Impressions of Missouri (Kansas City, Jefferson City, Hannibal: rental car, apartment, rentals)

[ORexpat]

I just spent 12 days in Missouri, driving around west to west central. I was hoping to find a house to rent for a year, while I looked for a place to buy, but, at this point, I have had to give up this plan.
I have been following the posts on Missouri here for some time, and found my impressions were somewhat different than I had expected. I knew rental cars at Kansas City airport were expensive, so I just swallowed hard and paid. From there I went north, spent the night at Cameron, the next night at Marshall, then to Jefferson City, Mountain Grove, Branson, and back up to the KC area, where I stayed the last 6 days. The second day out I went to an Urgent Care (where I waited 5 minutes instead of 5 hours like here in Phoenix), was sent to hospital Emergency, where no one asked any information of me until I was ready to leave! They told me I had Mono, which really slowed me down on the trip.
I was prepared to like the area north of Kansas City, and I did. If I were to settle, that is where I would choose. Beautiful countryside, nice little towns,and the weather the whole time was so wonderful you could package it. It was warm, slightly moist, with a little breeze. What surprised me about the NW Missouri area, since someone else had said it was so run down, was how prosperous it looked. I saw new buildings everywhere, individually built, houses, barns, outbuildings. It looked like a place where people expected to be farming for a long time.
I liked Jefferson City. Just enough liberalism to ensure a really good bowl of Minestrone across from the capitol at a small restaurant. However, when I started south toward Rolla, I just began to feel turned off. I think it is totally personal;this area just wasn't for me.
I expected Rolla to be a nice, clean aware University town, and had expected to look for housing there. It was a shock when I discovered a dirty, run down town, with one restaurant on the main street, which closes at 1PM. The University appears to live its own life, apart from the town.
Branson was what I expected, a small Las Vegas.
My major problem, however, throughout the trip, was the difficulty in finding a clean motel room. I spent 6 nights in dirty, not necessarily cheap, rooms. The other 6 were clean, and one only cost $38. I mentioned in another post the problems with east Indian ownership or management. All the dirty ones were of this type. I am planning to complain to the Missouri tourist board. It is difficult, because I don't want to be labelled a racist. I would say maybe 75% of the motels in the areas I travelled are east Indian managed. One, in Olathe, KS, was obviously trying very hard. Only one small problem. But, I watched his wife carefully sweep the lobby, then open the front door, and sweep out the accumulation onto the front door mat, where it joined other little piles, to be tracked in by the next person.
I absolutely loved Missouri, however. I miss it. I miss the wonderful air, and the people.
More later.

[ShadowCaver]

Very interesting post - thanks for sharing! Yes, quite intriguing how one man's paradise is another's slum...

As to the hotel ownership issue, can not disagree too much with you on that. It is definitely an observation that I have also found unfortunately true too often. Yet, there are the exceptions...

I did have to lol at your remarks regarding Rolla - having spent much time working and attending UMR, again I agree in that it is its own little 'kingdom' to an extent. Yet I believe such could be said just about any university w/in a community. Shame that you didn't find Alex's Pizza Palace while footing about downtown - if you like thin-crust pizza and/or gyros, etc. that is THE place - and they stay open way past 1pm.

Looking forward to more from your trip. Enjoy the variations that different eyes see.

[kareybear]

Interesting information and I glad you had a good experience in the ER.... I get blown away how quickly everything is here from doctor office to ER.... I had to wait 6 hours in a ER before and here never...... Thanks for sharing your experience.

[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.

[Versatile]

Drug Cartels? Which towns? Inquring minds would like to know. I think he was having some fun with you. IMO.

[Boof]

Originally Posted by ORexpat

I just spent 12 days in Missouri....edit...My major problem, however, throughout the trip, was the difficulty in finding a clean motel room......I mentioned in another post the problems with east Indian ownership or management. All the dirty ones were of this type. I am planning to complain to the Missouri tourist board. It is difficult, because I don't want to be labelled a racist. I would say maybe 75% of the motels in the areas I travelled are east Indian managed. I absolutely loved Missouri, however. I miss it. I miss the wonderful air, and the people.

Originally Posted by ShadowCaver

As to the hotel ownership issue, can not disagree too much with you on that. It is definitely an observation that I have also found unfortunately true too often. Yet, there are the exceptions...

OR and Caver,

Very interesting what you say about your experiences with Motel ownership/management being dominated by Eastern Indians.

When we lived in CA, I decided I would like to work in a Hotel. I researched the local Hotels in the area, looked for information regarding the owners & managers, and even found corporate information on them.

What I found was that of the 7 or 8 companies I researched, all but 1 were owned AND operated by East Indian compaines. And most of what I found is that there are big corporations that own several different 'brands' of hotels, and the majority of the staff were East Indian as well. Interesting it is.

OR, it's nice to hear you enjoyed your trip to MO. Sorry to hear you had a detour to the ER, but at least you're ok now. I don't know if that was your first trip or not, but hopefully you'll be able to come back and explore the southern part of MO, and see what she has to offer. From what I'm told, the Northern part is more flat, whereas the Southern part is more hilly.

I just hope you find exactly what you're looking for and are able to settle in soon! One word of advice though....in terms of renting for a year to look for a house; We thought we'd need a while to find our home too, so we got into an apartment with a 3 month lease. Ha Ha Ha.....we found our dream home on the 6th. day of looking. So, we arrived in MO on 6-8 and moved in to our new house on 7-13. We ended up paying the last months rent even though we didn't live there. So, if you rent a home, try to get short terms, just in case you find something sooner than you anticipate. That way you won't be 6 months into a 12 month lease and have to pay extra rent or penalties. Just a suggestion....

Wishing you all the best,
Boof

[Lake Junkie]

Originally Posted by ShadowCaver

Very interesting post - thanks for sharing! Yes, quite intriguing how one man's paradise is another's slum...

Yes, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And sometimes a place, or a person, can look great when you first "meet" them and then after you "get to know" them you change your first impression.

You know...like meeting a really pretty girl who after you know her doesn't look pretty anymore?

I know when I first moved to MO it was to a charming little town with a quaint town square and picturesque church steeples and folks who waved at me...and I was absolutely smitten. After a year, it was looking pretty mean and run down for all the unfriendly people. There were some really nice folks, too, but it wasn't enough.

You can also just happen into the worst side of a town (they all have them) and accidentally miss the good stuff.

~sigh~

[MoNative34]

Originally Posted by ORexpat

I liked Jefferson City. Just enough liberalism to ensure a really good bowl of Minestrone across from the capitol at a small restaurant. However, when I started south toward Rolla, I just began to feel turned off. I think it is totally personal;

I hear ya.... Same thing happened to me last time I added liberalism to my Minestrone:

J/K!

[ORexpat]

Liberalism added to your minestrone means you get it fresh, and not out of a can, and there is some good Italian bread with it.

[ORexpat]

Originally Posted by Versatile

Drug Cartels? Which towns? Inquring minds would like to know. I think he was having some fun with you. IMO.

This was not the first time I have heard this. Production of meth has been a do it yourself operation. However, recently the Mexican drug cartels have started production big time, and individual producers competing in areas they have targeted may find themselves saying goodbye to this world a little sooner than they had intended. It is too much of a temptation for the people in charge of some towns. Also, there is some history of virtual enslavement of a town in Missouri. There was a documentary about a town in the NW, maybe S*****rd? and their problem, and how they solved it. (they killed the perpetrator;that does it every time.)