Why not Missouri?

[freonr22]

Havent seen a mention of Mexican food?

[CaliforniaCowboy]

I see lots of people wanting to go to Idaho, or Arizona, or Nevada. I don't get why people are wanting to go to arid areas that could barely support 1% of the current population before irrigation was brought to the area.

7 years ago I moved to the Ozarks of Missouri, bought a home on 5 acres for $23k. There are no major natural disasters (an occasional tornado, but not in tornado alley or dixie alley), there are year-round rains, a much longer growing season, low housing prices, plenty of freedoms.

Missouri just passed the SAPA, Second Amendment Protection Act, which forbids Missouri law enforcement from enforcing federal gun control laws or assisting federal agents in doing so. Missouri has Constitutional carry, where you are allowed to concealed carry any place where you can legally open carry. F2F transfers are legal.

It seems like the secret is out, and people are flooding in, raising the housing prices significantly, but still insignificant compared to California housing.

I dunno; as I watch my cows graze on the green, green grass, the garden growing like crazy, the rolling hills, clean air and clean water... I think of how lucky I am to have escaped. Honest people and clean neighbors, four seasons, regular rainfall, tons of fishing and hunting, boating and other recreation... and freedoms.

Much of the midwest I couldn't take, I'm used to mountains and valleys rather than flatland, but the Ozarks are definitely everything I wanted. Except Ocean... I do miss that.

Just a thought.

Summer Humidity.

I prefer the northern areas, Alaska, Montana. I would rather suck a donkey **** than move to a desert.

[Rotnguns]

You as well, my friend! Great meeting you at the gun show.

[the_tunaman]

The Byrde family is there right?

I was thinking the same thing!

[ACfixer]

Havent seen a mention of Mexican food?

Funny you bring that up. Every time I have been is Missouri I have seen a ton of Mexican places, more than any state outside the southwest. I've eaten in several, including one a couple weeks ago in Malden, MO. THEY ALL SUCK.

Other than that, I love Missouri.

Nothing wrong with that, that’s a pro not a con in my book.

Absolutely.

[the_tunaman]

Phouty- you’ve convinced me to add it to our list to explore… wasn’t on my radar, but am now intrigued. We may even see about taking you up on your gracious offer some time.

I have been there, as a young child on a summer family vacation or two, but don’t really recall. Also was there at 16, but that was mostly Kansas City, and again about 6 years ago when we traveled back from picking up the wife’s car.

I’ll throw this one in the hat with the wife and see what she thinks… the neighbor’s BIL grew up there and is always talking about it, so I’m sure she’d be open to checking it out.

I’m presuming the middle of summer is the most humid? I’d want to go at the worst possible time to get a fair sense of the extreme.

[nitroxdiver]

[tigerpan]

I stay in fort leonard wood long enough. The weather really sucks

[ZapThyCat]

There is more humidity than in California... because it rains here. It's not constant humidity like Mississippi or most of the south. It's gotten to 100 degrees once in the 7 years I've lived here, so yeah, it's not nearly as hot, it's a little more humid, overall I'd say the weather is far better than Cali.

[ZapThyCat]

I stay in fort leonard wood long enough. The weather really sucks

You mean it rains and the grass is green most of the year? There is an occasional severe thunderstorm, which means it rains hard. Not a huge deal.

[tigerpan]

You mean it rains and the grass is green most of the year? There is an occasional severe thunderstorm, which means it rains hard. Not a huge deal.

[-hanko]

We paid our dues for quite a few years with north Texas humidity.

[jigenax]

Thanks for this thread OP. I haven't thought about MO since my last visit there as a teenager in the 80s. After reading up on the MO taxes for retirees, it's looking pretty good on paper.

As for humidity, I know it can suck but I know I can adapt. I used to live in Texas and Florida as well as being stationed on Okinawa for a while, so I have some experience with it. Just not too keen about dealing with rust prevention on a hyper vigilant mode after living in an arid/desert environment like CA.

Oh, I just remembered a now funny moment when I first moved to Florida. I brought all of my clothes, including winter gear that ended up sitting the closet and dressers. When I opened one of them to pack up for a move, I discovered my thick tube socks were covered with mold! Same findings with my other clothes I haven't touched in months.

Remember folks moving to humid areas, vacuum storage bags and desiccant packs are your friends.

[ZapThyCat]

As for humidity, I know it can suck but I know I can adapt.

Missouri isn't anywhere NEAR as bad as FL or TX. Of course, there's really three distinct areas of Missouri, the north where it's much like Iowa. Anything north of the Missouri river is the north. Then there's the Mississippi River, from St Louis on down, which is, yeah, humid. Lastly there's the Ozarks, which is the south-eastern/south central portion of the state, which is cooler and more hilly. There's an occasional storm in the summer where humidity is worse, but it's honestly not bad. I mean... you have AC for a reason anyway. We don't have mold problems here, not like Florida or the deep south.

Overall, a happy medium. And that's coming from a California native.

[Phouty]

Sure, humidity during the summertime (sometimes) can be annoying.
Solution? Turn your AC on.
Just received my monthly electric bill. This August was rather a quite hot month. Mere $101! Of course AC was working non-stop entire month with thermostat set at 74 deg. FYI my adobe is three story, 3500 sq. ft., so there is plenty of volume to cool. Also had some visitors from CA this month, therefore my electric bill is slightly higher. (Our "regular" electric bills average $65 to $72 per month, and we do not have any other utilities to pay, except phones and internet).

But forget humidity!
Think about FREEDOM!!!
Yes, freedom!!!

It is worth to mention that MY state legislature passed bill HB 85 this summer, and governor Mike Parson signed it of course in a gun store located at the shooting range! (To add insult to injury inflicted to anti gunners).
What is this bill about?
Simple!
The great state of Missouri declared itself a "Second Amendment sanctuary state"!
The law simply declares federal regulations "that infringe on the people's right to keep and bear arms as guaranteed by the Second Amendment ... invalid in this state."
Feds are not happy, and unlike TX, my state is going to enforce the "sanctuary" status as much as possible.

If Commiefornia and other "wacko" states can declare themselves as "sanctuaries" for illegals, or some federally controlled substances, so...why not MO? Is there any difference? Let it be illegals, drugs, or guns, in showing the middle finger to the feds?

https://www.gunsamerica.com/digest/missouri-is-actually-enforcing-their-second-amendment-sanctuary-law/

In theory I could pick up my "hearing protection device", also known as a silencer (which was unfortunately "arrested" by my local FFL pending the NFA approval), for which I filed a paperwork with the feds many months ago. Still waiting...and waiting...feds obviously have plenty of time.
Scanning also NFA guns listings...always wanted to have a real StG 44...not the castrated version.
No, I'm not going to bypass NFA paperwork...I'm too old to play the role of poster boy, but I'm sure, there will be someone in MO who decides to acquire such items without feds blessings...we shall see.

Anyway...these are real, and very strong reasons to start considering the great state of Missouri as your new home.
PS
My wife and I just discovered (after living here for more than one year), that there is a winery and distillery in our town. Just mere 3 minutes of highway driving away. Excellent, and moreover purely local wines and liquors.
Paradise!