MORE PEOPLE MOVING IN THAN MOVING OUT; CAPE'S RELOCATION RATIO PROVES FAVORABLE

Larry and Daina Eyler had scheduled an overnight stay at Cape Girardeau in their plans for a fly-drive vacation along the upper Mississippi River.

"Our plans were to fly into Memphis and drive along the Mississippi River to Burlington, Iowa, a community of about 40,000 people," said Daina Eyler. "We lived in the Simi Valley area near Los Angeles. My husband had retired from the L.A. school system and we were looking for a retirement location."

That was six months ago, and the Eylers never made it to Burlington.

"We spent a week in Cape Girardeau," said Eyler. "The people were nice, the city was located on the river, so we started looking into other aspects of the city."

What the Eylers found was that Cape Girardeau had a favorable ratio of doctors and medical specialists, had a good concentration of retail outlets and in 1990 was rated number 17 on a report card of "Life in America's Small Cities."

The Eylers live in Cape Girardeau now and will be opening a new retail operation in the downtown area in the near future.

"People are interested in moving to Cape Girardeau," said Judy Moss, economic developer for the Chamber of Commerce. "I see letters almost daily from families who are considering relocation to this area."

One of the letters on Moss' desk is from an Oregon family.

"We're considering a move to Cape Girardeau," said the letter. "We've been looking at photographs and books on small communities throughout the U.S. We need additional information concerning housing, education and medical facilities."

Moss said, "Just this week I had a call from Dallas, Texas. "A professional person wants to move to this area.

"I hear very few complaints concerning the area," said Moss. "I think the Eyler story is a great indication of Cape Girardeau's attraction. And, there's more to that story."

Two more California families are looking at the area as a result of the Eylers move here.

"We contacted a couple of our friends and told them about the area," said Daina Eyler. "They're here now and are likely to remain in the area."

Bob and Connie Hervatich, who had already retired from California to Hawaii, said they were tired of big-city living and were looking for an ideal small city.

"This appears to be an ideal community," said Connie Hervatich, whose husband, Bob, is retired from the Los Angeles Police Department.

Virgil and Gretchen Green agree.

The Greens, also from the L.A. area, have already purchased a lot in the area, said Eyler. Green is a building contractor.

These three California couples are just a few of the people who move into the Cape Girardeau County area each year.

Cape Girardeau and Paducah, Ky., were tied in 13th position as the most popular destination for people moving residences within the United States during 1991, according to a nationwide study conducted by Ryder Truck Rental, a truck leasing and rental company headquartered in Miami, Fla.

"More than six households moved into Cape and Paducah for every five that moved out," said David C. Dawson, a spokesman of Ryder. "This places these two areas 13th among more than 150 metropolitan areas studied by the Ryder firm, with 122 inbound moves for each 100 outbound household moves."

The survey indicated that Chicago and St. Louis were the primary source of people relocating to Cape Girardeau and Paducah. The same two cities were also numbers one and two destinations.

The rankings are based on information gathered from the company's more than 5,000 truck rental locations including Cape Girardeau nationwide, as well as statistics from various government sources.

Boise, Idaho, was number one in the "inbound to outbound" moves during 1991, with a ratio of 163 to 100.

Another Missouri area Springfield was number two on the list, with a 144 to 100 ratio.

The Ryder survey also noted that approximately one in six Americans more than 40 million people changed residences during 1991, and that among those who moved, four out of five did it themselves, either using a rental or a borrowed vehicle.