Moving to Springfield

[native82]

I wouldn't spend the money on a GPS to learn how to get around here. It's not THAT big of a place. When I was in college and new people moved to town it didn't take long to get the lay of the land. Just put a city map in the car and drive around until you learn your way.

[native82]

Edit to remove duplicate post.

[GreenGeek]

Originally Posted by native82

I wouldn't spend the money on a GPS to learn how to get around here. It's not THAT big of a place. When I was in college and new people moved to town it didn't take long to get the lay of the land. Just put a city map in the car and drive around until you learn your way.

Sure don't mean to be rude but "driving around until you learn your way" doesn't mean the same thing today that it did 50 years ago. A GPS device is inexpensive and with the price of gas today (not to mention global warming, etc.) it will definitely pay for itself in fuel cost savings alone. I think a GPS device should be standard in all vehicles. Now if you were to "explore" on your bicycle ... well that's different and of course much more eco-friendly!

[aragx6]

This is so true. When i moved to Columbia Missouri 5 years ago gas was less than 2 bucks a gallon so we drove around and explored everything. I swear in 4 years there I knew it like the back of my hand.

But I live in the suburbs of Chicago now, and with gas over $3 a gallon, we don't have that luxury of driving around aimlessly to see what's out there.

[OnOurWay2MO]

Well truckers should be first on the list for GPS then, or maybe they should use a bike to get all your goodies to stores and other places lol.

[8 SNAKE]

Originally Posted by GreenGeek

Sure don't mean to be rude but "driving around until you learn your way" doesn't mean the same thing today that it did 50 years ago. A GPS device is inexpensive and with the price of gas today (not to mention global warming, etc.) it will definitely pay for itself in fuel cost savings alone. I think a GPS device should be standard in all vehicles. Now if you were to "explore" on your bicycle ... well that's different and of course much more eco-friendly!

Springfield isn't a huge place, and driving around is the only way to get a feel for the different areas. A GPS can show you where something is, but that's it. Half of the fun of going someplace new is spending time wandering around exploring. Not all of the exploring has to be done in a car, but I would encourage new residents to get out and look around.

[SGFNative]

The Springfield metro area is still growing very rapidly, just not the actual city of Springfield. The decline in Springfield's population can be attributed to two things:

1. The city boundaries haven't changed for several years. There isn't much desirable land left within the city limits on which to build houses. There are literally tens of thousands of county residents that live within walking distance of the city limits, and that number is still growing. The city would like to annex large portions of the county, but long-time county residents have been resisting.

2. Christian County, immediately to the south, is the fastest growing county in the state. The school districts in Nixa and Ozark are highly desirable, causing a lot of young families to move to the suburbs.