Summers in North Dakota

This is the sixth summer that we have enjoyed spending a few weeks in North Dakota. We have made some special friends there, and each year on our return we catch up with Avalyn and Wes, Kathy and Milt, Frieda and Lenny, Irene, and our ranch friends Amanda and Clint along with their 4 daughters (Taylor, Hayley, Emily and Macey).

We shouldn't have been shocked to see the changes the recent oil boom in the NW of the state has made to Bismarck, the Capital of North Dakota, but we were. The traffic on the roads has increased, and new buildings are mushrooming everywhere. Later this year North Dakota is expected to become the third highest oil producing state in the USA - it was ninth a few years ago. Oil was first mined in that area in the 1950's, but now the high price of crude oil combined with new technology that allows oil to be extracted from dense rocks has led to the current boom. To cope with the huge population influx they are building houses, schools and hotels as fast as they can. Hospital wards are having trouble coping with the increase in patients, and nurses are in high demand. Unemployment has dropped to 3.3% overall in the state which is the lowest in USA, but in main oil boom town it is down to 1%. For every job applicant there are reported to be 9 job vacancies and the boom has attracted workers from other states where the recession is taking its toll. Some workers are coming from as far away as Florida. McDonald's pays staff about double what they pay on average nationally, just to keep the place running. Many workers from out of state have bought caravans/trailers/motorhomes to live in while they work long hours away from home and family, many hoping to make enough money to stave off losing their homes to foreclosure. I spoke to one such man in the laundry at a campground two weeks ago. He was from Michigan and couldn't believe how much work was available here. He has contacted many of his friends struggling to work as self-contractors in his home state to come to North Dakota and not only get good wages, but health benefits and contributions to a pension plan. He said anyone wanting to work in this state could get a job, unlike other states. But I digress...

Summer in North Dakota is synonymous with fields rippling with golden wheat, bales of freshly mown hay, ripening corn, lush green soya beans, bright yellow canola and pretty blue flax. Canada geese are raising their chicks on the lakes, and young pheasants run and hide in the grass at the side of the road as we drive past. We have never been here for a winter, but the comparison between the richness of summer colours and the prolific harvests of summer against the cold, dark days of winter where fields are often covered in several feet of snow must be at opposite ends of the scale. I think I understand why so many North Dakotans are snowbirds, and head south to residences in Florida, Arizona or Texas (among other states) before the first snow flurries appear. As for us, we hope to be safely back in Australia by then, enjoying our own summer.