North Dakota

Warning: no pictures.

So I am currently in North Dakota, not exactly sure where I am at just a little bit between Williston and Trenton; right on the edge of the Bakken Oil Field. Savage has a huge rail depot here they are building. I am up here doing some support work for that. When they told me I was coming to ND everyone kept saying oh you'll be staying in the man camps. I finally asked someone what a man camp was and they informed me that since the oil fields have been growing so fast, they outgrew the housing situation here and so there are temporary housing (ie trailers) setup all over that people live in. Here is a link to learn more. It really isn't that bad, basically I am staying in a brand new two bed two bath single wide with one other guy. It is really nice.

North Dakota is kinda nice, it is different from Utah because even though there are small towns there are big towns nearby. Like the drive from Newton to Logan or heaven-forbid the drive from Newton to Salt Lake City. North Dakota doesn't have that. In the state there is nothing. It would be rough living here but there are plenty of people who do. The trip to get here wasn't easy, we flew from Salt Lake to Minneapolis, then to Minot ND. Then we drove 2+ hours to our man camp in ND. We stopped at the Walmart to grab some essentials for our stay. It had to be the dirtiest, most overpriced, and most inefficient Walmart there is. With the influx of oil operations, the minimum wage is being driven way up. Like Walmart employees are making $16 an hour, starting, with no education. Which is the case for most places around here.

It is a very interesting world out here, no one would believe we are coming out of a recession right now if you have never left North Dakota.