Why you should be careful before moving anywhere (St. Louis, Ozark: restaurants, retire)

[ozarksboy]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yup. I'm sure it can be culture shock for people coming to Missouri and not realizing what they are getting into. I was born in Missouri and raised in Kansas/Missouri my whole life, but in the Kansas City area, and the different feel of southern Missouri is something I have wrestled with all my life -wanting to embrace it, but finding it difficult to do so. I guess they ruined me/citified me by raising me in Kansas City, and even worse - Johnson County!

It sounds like you know the answer: Live in Kansas City, visit the Ozarks a couple of times a year.

You are obviously a city person who would never be happy with the "simple" life.

[luzianne]

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

It sounds like you know the answer: Live in Kansas City, visit the Ozarks a couple of times a year.

You are obviously a city person who would never be happy with the "simple" life.

Yeah, like I said I've struggled with that my whole life. My parents grew up with and loved the simple life, but raised me in Kansas City (from age 6 or 7 on), so that's what I came to love. Then they got out of Kansas City as soon as they were able to and bought 80 acres and retired to the Ozarks and the simple life.

[SW Missouri Dave]

Originally Posted by luzianne

Yeah, like I said I've struggled with that my whole life. My parents grew up with and loved the simple life, but raised me in Kansas City (from age 6 or 7 on), so that's what I came to love. Then they got out of Kansas City as soon as they were able to and bought 80 acres and retired to the Ozarks and the simple life.

Very honest answer and I respect your decision. If more people took the time to 'struggle with the decision', less people would make moves they learn to regret.

I am personally a country boy, but I am a firm believer that city life is wonderful and I really wish more people would come to appreciate it as you have. My motive is selfish, I admit it. Country life is getting a little crowded these days as more and more people choice to escape to the simple life. Can't blame them, but that 'elbow room' is disappearing quick.

[ozarksboy]

Originally Posted by SW Missouri Dave

Country life is getting a little crowded these days as more and more people choice to escape to the simple life. Can't blame them, but that 'elbow room' is disappearing quick.

Got to a place that sells magazines and notice the number of farming, hobby farming, back to the land, country living, rural life magazines. I noticed Lowe's today had a magazine rack with about four such magazines, besides the old faithful, Mother Earth News.

I remember the same thing happened back in the 70s when we had high inflation and high fuel prices. Prepare for an onslaught of city slickers moving to the country and small towns for the next 10 years of bad economy.

[Curmudgeon]

Glad we grabbed our little piece of the Ozarks before the onslaught.

[Cali BassMan]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Glad we grabbed our little piece of the Ozarks before the onslaught.

Awww don't worry, Washington is trying to make it impossible to retire...

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Cali BassMan

Awww don't worry, Washington is trying to make it impossible to retire...

...and doin' a fine job of it, I must say!

[Covert Lily]

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

Good attitude. If you're coming to Rolla, you'll fit in fine. Rolla is full of transplants. Lots of them are snooty. They are associated with the University or Brewer Science. They generally leave Rolla to go shopping in St. Louis every Saturday. They participate in local activities if they get attention for doing it. With a few exceptions, they look down their noses at the rest of us.
Others are not snooty. They work hard to be regular folks. You sound like one of them.

Thanks! I don't care much for snooty people, having had my fill of them living out here. There's only one store that I will miss, Sam's Club, but I can easily learn to live without it. Hard work is not a foreign concept for our family, so I'm sure we'll be too busy to even know that there are snooty people around.

[Jenn SW MO]

Interesting thread....

My personal experience is that moving to this particular part of MO was like going back in time. My "town", which I don't actually live in, has a bar, a funeral home, and a post office. The whole county has fewer people in it than where I grew up. "Traffic" is having another car on the road. The topography is identical to where I grew up, minus all the housing developments and pavement.

I have to admit...I didn't really know what a bug was or what rocky soil was until I moved here. I thought I did, but I was wrong. Chickens and raised beds solved that problem though. On the other hand, I never understood the appeal of birdwatching until I moved here either. Cardinals and bluebirds and indigo buntings, oh and yellow finches and downy wood peckers and Red headed woodpeckers and, and, and.....wild turkeys and even a road runner on the picnic table one year. Fireflies are COOL!

On the flip side, people in MO don't really know what a pothole is, or traffic....not even in St. Louis. Kansas City is close, but still has a ways to go. My dirt road is better maintained than some of the highways where I grew up.

The one thing I am surprised no one has mentioned is guns. Gun shot noise is part of life here. Most people I know have them and use them, some for home defense, some for stocking the freezer for the year, some for stray dogs etc. It gets kinda loud here in October/November, peace and quiet it ain't. (Yeah... ain't and Missourah are spoken here.)

I bring it up because I know of someone who left the state because the guns freaked her out. Me, I went through about 3-6 months of culture shock initially trying to get my bearings. I never occurred to me that trash removal was an optional service....and might not be available. There is only one option for land line phone service and DSL isn't available. Gosh, some friends of mine closer to the lake only had a party line available when they first moved here. (Oh, they are both natives, but from a different county an hour away...so aren't "local"...and will never be employed at the courthouse or other entrenched businesses.)

I have some wonderful friends here...mostly older ladies. If I need something done, I call one of them. I can't use the phone book, no one advertises in it locally. My A/C went out during one of our heat waves. The older gentleman (referred by my friend, who was also his next door neighbor) came out at 10:00 that same night to see if he could fix it. He said he liked working when it was cooler. He didn't have the part, but came back the next day and fixed it, along with teaching me all about how to care and maintain it so it will last forever. Conservation and environmentalism have a totally different meaning here in the Ozarks. Most farmers around here have been "green" their whole lives.

The produce selection is pathetic here, but I have learned that it's because people grow their own or buy from local market gardeners. They don't even sell avocados most of the time....you have to go to the suburbs for that. I grow my own meat, milk, fruit etc. This was a bad year, the only thing that produced was the pears...and the chickens ate them.

The only thing I really miss is good Mexican food. They don't do "spicy" here, chinese food leans towards the "gravy" side. I had a friend who used to live near Tulsa and I would visit her and indulge in a real gordita or ceviche with some horchata. I have learn to do my own Thai food.

When I moved here, I wanted to be close to an airport...so I could visit if I got homesick. I have never been back and have zero desire to return. This is home. I have a conervative nature, I like to watch grass grow. I hated "THE CITY", though my siblings seem to thrive there. The youngest thinks I am deprived because there is no opera here. I never went to the opera by choice when I had it availble.

We spit watermelon seeds at the chickens for entertainment. It's a hoot.

I would highly recommend this place for retirement or non location dependant employment, I would get the job FIRST, if that is a hinge.

I could do without the snakes....and the coyotes can be obnoxious at night, but at least there's no bears here....yet.

-Jenn
P.S. Mowing is NOT optional here.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Jenn SW MO

Interesting thread....

My personal experience is that moving to this particular part of MO was like going back in time. My "town", which I don't actually live in, has a bar, a funeral home, and a post office. The whole county has fewer people in it than where I grew up. "Traffic" is having another car on the road. The topography is identical to where I grew up, minus all the housing developments and pavement.

I have to admit...I didn't really know what a bug was or what rocky soil was until I moved here. I thought I did, but I was wrong. Chickens and raised beds solved that problem though. On the other hand, I never understood the appeal of birdwatching until I moved here either. Cardinals and bluebirds and indigo buntings, oh and yellow finches and downy wood peckers and Red headed woodpeckers and, and, and.....wild turkeys and even a road runner on the picnic table one year. Fireflies are COOL!

On the flip side, people in MO don't really know what a pothole is, or traffic....not even in St. Louis. Kansas City is close, but still has a ways to go. My dirt road is better maintained than some of the highways where I grew up.

The one thing I am surprised no one has mentioned is guns. Gun shot noise is part of life here. Most people I know have them and use them, some for home defense, some for stocking the freezer for the year, some for stray dogs etc. It gets kinda loud here in October/November, peace and quiet it ain't. (Yeah... ain't and Missourah are spoken here.)

I bring it up because I know of someone who left the state because the guns freaked her out. Me, I went through about 3-6 months of culture shock initially trying to get my bearings. I never occurred to me that trash removal was an optional service....and might not be available. There is only one option for land line phone service and DSL isn't available. Gosh, some friends of mine closer to the lake only had a party line available when they first moved here. (Oh, they are both natives, but from a different county an hour away...so aren't "local"...and will never be employed at the courthouse or other entrenched businesses.)

I have some wonderful friends here...mostly older ladies. If I need something done, I call one of them. I can't use the phone book, no one advertises in it locally. My A/C went out during one of our heat waves. The older gentleman (referred by my friend, who was also his next door neighbor) came out at 10:00 that same night to see if he could fix it. He said he liked working when it was cooler. He didn't have the part, but came back the next day and fixed it, along with teaching me all about how to care and maintain it so it will last forever. Conservation and environmentalism have a totally different meaning here in the Ozarks. Most farmers around here have been "green" their whole lives.

The produce selection is pathetic here, but I have learned that it's because people grow their own or buy from local market gardeners. They don't even sell avocados most of the time....you have to go to the suburbs for that. I grow my own meat, milk, fruit etc. This was a bad year, the only thing that produced was the pears...and the chickens ate them.

The only thing I really miss is good Mexican food. They don't do "spicy" here, chinese food leans towards the "gravy" side. I had a friend who used to live near Tulsa and I would visit her and indulge in a real gordita or ceviche with some horchata. I have learn to do my own Thai food.

When I moved here, I wanted to be close to an airport...so I could visit if I got homesick. I have never been back and have zero desire to return. This is home. I have a conervative nature, I like to watch grass grow. I hated "THE CITY", though my siblings seem to thrive there. The youngest thinks I am deprived because there is no opera here. I never went to the opera by choice when I had it availble.

We spit watermelon seeds at the chickens for entertainment. It's a hoot.

I would highly recommend this place for retirement or non location dependant employment, I would get the job FIRST, if that is a hinge.

I could do without the snakes....and the coyotes can be obnoxious at night, but at least there's no bears here....yet.

-Jenn
P.S. Mowing is NOT optional here.

Everything we love about it - especially the "back to the future" aspects of arrested development - gun shots and all 'cause we know it's not drive-bys.