As mentioned in my OP, a CPL/ATP isn’t my goal (anymore—it was 20 years ago). This is just for personal fun and utility. Is there still value in going through the college?

A family member (who did flight training 50 years ago, haha) did some acrobatic training, mostly for proficiency and recovery ability, and said it was absolutely worth doing, even though he had to conquer severe butterflies. I’d be in the same boat, but I know I’d be better for it.

Good words. I’ll have to chew on that, though!

Good advice. Any particular recommendations for outfits?

OK, interesting--I had found a link to Fulltron earlier that was dead, so it must have been an erroneous link or a temporary DNS glitch or something. Glad to see they're an option, and thanks for the recommendation! (Will fix my post above in case anyone else stumbles across this in the future.)

And the BBQ sounds cool. Good opportunity to check them out!

Yeah, I saw them all over everywhere from Chattanooga to Huntsville to Birmingham and beyond. It actually makes Sad Sadshaw (and A-A-Ron) look restrained.

Au contraire. I have never complained about Spfld drivers. After having lived in five different regions of the country and driven half a million miles of road trips, I actually think Springfield drivers are mostly fine.

The worst are drivers from the Pacific Northwest—5-10mph under the speed limit, in the left lane while not passing anyone, and slam on the brakes for the tiniest hint of drizzle.

Second are slow older pickup trucks in the rural South who are in no hurry to go anywhere.

Third are Florida retirees who shouldn’t be operating cars anymore (either barreling along way too fast for their reaction times and making sudden panic corrections or holding up traffic and driving entirely too slow).

Fourth are Branson tourists from flat states who panic at the hills and curves in the Ozarks and who insist on taking the Strip at 15mph to take in all the sights.

Springfielders (and Missourians at large) are middle of the pack, if not even slightly higher—they (mostly) keep right except to pass, mostly drive at a reasonable speed (5-10 over the limit), mostly use turn signals, etc. They’re mostly predictable. (I have no problem with fast or aggressive drivers, as long as they’re predictable. It’s the unpredictable ones that are dangerous.

I briefly thought the same before posting. Hopefully he doesn’t read Reddit…

Ah yes, Fresno—the Midwest of California.

At least Fresno is not Bakersfield (which is the Oklahoma of California).

Purple Burrito, sort of. Not quite a proper overstuffed Mission-style burrito (they’re more authentically San Diego-style burritos, not San Francisco-style), but you can approximate one there.

Yes--sort of.

When I first moved here, I found it pretty annoying that it was so difficult to get around town and that it was especially time-consuming to get downtown if you didn't live very close to downtown. Downtown also seemed a relatively empty shell that wasn't living up to its potential in part because it's so hard to access from the areas most people live. The big traffic-clogged arterials lined with endless soulless strip malls seemed worse here than anywhere else I'd lived.

In part because of the poor infrastructure here, I got interested in urban planning and have spent quite a bit of time learning about and analyzing the development of car-centric cities (like ones common in the US) and pedestrian-centric cities (like ones common in most of the rest of the world).

Springfield misses the mark on both, though. It's an incredibly car-dependent city, but the lack of access to the core of the city by car keeps downtown from thriving. At the same time, it's far too car-dependent and spread out to allow downtown to thrive organically from people who live nearby and would patronize businesses there. As well, while the region is starting to put in a little bit of bike-friendly infrastructure, the few disconnected bike trails and the existence of the Link really don't do much to promote cycling as a feasible way to get around our spread-out city.

Although I personally think that Springfield would do well to remove restrictions that currently prevent the market from filling the demand for building walkable neighborhoods (e.g. allowing denser "missing middle" housing and intermixing commercial and residential [both currently against zoning laws], removing current ordinances that require setbacks and parking minimums [which make it illegal for developers to build homes or businesses close enough together to allow people to feasibly choose to live car-free], etc.) and allowing vibrant, lively communities that don't require driving everywhere, if Springfield is going to embrace car-dependency instead, the current infrastructure really doesn't fill those needs, either.

The Kraken is my go-to! Might have to go get one tonight now, haha.

As a foodie and self-proclaimed gyros snob (Middle Eastern is my weakness) and someone who has traveled the breadth of Greece: we are extremely privileged to have Greek Belly here. While Greek cuisine is far broader than just gyros, if you want great gyros, Greek Belly is as good as any you’ll find anywhere, in or out of Greece. The owner makes his gyros meat by hand from whole muscle cuts, not that processed extruded goo that most gyros stands (even in places like Chicago or NYC) use.

He also has other items like souvlaki and kebabs, and while they’re all excellent, definitely go for the gyros on your first visit.

The ambiance is also upscale for a gyros spot, so while service can be a little slow, it makes for a nice evening. Definitely worth a visit!

Don’t forget Greek Belly!

Coincidentally, I just watched a video from Lock Picking Lawyer on YouTube a few minutes ago. His videos always scare me a bit about how easy it is to pick most locks. Nothing is secure!

It’s a third wave coffee place in the vein of Ethic, Architect, etc. The focus is on the coffee itself, not the creative drinks. Go for the espresso drink that fits your espresso:milk ratio preference (I’m a cappuccino guy) or if you like brewed coffee, a pour-over.

That said, they usually have a couple of seasonal drinks on their menu worth checking out. Every now and then, I’ll get their lavender-honey iced latte thing.

The breakfast burritos are amazing. I actually prefer the vegetarian one.

Kingdom is legit third-wave lighter roasts. Pretty amazing coffee there. Polar opposite of Charbucks.

Interesting. I’d be suspicious of an online thing that charges so little of being a pill factory. You didn’t get that impression? I’d be interested in testing them out for that price.

I’m not sure I buy the claim that it is “much higher” than other places. Not all that far from us, Columbia and Lawrence both have larger schools and smaller city populations, so by definition, there would be an even higher proportion of college students there.

We would also need to check if the statistics a) count college students at all (since they are not typically permanent residents of the cities where they attend college) and b) count college students as living alone (since they often live in shared dorms or shared apartments).

I’m out in California now. It’s the same here now. I’ve traveled to a good couple dozen states since Covid hit. It’s the same in all of them. Outside of maybe NYC (the city that literally never sleeps), it’s nearly impossible to find a 24-hour supermarket anymore. Albertsons near me in California closes at 11pm. Jewel-Oscos in Chicago close at midnight. Even in the densest parts of Los Angeles, Ralph’s closes at 1am (better than 11pm, but not 24 hours).

The nephew of someone I knew once called JRA "Fort God," but this is so, so much better. You win the Internet (of Springfield, anyway) today.

Remove minimum parking restrictions, mandatory setbacks, and mandatory single-family zoning (at least in a few neighborhoods). This will allow neighborhoods to naturally densify and become more walkable, which has the dual benefit of being more desirable for a lot of people and also costing less (as long as supply isn’t artificially constrained), both for homeowners to buy and for the city to serve with services.

Two of my biggest disappointments with Springfield are the endless strip malls ugly/suburban sprawl that are completely devoid of character (with a very few small-scale exceptions like C-Street and Cherry/Pickwick) and the fact that there’s virtually no housing options for purchase (not rent) that are not single-family homes. I don’t WANT a 1/3-acre lot that I have to landscape and mow every week. I’m jealous of my aunt and uncle who live in the beautiful small town of Stillwater, MN in a gorgeous 3-story condo building right on Main Street that is dripping with historical character and walkable to two dozen restaurants, bars, coffee shops (plus a beautiful riverfront) and they don’t have to worry about maintaining a yard or even the exterior of their house, which means their time is much freer and they can travel for extended times without worrying about their yard. The same thing COULD be possible here but it’s actually illegal to build a neighborhood like that here thanks to parking/setback/zoning laws.

Flowing out of that kind of a neighborhood (one not so dependent on a car) would effectively automatically come with a greater demand for cool neighborhoods with character and beautiful trails and public spaces like so many other comments here mention.

This. So much this!!