You live near St. Louis, a huge metro, what do you expect? No offense but these are problems related to choices you've made less than they are tied to a lack of rural areas. You could sell tomorrow. Most of the southwest is empty. You could head south into N Arkansas, place has all kinds of isolated areas and plenty of wood to cut and water to access. And tbh I pretty much feel the same way, living amongst 15 million people in central Texas. And it's growing. But, if you want employment opportunities then short of farming you need to be in proximity to an area where there are people and money providing those opportunities. Everything is a trade off. It's a matter of deciding what is most important to you.