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Cape Girardeau is on the Mississippi River.  Lots of history most locals don't know about.
To the North is one small town after another to St Louis, mostly farm land.
To the South is not much until Memphis. It's large, flat land farming.
To the East across the river is Paducah and Carbondale where the University of Illinois has a major campus.
To the North-West, West, South, and South-West is nothing but tiny towns and poverty until you get to Springfield in the extreme Southern corner of the state.
The County West, next to Cape Girardeau, is Bullinger.  It's poverty central, but if you want land and cheap living you can get it.

Cape is the medical center for the area from St Louis to Memphis and from Paducah Ky to Springfield Mo, so there's a lot of doctors, and two major hospitals with numerous satellite centers.

There's a medium size college.

The area is very conservative politically. It's the home town of Rush Limbaugh.  
For most all public offices, Democrats need not bother to run and most offices have only one candidate running in elections, a Republican.
The university is of course Liberal-Progressive but pretty well keep it on campus.
Once in a great while you might see 8 to 10 students holding a demonstration by standing at the corner of the main city park near campus or marching in the area, but that's rare.
This is an area where Antifa, the Black Bloc, or Black Lives Matter are smart smart enough to avoid.
Around here getting in someone's face will get you a bloody nose or a gun in your face with advice to leave.....NOW.

About every major fast food type is available.  Lots of restaurants of all types.

Two box store hardware/home improvement stores and several small hardware stores including at least one old style.

There's a good number of small gun stores in the area with one big one, and an Academy store.  A big gun store is in Paducah, over the river about 50 miles.

The old downtown River Front is mostly restaurants and bars, antique and art stores, and hidden above the old buildings are some PLUSH apartments.
West side near the Interstate is the major shopping area with a small mall, probably failing like most, with a Penny's, Macy's, and Barns and Noble.
Around Interstate 55 is shopping and food with a Target, a fast failing Sears, the two large hardware stores, a Walmart Super Center, a Sam's Club, and most car sales.

In the center of town is a large strip mall with a large new "big name" fitness center.  Both hospitals have large fully equipped fitness centers, and there are a number of smaller centers.

Nice parks, a long walking/biking trail running from the extreme South East of town to the extreme North West side.
Large water park, several community centers with workout facilities, an Olympic size pool with another in planing, a large new sports complex.
Down on the river is a small river walk where you can watch the river boats hammering up stream.
Downtown is protected by a tall concrete flood wall with gates that can be closed when the River hits flood stage.
A casino is downtown.
Taxes from the casino are funding a lot of infrastructure like the community centers and sports venues.

If you like to YE-HAW Branson MO is within an easy drive.

St Louis is less then 2 hours drive.  Memphis is less then 3?? and it's a boring drive through the ultra-flat Boothheel.

At the college is a large sports and concert center.

Schools are pretty much like everywhere else, but you never hear of any violence.

Housing is plentiful and depending on where you're at now it can be a great bargain.  Plenty of apartments and condos.  Large housing developments in the West-North and West of town.
Due to doctors and a plague of lawyers there are multi-million dollar house developments.

Live on the North West or North of town.  
Stay clear of most anything South of Independence street, which is about the middle of town running East-West.
The local saying is, "After the sun sets, get North of Independence and stay there".
Stay away from the South East side and (strangely) the area around the East side of the university.
A lot of people prefer to live in Jackson, which is West about 7 miles.  The two towns are quickly growing together.
There are usually some huge old houses for sale in the old/bad part of town.

Crime is mostly found in well known areas and the police have a quiet policy of keeping it quarantined in those areas.
Crime is mostly gang-drug and "he dissed me" related.  Like Al Capone once said "They only kill each other".
On the South-East side of town you can hear gunfire on most nights in the summer and on the week ends all year around.
There's a major case squad made up of area law enforcement that's been very effective in breaking cases.
Police and fire response is fast.  Call 9-11 for medical and both an ambulance and fire-rescue respond quickly.
Courts are serious as a heart attack and very effective.  Bad people get dinged hard.
Juries are not typically stupid people like in big cities.
Get called for jury duty and you'll see few black faces appearing for duty.  I assume they get a bench warrant issued for failure to appear.

Missouri is a Constitutional Carry state.  You need no permit to carry concealed on your person or in a vehicle.
This is good for out of state people also.
Stores that prohibit CCW must post a very specific sign on the front, and if they find out you're carrying all they can do is ask you to leave.
If you refuse they can call the police who will tell you to leave.  
Open carry is only permitted WITH a MO CCW license.  You never see anyone open carrying.
Ownership of Class Three Full-auto, SBR's, silencers, etc are legal in the state.

Lots of good hunting and fishing in the general area.  In the South-Central state is the Mark Twain Forest where you can hunt.  In the Central and South-Central-West are huge lakes with fishing and boating.
In the center of the state is Lake of the Ozarks, which is a sporting and resort area.
Some people fish and jet ski the Mississippi River, but it can be dangerous due to the River itself and the river traffic.
To the center-West of the state are rivers that offer fishing and great float trips.
In the county you can find deer, turkeys, an occasional black bear, and reports of cougars.  Wild hogs are starting to becoming a problem.
The deer or so plentiful the city has been attempting to convince the animal lovers to allow bow hunting in selected areas to thin them out.
BE CAREFUL driving outside of town in certain times.  People routinely hit deer on roads.

Shooting is available at a indoor range just North of town and at the upper county line is a Missouri State Conservation open range. There's no range officials and some Billy Bob's so take a friend to watch your gear while you change targets and watch their muzzles.  Most of the regulars are good people but some unsafe jerks show up too.
The range has 7 yard to 50 yard pistol, 50 to 100 yard rifle, up to 275 yard rifle, a shotgun patterning range, all covered in blacktop and separated by tall berms with concrete walk ways to the targets.
Each position has a concrete shooting bench.  There a "primitive" outhouse.
NO shade, NO water or any services.  It's WAY out in the country, NO cell phone service.
On the same site is a trap and skeet range open at certain times, and a range for bows.
The range is open from 8:00?? to dusk everyday but Tuesday, and it's free to use.  Tuesday is maintenance day or for use by police or special events.
No Full-Auto is allowed.

Environment......
Summer is HOT, muggy, "Square Weather".... 90 degrees and 90% humidity.  Winter is cold, damp, often windy.
Temps "usually" don't go below zero too often.
In the winter there's usually not more then a couple of snows, averaging maybe 4 inches, but once in a while there's a big one, or a long winter where it hangs on.
It's not unusual to have February breaks where the temps can be in the 60's for part of a week.

Weather is always a surprise, with an ice-snow-rain-sleet mix.  Often rain to the South, snow to the North and West and a mix locally.  There are occasional ice storms with power outages.
Summer can be drought or raining often.  Violent thunderstorms come through sometimes, with car damaging hail and power outages.
There's some nice weeks in the Spring and Fall.
Fall colors are usually bright, Spring is beautiful.
The town is on the East side of Tornado Alley.  Nothing near since 1946 but that one did enough damage to last for a long time.
Town is on RIGHT on the North edge of the New Madrid Fault earth quake zone.  If it goes, don't plan on surviving... you won't.  There are occasional small tremors most people never notice.
There's never been much of a fire hazard in the wooded areas, probably due to the humidity.
If you live near the River you WILL get flooded sooner or later.  The government bought out most people living in those areas.

Environmental hazards....
Mosquitoes are often heavy in some areas in Summer, and there is a risk of West Nile.
Ticks are the National Bird of Missouri and carry Lime's.
There are poisonous spiders like Black Widow, and Brown Recluse.
There are Rattle Snakes and Copper Heads even in town.  There are Water Moccasin snakes near water.
In and around water are huge, dangerous Snapping Turtles that WILL take off a finger or toe if you mess with them.
In some years rabies may appear among skunks, raccoons, and possums.  You never hear of a rabid dog.
Armadillos are now in the area and shouldn't be touched..... They carry Leprosy.
In the less nice areas of town Pit Bull mutts are common, and can be dangerous, especially to children.

Industry.....
The big ones are Procter & Gamble on the upper North-East of the county.  They make paper products like diapers, paper towel, and toilet paper.  They employ thousands of people 24/7.
On the South-East side of the county is a huge cement factory with what at one time was one of the top largest open pit mines on earth.  It's still huge/deep but hard to see from the ground.
Most people work in the medical business or in the service area as store workers.  There's some small industry of other sorts.  
Employment is excellent, if you really want a job you can get one of some sort.
There's a good airport capable of handling Air Force One, and a small commuter service to Chicago and I think, St Louis.

Food....
Due to market-garden small farming food is plentiful and reasonable.  There are several Farmer's Markets going in the summer.
Some stands are set up in store lots in the summer to sell fresh tomatoes, corn on the cob, fruits, and other veggies.
There are several orchards selling apples and peaches.
Pork, chicken, and beef are grown locally and are plentiful.
Sea food is imported and there are sushi restaurants locally.  Sea food is brought in from the Gulf and sold in stores or served in restaurants.
There are huge catfish farms in Southern Missouri so catfish is easy to get and great eating.
There are a number of ethnic grocery stores selling Hispanic and Asian foods.
There are enough grocery stores to allow competitive shopping, or shopping for higher end foods and wines.

Power and fuel....
Usually Cape has about the cheapest gas prices in the area, as long as you don't buy near the Interstate.
Gas is brought up the Mississippi by barge and pumped into a tank farm on the South-East of town, so prices are lower due to not having to add transportation costs to haul it farther.
Electricity is at least reasonable as is natural gas.

Hope this helps.https://www.ar15.com/forums/manageReply.html?a=squote&b=8&f=32&t=630048&tl=Cape-girardeau-area-&r=6941737&page=1

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You should hear my wife whine about driving through Cairo.  The next time will be a long time off, my daughter moved to Kansas from the Nashville region.

Driving West or NW of Cape will take you to some beautiful country.  Head over to Ironton some day to see the gun shop in the gas station; it's easy to find, and if you don't, the drive won't be wasted.

The south edge of Cape is in the Mississippi Delta and there is little hint of a hill from there to Memphis.

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Cape has had some issues with transplants from Cairo, IL in recent years.  It's not the town I left 10 years ago in January.  Still better than anything in the People's Republic of Illinois!  Get your Missouri start there and come West like I did!!

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I drove through Cairo for the first time in my life about 2 months back... It made East St. Louis look safe and prosperous.

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I drove through Cairo for the first time in my life about 2 months back... It made East St. Louis look safe and prosperous.

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A few years ago when the Mississippi was flooding they blew a levee on the Missouri side to save Cairo. Should have let the river have that shit hole.