard all my life about a sad story surrounding my great grandmother, and had longed for some time to see her grave. It was outside a little town, pop 250, up an unmarked road and over the hill, a beautiful place. But, when I asked about it in the town, I was given the information tersely, and got the impression they just wanted me out of there. In other places they would have been interested;after all, I might be their cousin.
I looked in several places for house rentals, but discovered I would really have to pay a lot for a place that was clean, painted, and with the yard kept up. I know now why mid-westerners come to AZ and buy these stupid, look alike houses. They are clean, spacious, and really affordable, comparatively.
As for the east Indian owned motels, it is shame they can't be taught better standards. There is no excuse for grubby blankets, stained chairs, red scum in the water holding part of the coffee maker, dirty rugs, etc., especially at prices in the fifties up.
More later.

Wilcox Cemetery?

[arjr]

Which part of upstate NY? Ever bum around Sherburne area, for example? Not really upstate [ummm,, where exactly is upstate considered such, where should you recommend such be 'upstate' ], was very area - really surprised me w/ all the ridges/mountains there. Some very great food and people met too.

My wife and I have a vacation place just outside of Oxford, NY, which is just about 20 miles south of Sherburne, we have been there many times. Very pretty country. We just got back from a week up there.

We had thought of retiring to upstate NY, but the winters are just too long, and too cold. And though we lucked-out and had beautiful weather this time, over our ten year ownership it has generally proven to be very unpredictable. The Great Lakes, and Finger Lakes send a lot of moisture easterly that loves to spash down at the most inopportune times. The real bummer though is that the property taxes are quite high. We are paying 1.5K/yr for a Single-wide on 13 acres, that only cost us 27K to purchase.

We did a big-loop road-trip around MO, last year and traveled from St. Louis to Rolla, down to Houston, back east into the parks, then down through Mountain Grove, Ava, Branson, Greenfield, Stockton, Osage Beach, Jefferson City, Hannibal.

The area we liked the best was between Greenfield, and Stockton. Very pretty rolling farm lands.

We are hoping to get back and check out the area North of KC.

I think the most surprising thing to us was all the dead armadillos roadkills, we had never seen one before. So we had to stop to take pictures of them to show our son.

...and we agree about the Motel/Hotel cleanliness factor, not being related to price!

[STLCardsBlues1989]

I've seen lots of armadillos.

Possums occasionally.

Plenty of skunks. Sometimes you can smell them, too.