Hi Marla,
I live about 40 miles from Macon and have to make regular trips there for meetings.
I am guessing that you have done as much research on the internet and found most of the usual informational resources, so I will try to enlighten you a bit.
Macon is a relatively small community (not sure what size community you live in now), but is a safe area to live in. There is not a lot of shopping opportunity. It is about an hour from Columbia, where the University of Missouri is located and about 2 hours from Kansas City.
As far as the local public schools go, I don't specifically know to much about Macon, but for the most part the more "medium" size schools in Missouri are pretty good. We still have some very small public schools here that have 30 - 80 kids per graduating class. I have concerns about the limited opportunities available at these small schools and you will find small schools in the Macon area. Some of the small schools are excellent, but some of them don't really promote higher education and the kids are the administration is content to only use resources avaible locally.
Macon is about 30 miles from Kirksville, which is the home of Truman State University. I know that your daughter is a long way from seeking higher education.
The land prices around the Macon/NE MO area are still pretty reasonable. Probably because of the distance to any really big metropolitan area.
If you have any specific questions, please feel free to e-mail me at
[email protected].
Edited to add: I am originally from Northern Indiana and have lived in Missouri for over 10 years. I do love it here and this is home for us. It did take some getting used to for the first couple of years. Things do happen a bit slower here. Seeing that you are from Pittburg, you will probably notice that peoplel just don't get too excited about a lot of things. Sometimes I have to remind my mom that we really don't live in the backwoods here and that we do get The Weather Channel and the Internet.
Also note that Northern Missouri is vastly different than Southern Missouri. You won't encounter near the "hick and hillbilly" attitude being in North MO. This is however an agricultural-based area. I myself, live on a farm.
Best of luck,
Tina