I have plenty of info about St. Louis and Wash U. In a hurry right now, will reply with details soon.
Also talk to DK-Prof, he works at Wash U and can help you there.
BRB
Ok, back now.
The dirty truth about St. L is it runs on racism. Everything around here is divided along black and white lines. Remember that and everything will make sense.
Now about the area, DO NOT EVEN CONSIDER LIVING IN ST. LOUIS!!!!! It was ranked as the most dangerous city in the country last yeaar by
www.morganquitno.com/ For what you want, 5+ acres, nice house etc, consider Jefferson county. St. Charles (where I am from) is too crowded and getting expensive though compared to Md. everything here is dirt cheap.
Wash U is a good place to work, my GF worked there for awhile and DK-Prof works there now (I think) However when you visit the school do not go more than a few blocks north, you run into bad areas that way. UMSL is in a similiar area but not quite so bad. Il. is nice for property costs but very poor for us gun nuts. I would keep to MO. Missouri is pretty good for gun owners as long as you don't live in the city/county of St. Louis, St. Charles and Jefferson county are much better. The whole CCW thing is screwy right now but I am sure will be better soon. It is a long and twisted tale involving activist judiciary, racial divisions, etc and is too long to get into in this post. Mo. does allow class 3 funstuff! Not only that but joins us in one of our MoDCC shoots and you can play with one, just talk to Jeff or John at CMMG.
Anyway, you might want to talk to these folk for more info, many of us work and some of us live in St. Louis and will be more than happy to give you the inside scoop.
St. Louis insiders; (From what I can remember)
Hkocher
Kpel308
ShakyJake/DiabolicalChicken
DK-Prof
GaryM (Me)
Kudra18 (My GF)
82Airborne (Just left for Ft. Benning, he is a soldier now)
Umm... others too but I just can't remember who all they are.
Feel free to IM/Email for more info,
GaryM
Oh yeah, metrolink, stupidest mass transit system ever designed. Only one route, goes from downtown to the airport with about 20 stops. Thats it, no connections, travels along a single route going back and forth, it is impossible to believe how incredibly stupid it is. Coming from the east coast where there is real mass transit you will be more than disappointed, you will be flabbergasted at the complete idiocy of it.
I can't say enough bad things about metrolink or our other waste of mass transit dollars, the Bistate bus lines..... Gawd, they are both such a waste.