I actually lived in the St. Louis area for 3 years. This time I'll be living on the KS side and working on the MO side. Looking forward to it. Although I'm in billings right now and wish I was bypassing KC. Hoping billings turns into a looooong term gig.

What do you think of Billings so far? We were contemplating driving in tomorrow for errands, but will hold off til next weekend (we want to enjoy this beautiful weekend hiking and playing disc golf at Makoshika. And the river went out yesterday, so waterways are open now too!)

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I actually lived in the St. Louis area for 3 years. This time I'll be living on the KS side and working on the MO side. Looking forward to it. Although I'm in billings right now and wish I was bypassing KC. Hoping billings turns into a looooong term gig.

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Cool. I live half way between KC and STL on 70.

Loved it. Can't wait to go back. Although if/when I finally move, it'll be right around the start of winter.

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Loved it. Can't wait to go back. Although if/when I finally move, it'll be right around the start of winter.

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If it's a winter like the one we just had, you will be fine. If it's a winter like last year, you have my condolences...

I would have suggested El Paso, but thanks for leaving Houston.

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I would have suggested El Paso, but thanks for leaving Houston.

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From one **** hole to another? No thanks. But El Paso would have been a massive upgrade as well.

Looks like my family and I will be relocating to Williston, ND in June. Not sure if I am looking forward to it.

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Looks like my family and I will be relocating to Williston, ND in June. Not sure if I am looking forward to it.

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I wouldnt..

Where are you relocating from? In all honesty, Williston isn't horrible, it just has a bad rep because it is really the only true oil field town up here. Yes, it is a town, but people here will refer to it as a large city (anything over about 2000 is considered a city up here).

If you enjoy the outdoors and fishing, you will love it. There is great fishing on the Missouri and Lake Sakakawea. The area is starting to get a lot of micro breweries, so the beer isn't bad.

Let me know when you move this way. We are always looking for other aggies up here. Email is histag2010@gmail.com

If you have specific questions about Williston, my husband knows more than I do. He worked out of there for about a year.

Fuzzy, Thoughts and prayers to you and your family

I live in Minot, ND and the only cities in ND I would live in are Grand Forks and Fargo. More things to do there, and closer to Minneapolis.

We have been preparing ourselves mentally for this saying it won't be a big deal. We have lived in much smaller towns than Williston.

We are moving from BCS due to work. It is definitely going to take some getting used to. The good thing is that I will be moving up on June and try and find a decent place to live. The family will follow me up in July or August.

Fuzzy thats great youre moving in the summer. I moved here in November and it definitely makes moving harder when the temps are near/below zero. All I hear is that Williston is super expensive, so may try looking into one of the nearby towns. I hear Ray is more reasonably priced and close to Williston.

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Looks like my family and I will be relocating to Williston, ND in June. Not sure if I am looking forward to it.

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lived in Minot for 4 years 2008-12. Williston became a wild west town in 09 and was still going crazy when I left the state. The traffic got crazy out there. Seemed like it got worse every winter when we went over to ski big sky. From what I've been told by buddies who are still up there, Minot and Williston have continued to grow. Don't know how the recent dip in oil has affected them though.

Ha, I'm actually in Minot today.

Yes, Williston is super expensive, but the prices may be going down due to the oil decline. Definitely check Ray, and maybe even Fairview, Dore, Cartwright.

Off to billings again tomorrow.

Fun. If you ever happen down I-94 from ND to Billings, let me know. We will buy you a beer

Thanks to everyone for their input.

We aren't "looking forward" to living in ND but at the same time we see it as an adventure.

My wife and I have been married for 8 years this July and it will be our 5th relocation, our 7th since we have been dating/engaged.

I kind of look at ND as a rite of passage or paying dues. I've been in the O&G industry for 15 years and have moved quite a bit. We have lived in some not so nice places so this will be just another stop. In this market you go where the jobs are.

One question I have is vehicles. We have a 2WD Expedition. Should we purchase a 4WD or AWD for the winter conditions or keep what we have?

I have a GMC Terrain that is front wheel, and it works great. I know a lot of people who use 2wd, and do just fine as well. You are just a bit more limited with 2wd. Surprisingly, highways are kept pretty nice during the winter, it's the in town driving that gets bad. Your biggest challenges in a 2wd will be getting out of a parking spot, and starting to drive after a red light.

If you have never driven in icy or snow packed conditions, you might consider fwd, 4wd, or awd. It will definitely help keep you out of the ditches. People up here have no sympathy for bad drivers in the snow, and if you go off the road, you will be lucky if someone stops to help.

It's definitely not a "looking forward to living here" place, but it's also not as bad as people make it out to be. I understand going where the oil is (been up here for 2.5 years). We were in Odessa before this, and honestly, we like it better up here. We don't live in Williston, but we had a few options of places when we moved here, and we chose to not live in ND.

I hope all works out for you.

I had a 2WD truck when I first moved up there. After spending 2 winters getting stuck I bought a Z71. A 2WD suv might have better luck. Sandbags in the bed helped but I'd still get stuck after the snow got packed down and turned into ice

Personally, I would never move my family to or near WIlliston, but that is based of my experience a few years ago. It was not a good place to live. I have heard that it has gotten better recently since they have hired more law enforcement etc. Several people in our field techs live in MInot and Bismarck (our yard is in Williston) which are not bad places, but they also don't have an office job.

We just moved to Rock Springs, WY in January. It has been nice so far (thanks to a mild winter!) and we have been enjoying the outdoors quite a bit. I actually love Wyoming so far, but Rock Springs is definitely not a long term or permanent living location.

I swapped out my wife's an Armada for a AWD Yukon XL just to be safe since she had never driven in snow or ice. I feel like an AWD or 4WD is the way to go if you can.

They also closed closed a lot of strip clubs, and others had their liquor licenses pulled for a short time. Both of those things led to lower incidences of late night stabbings and murders.

Just a quick tidbit- this area (Bakken) has a bad meth problem, so there will always be issues here, but not as bad as long as you stay away from the wrong side of town and trailer parks

Damn, I should pay better attention. I spent last weekend in Rock Springs for a state conference. You are most correct. I couldn't live there long term, but don't mind visiting. We were in Green River for this conference last year.

To show how crazy the weather is. Tuesday it was around 80 degrees, yesterday it snowed (didn't stick though)

We're due for 18" of snow Saturday/Sunday. Yay! Umm, err. Yeah.

Possibility of snow again tonight.

I have been in Williston now since last Tuesday. The town isn't as bad as I thought that it would be. It is a basic oil field boom town. However, I can only imagine what this town was like before the slow down.

I have about 50 days left in a hotel until I have to move into a house. The wife and I are thinking of Culbertson, MT. We found a house to rent there at a reasonable price. I have noticed the housing prices come down in the last month so I think it would benefit us to wait a little longer to commit to something.

The weather is nice this time of year but I'm not looking forward to the winter.

All in all it hasn't been too bad yet. I haven't gotten out and looked around past Willistion but I will probably do that this weekend.

Gig' em.

If you are looking for stuff to do.

- June 13th (next Saturday) is Buzzard Day at Makoshika State Park in Glendive MT. 2hr drive. Lots of stuff going on there including an awesome disc golf tournament (I'll even buy you a beer after)
http://www.southeastmontana.com/listing/categories_NET/MoreInfo.aspx?IDRRecordID=8968

-Medora Musical in Medora, ND.
http://www.medorand.com/attractions/?50

Oh, and Culbertson is a nice town. If you enjoy/can tolerate small town life, you will like it much more than Williston

That sounds like fun but I'm heading back to CS next weekend to meet the movers.

I drove to Culbertson then up to Froid just to look around. While I was in Culbertson, I got a notification on my phone that I would incur international roaming fees for any data that was sent or received. I'm not sure Culbertson will work.

I drove down to Sidney to check it out and the drive was really nice. Sidney is a nice town, I don't know why but I was kind of surprised.

Fairview wasn't bad either, really small but a pretty nice little town.

One thing that really kills me is the amount of daylight that we have. I got back to the hotel about 10 last night and it was still light outside. I understand why but it is really messing me up.

Sidney isn't bad at all.

Yes, up around Culbertson, you can pick up Canadian cell towers, but I think the company usually corrects the charges.

One thing to keep in mind- Montana has state income tax but no sales tax, North Dakota has sales tax but no Income tax. If you are a Montana resident shopping in ND, you won't pay sales tax on purchases over $50. if a ND resident who works in Montana, you won't pay state income tax.

The day light is pretty crazy right now, but you will appreciate it in the winter when it is always dark. Blackout curtains are a must in the summer

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Sidney isn't bad at all.

Yes, up around Culbertson, you can pick up Canadian cell towers, but I think the company usually corrects the charges.

One thing to keep in mind- Montana has state income tax but no sales tax, North Dakota has sales tax but no Income tax. If you are a Montana resident shopping in ND, you won't pay sales tax on purchases over $50. if a ND resident who works in Montana, you won't pay state income tax.

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Pretty sure North Dakota has income tax

Unless something has changed recently, Jock is correct. It's South Dakota that doesn't have income tax. There are only 7 states without it, including Wyoming (and of course Texas).

Oops! Then the only difference is the sales tax. Thanks!

Made frequent trips to billings the past couple of months. I think we'll like it there. Next order of business is finding a neighborhood and house to buy.