Moberly Mo. is equidistant between St. Louis and KC. It is 30 miles north of Columbia, which is halfway between the 2 cities.
St. Louis Airport is near the main interstate you will need to take to get to the college. KC airport is very far from the city of KC.
I would choose St. Louis. there is a lot to do there. I do not have any info on Moberly. It is rural and about 2 hours from either major city.
If you need specifics on St. Louis please let me know. restaurants, hotels, etc...
Anne

Like annesherrod says, STL is much easier and faster to get to Moberly than Kansas City (MCI). Also, American Airlines have a regional commuter that flies to Columbia from STL. That can save you about 90 miles of driving.

Hi MSS. I live in central Mo and am somewhat familiar with Moberly. I would check fares and schedules for both Kansas City and St. Louis. I think your drive from KC would actually be a bit shorter than from St. Louis. I like the layout of the airport in KC because it is composed of several decentralized terminals. Each terminal is relatively small so baggage claim is very close to the gates.Negotiating the airport itself is very easy. in contrast St Louis airport has very long concourses so you may have quite a long walk to get to baggage claim. I have never rented a car at either place, so can't comment on that.

From either KC or St Louis you will be driving on I70 which is usually pretty congested and needs some repair in many places. You will go north on 63 at Columbia to get to Moberly. 63 is in good repair and traffic is not usually heavy, but it is not controlled-access, yet the speed limit is 70, so watch for vehicles turning and crossing the highway. (also this is the time of year you may see deer trying to cross highways in MO.)

As you no doubt know, Moberly is fairly small, about 11,000 population. it is 35 miles from Columbia, about 80,000 pop. Columbia is a university town and has many many restaurants and hotels. for shopping and entertainment, Columbia draws people from all over central MO. website is visitcolumbiamo.com. Discoverthedistrict.com has info about Columbia's downtown area. My current favorite restaurant there is Sake Bistro, Japanese restaurant, located downtown.

I'm sorry I can't tell you much about restaurants in Moberly. I go through there a couple of times a year on business and have eaten at the Country Kitchen, but that's about it. I think there are a couple of chain hotels along 63 but can't remember which brands. You might check visitmo.org.

I hope you enjoy your trip to MO!

Thanks so much for all of this information. I am also going to call the school for more local suggestions. Actually, it seems that I can get a cheaper flight flying into Kansas City, however, it is a longer one. Will have to weigh my options. My biggest problem is not the flight, but I really do not like driving on busy interstates in areas that I am not familiar with. Also, I got a price on the commuter and it was $592 from just St. Louis to Columbia, rt. I thought that a bit much. That doesn't even include my regular flight. Maybe I will consider airport limo to a Columbia hotel and just rent a car from there. Does that sound unreasonable? Tnanks!

Moexpress.com is the website for a shuttle service that you can use from either airport to Columbia.

It's a little further, but if you go into Kansas City, you could take I-35 north to Cameron, Highway 36 to Macon, and drop south a little to Moberly. We travel Missouri a lot and hate I-70 (bad road, fast trucks) but Hwy 36 is a nice drive.
As others said, Columbia has the best restaurants and motels. I like the Baymont on I-70.

If you do not like busy Interstates, getting out of KC is not as bad as getting out of St Louis. I-70 is unpleasent many hours of the day near STL.

To pick up I-70 from MCI, be sure that you take I-435 around the north side of town, rather than I-29 into the downtown.

Keith

Before you book your flight into MCI (Kansas City), let's look at the driving mileage.

Assuming you're taking I-70, here are your distances. St. Louis Airport (STL) is at milemarker 236 on I-70. The exit at Columbia for US63 is 128. So, you drive for 108 miles on I-70, plus about 36 on US63, for about 144 total.

Kansas City airport (MCI) is at milemarker 36 on I-435. I-70 is Exit 63, for 27 miles. You're then at Mile 8 on I-70, and needs to go 120 miles to get to Columbia. Add 36 miles to Moberly, thats 183 miles, or 39 miles more than from STL. That's half-an-hour of difference. Traffic out of STL isn't that bad, unless you're hitting the PM rush.

Yes, you can take US24 or US36 from KC, without taking I-70, and save about 35 miles. But that's 120 miles of non-interstate travel. You can easily go 75+ on I-70, but how fast you average on US24/36 where you have to go through a few towns.

And finally, I don't mean you should buy a ticket from STL to Columbia(COU). That would not make any sense. But often, the difference from your city of origin to STL or to COU may be minimal, if you're already considering flying with AA.

Thanks to everyone. I have decided to fly into STL since I can get a direct flight RT from Cleveland with Southwest. AA was way more money and not direct flight.

One more question, does the airport have car rental stations on site? I couldn't find any information regarding this on the airport website. Thanks, again, you all have been so helpful and I have gotten a lot of information.