ADVICE FOR ANYONE MOVING TO NORTH DAKOTA

GON

$150 Site Donor 2025
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White Sands, NM
ADVICE FOR ANYONE MOVING TO NORTH DAKOTA

1. Dot's homestyle pretzels are the best, don’t argue.
2. If you do run your vehicle into a ditch, don't panic. Four men in the cab of a four wheel drive with a case of beer and a tow rope will be along shortly. Don't try to help them. Just stay out of their way. This is what they live for.
3. Remember: We say please and thank you a lot. Men also nod their heads at everyone they walk by and women smile. We are just nice like that.
4.... Get used to the phrase "It wouldn’t be that cold if there wasn’t wind". And the collateral phrase "You call this cold? Wait'll January."
5. Don't tell us how you did it somewhere else. Nobody cares.
6. If you think it's too hot in the Summers, don't worry. It'll cool down-in December (if you’re lucky)
7. A Mercedes-Benz is not a status symbol, a Tractor, a Chevy, Dodge, or Ford is.
8. If someone says they're "fixin" to do something, that doesn't mean anything's broken.
9. Every 30 miles or so you will find a Dollar General, Subway or a Liquor store.
10. If you see a slower moving vehicle on a two lane road pull onto the shoulder that is called "courtesy", if you dont understand this, reconsider moving to a rude state.
11. Grilling is a necessity..No matter the weather.. someone is outside grilling something.
12. Sporting events must be taken into consideration for weddings, funerals, and divorces. Don't plan ANYTHING on game days
😂

13. Everything is better with Ranch dressing or ketchup
14. DO NOT honk your horn at us to be obnoxious, we will sit there until we die
15. We pull over and stop for emergency vehicles to pass.
16. We pull over for funeral processions, turn our music off and men remove hats or caps. Some people put their hand over their heart.
17. "OPE" is a way of saying scuse me. You will catch on
😂

18. If you don't like the weather here, wait 15 minutes, it will change.
19. Hauling hay is a rite of passage.
20. The index finger wave from the steering wheel to everyone you pass on a country road.
21. We have a lot of flat land.
22. Where LEFSE is a staple, lutefisk is optional.
23. You can get on ice skates and skate down the street to the local outdoor ice rink or any pond will do, once the ice is think enough.
24. We fish year round. Yes, even in January.
25. If you see more tractors out after a snow storm than plows, don’t worry, that’s normal here.
26. We aren’t in a hurry to get anywhere, so there’s no use driving like you are.
27. We say ufta instead of OMG.
28. If someone says have a “good day”, the kind response is “you betcha. You too.”
29. If you’re having a hardship, the community will take care of you. It’s just how we do it 'round here.
 
@GON , what interesting piece of real estate did you find in ND?
AZJ,

Can't afford the Dakota's, especially South Dakota. Prices had been pretty stagnate and decent buys in the Dakota's for many years. Then the oil boom hit North Dakota, making it the hottest real estate market in the US in 2014. The South Dakota hit a couple of grand slams, from the banking privacy laws, too a state that is fully funded both in budget and in pension entitlements. Many measurements point to South Dakota as being the strongest financial state in the nation.

Dakotas are pricey...........
 
Took a drive from Gillette Wyoming to Bismarck in January of 1989 in a Civic Si. Not a mistake I would repeat. Got into a major blizzard and to this day feel lucky to be alive. That is a desolate state to drive through in the winter. Spent a lot of time in Rapid City, South Dakota in the early 90s. If I had my pick, that is where I would love to retire.
 
In Florida, we say:
God it's hot, but at least it's humid...

With my autoimmune health issues, I need to get out of the heat, but I'm not sure the extreme cold of ND is the answer. I've been there and enjoyed it.
 
In Florida, we say:
God it's hot, but at least it's humid...

With my autoimmune health issues, I need to get out of the heat, but I'm not sure the extreme cold of ND is the answer. I've been there and enjoyed it.
CUJ,

As others have pointed out, it is not the cold that is the problem in North Dakota- it is the wind when it combines with the cold. Brutal combination wind is with cold.
 
CUJ,

As others have pointed out, it is not the cold that is the problem in North Dakota- it is the wind when it combines with the cold. Brutal combination wind is with cold.
It’s so true thou, I’ve been in -60C (-76F) with no wind and it was actually somewhat OK. However -20C(-4F) with a strong wind feels colder to me(even if the wind chill says it doesn’t).
 
It’s south of Winnipeg - so, I reckon North Dakota is for people who can’t handle Manitoba cold, and have moved south for warmer winters… 😏

Waiting for @Number_35 to chime in…
In the '90s, a friend used to drive out to California for a couple of weeks in the dead of winter.

This was in an air-cooled VW camper van, with the stereotypical cabin heat, and a young family on board.

Therefore, they would drive straight S as quickly as possible to get into milder temperatures, and then cut west.

He said he really noticed a big difference by the time they got to Fargo - our typical cold day of -32°C (-26°F) was usually a milder -25°C (-13°F) in Fargo. (Fargo is about 400 km/240 miles due south. That's about 3.5 degrees latitude.)

He figured winter started two weeks later in Fargo, and finished two weeks earlier.

We don't quite think of ND as tropical, but it's certainly milder than here.
 
It’s so true thou, I’ve been in -60C (-76F) with no wind and it was actually somewhat OK. However -20C(-4F) with a strong wind feels colder to me(even if the wind chill says it doesn’t).
Truth!

Environment Canada used to give windchill in Watts/m^2, which expressed how cold the wind felt quite well.

Unfortunately, they thought this was too hard to understand, and switched to a "feels like" temperature.

"It's -11°C, and with a steady 20 km wind feels like -17."

No it doesn't, it feels like -65!

-35, in still air with the sun shining, is pleasant.

-10, with grey skies and a howling wind, is awful.
 
Took a drive from Gillette Wyoming to Bismarck in January of 1989 in a Civic Si. Not a mistake I would repeat. Got into a major blizzard and to this day feel lucky to be alive. That is a desolate state to drive through in the winter. Spent a lot of time in Rapid City, South Dakota in the early 90s. If I had my pick, that is where I would love to retire.
Rapid City is a nice place.I spent a week there a couple of years ago.
 
Truth!

Environment Canada used to give windchill in Watts/m^2, which expressed how cold the wind felt quite well.

Unfortunately, they thought this was too hard to understand, and switched to a "feels like" temperature.

"It's -11°C, and with a steady 20 km wind feels like -17."

No it doesn't, it feels like -65!

-35, in still air with the sun shining, is pleasant.

-10, with grey skies and a howling wind, is awful.

I'd even say it can be +35F and raining, add some wind and it's terrible again I'd take anything colder without wind every time.
 
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