Anyone familiar with Rolla, Missouri?

[Luke49783]

I'm looking at a possible job in Rolla, MO and figured there must be someone on here familiar with the area and life in MO in general.

How are the gun laws? I've got a MI Resident CCW, so it looks like that will be valid there.

How is the Rolla area? Is there much to do? Good beer? Good people?

How's the cost of living? Is it a good place to be or are most people doing everything they can to get out?

More info the better...

[gaper007]

Im only familiar w/ Rolla cause I was on the road w/ my cousin when we stopped to eat and rest at a motel in Rolla. My wife called to let me know we were positively expecting our third baby (after twelve yrs):wow:. My cousin couldnt (or wouldnt) stop laughing and now calls my daughter Rolla instead of her actual name. Sorry I wasnt more helpful, just thought Id share that laughable experience...

[Easterbrook]

The gun laws in MO are great (relatively speaking). You can have a handgun in your car w/o a permit. No permit needed to buy a handgun, just your drivers license.

I'm not in Rolla, but I know gas tends to be cheaper in MO than in other areas of the country. The Pizza, however, is terrible.

[SPECOPS72]

Drove thru it a few times .....looks like nice country outside of town

That's all i've got..

[joro]

I have never lived in Rolla but heres what I can tell you:

-Its already been said but, MO does have pretty friendly gun laws.
-Rolla is a college town, University of MO Rolla, primarily an engineering school. I have had quite a few friends go to school there and they loved the school and the area.
-Fort Leonard Wood is close, Lake of the Ozarks is only an hour drive, and St. Louis and Springfield are about two hours drive.

[ktx]

I broke my nose in a rugby game against the Army. Nice green countryside though.

[Dirty Dealer]

I know that if you pronounce it wrong people from MO will laugh at you....

[eisman]

Rolla (Rah-la). Okay, that was one of the places I spent a fair amount of time the years I lived in MO (03-04). Rolla is a fair sized town, about halfway between Springfield (which is bigger) and St Louis (which is much bigger). As mentioned, the local Schools are primarily engineering oriented (and Mechanical/Geologic specifically). The US Geological Society is HQ'd there.

It's a bluecollar/middle class town with a fair amount of farming locally. Some of the newer housing is pretty nice; the trailer parks are among the nastyist I've ever seen. There's only two main roads, so it's pretty easy to learn your way around town. The northwest is the bad side of town.

You'll have better than average schools, fairly low cost of living, and not much to do in town. Big Lowes and WalMart, but other stuff too.

The local rivers are great for fishing and float trips in the summer. The area is rolling hills and a lot of woods. Hunting is a big thing. Deer, turkey, etc. Everybody has a gun and a fishing rod.

There's really not much "city" stuff to do in town. Folks go to Springfield or STL if they really want that, and most of them don't. Stay away from the resturants at the southern exit off 44; they make most of their money off tourists, and are uniformly bad.

Just north of Rolla is MO's "wine country". It ain't Napa. The swine is mostly cheap, sweet, Concord swill. Less than an hour down the road is Lebanon, where there's a really good knife outlet and a very good BBQ. That's worth visiting every now and then.

Bass Pro Company HQ is in Springfield, and I've done okay there. Check the local free paper (comes out Thursday I think); there's always ads for farm auctions where you can pick up a gun or two.

The big place to go in the summer is Lake of the Ozarks. If you're under 30 and single it's party cove.

[schild]

I've gone through Rolla on the way to Arkansas, I think there is a sushi bar in town!

[Luke49783]

Thanks guys! Appreciate the info

[unit1069]

I've driven through Rolla many times and it's one of the best little towns in the MO-ARK region. It's a clean university town and just big enough that you can get whatever you need any time of day or night.

It's scenic and lots of clear gravel bottom Ozark rivers to canoe or kayak in. I'm not much of a fisherman but I hear smallmouth bass is the big thing. Close enough to St Louis and Springfield if you miss a big city but far enough away that you don't have those big city problems.

There are a nice number of great little towns in So. MO-No. ARK and Rolla is one of them in my opinion. I wish I had the opportunity to stay a while there and see more of it.

[leitung]

I'd move anywhere in a free state like MO.. Just be luckly it isn't California.. LOL

Best of luck

[Dennis in MA]

No, but I know Alotta Fa. . . nevermind.

[Fed Five Oh]

Rolla sux outloud. Pray you don't get the job.

[Luke49783]

Rolla sux outloud. Pray you don't get the job.

Care to explain why?

[4TS&W]

State Trooper gave me a break there once. I think the USAF sticker on the windshield helped, especially since I was haulin' ass back to base..

[BikerGoddess]

I went to school there in the early '90s. I have a great aunt who lives there, as well, and we have our family reunions in the area every few years. The college dominates the atmosphere there.

When I went, the guy to girl ratio was about 4 to 1. There were three sororities and over 20 fraternities. There's very little else to do in the area, so drinking is prevalent. The patron saint of engineering is St. Patrick, and you know how those Irish are ;) Speaking of, St. Pat's Day is *huge*. The town is inundated with with thousands of visitors, most of them drunk. (I hear when Playboy ranked party schools, they refused to list Rolla because they weren't including professionals.)

Someone died from "alcohol related" causes every year I was there. You can imagine what happens with a bunch of lonely, bored college boys with lots of alcohol around...

Throw in the lonely, bored Army boys from Fort Leonard Wood and that's not an area I'd pick to live in. Although the scenery is beautiful.

My family started out there, but only one stayed.

[eisman]

Oh yeah, you need to know...

After 10 pm the odds are 50/50 that every other vehicle on the road has a driver under the influance.

That part of MO is home to some of the largest meth distribution networks in the nation. Heavy use of said product.

Herpes among the local population is over 60% and other STD's abound. (The personnel we had who worked the hospital at FLW had some interesting stories.)

Porn is a major business with shops by every major offramp on the highways.

The Klan is still pretty active in the southern part of the State, expecially Texas county.