We can read in Missouri (Springfield, Hannibal: for sale, to rent, new home)

[ozarksboy]

Hey, highbrows! If you're interested in Missouri authors, go to the Missouri Center for the Book.

There's a directory of authors, some history, a list of events, lotsa resources.

[Cali BassMan]

Hmmm If'n my memory serves me right, Ol Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain was from the Show Me State

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by ozarksboy

Hey, highbrows! If you're interested in Missouri authors, go to the Missouri Center for the Book.

There's a directory of authors, some history, a list of events, lotsa resources.

Hey Ozarkboy. I guess if you're from California and you like well roasted coffee you might be a highbrow! Right?

Hate to ruin your day but my wife and I are flying into Missouri in January to look for a place to rent while we shop for a place to buy. We'll be stayin' in a small city called Hannibal. If memory serves, at least one native of the place could read and even became a well known and prolific writer.

It might mollify you to know thagt we're not bringing in loads of left coast money to ruin the housing market with since I lost everything I had in a divorce some years ago. I also don't think the weather or the people will cause us to rue our decision to move to your fair state. Over the course of my 60+ years I've lived in AL, twice in NC, twice in VA, twice in TX, GA and KY, as well as MN and three foreign countries. My wife has lived in FL, TX and was in NW AR (Ozarks) for seven years.

Suffice it to say that both my wife and I have survived living among hicks, crackers, rednecks and good ol' boys. If we didn't like it we wouldn't be moving. I think MO is big enough for us to move to and not cause a ripple or trod on your toes.

Have a nice day. We will. It's gonna be 63˚ F and sunny and clear today. Much needed rain in the latter half of the week.

[ozarksboy]

Curmudgeon,

Please accept my early welcome to Missouri.

My complaint is not that newcomers like coffee shops. My beef is with newcomers who don't understand why their new hometowns don't have a Starbucks (or a Trader Joe's or a Whole Foods or some such business), yet those same hometowns might have something just as acceptable and locally owned.

For instance, we have three coffee shops in Rolla. We have a chain-owned place called Panera Bread Co. We also have another one near the campus called The Giddy Goat. And now we have a new one, owned by a young local couple, called Harvest Coffee Co., which I've patronized and I love their dark-roasted Black Lightning. Surely, these places are just as good as a Starbucks.

The nearest Starbucks is in Waynesville, about 35 miles west of us, and it is located in a Price Cutter Supermarket. Maybe somebody will open a Starbucks in the back of a barber shop in Rolla, and then everyone will be happy.

You're going to be up in north Missouri. I don't think they're as hickish, crackery or redneckesque as we good ole boys are down in southern Missouri. Maybe you ought to consider moving down here to my neck of the woods if you like hillbillies. There's a 120-acre place on the Gasconade for sale in Wright County. That's down here in the heart of redneck country. For more information go to the Springfield-Branson board and look for a post called "oh, my, what have I done." There's a Floridian wanting to go shopping at a mall and there are no malls in Hartville. She's anxious to get the heck out of Missouri, so you might be able to buy her place for a little of nothing.

Reckon you can get some more Californians to come with you? We're trying to fill this place up as quick as possible.

I don't think it got above 50 here today, and it's been overcast biggest part of the day.

Good luck and keep in touch,
Ozarks Boy

[Curmudgeon]

Welcome gratefully accepted. If it's any help, we haven't shopped at a mall in years and we're not fond of Starbucks. We want to move back to America where there's a sense of history and tradition, hospitality and a more gentle pace of life.

Think we'll pass on bringing more with us. We're trying to escape left coasters, not import them!

[STLCardsBlues1989]

My Great-uncle Frank went from Missouri to California, so maybe you can make the transition opposite.

Have decided to buy in Hannibal? If not, I would suggest making a thread in the main Missouri forum. We could probably help you narrow down your options.