From California To Bismarck,North Dakota.

This past March, I just reached my six-year mark for living in North Dakota. Let me give you some background info, I was living in San Diego, California, and back in 2014, I accepted a job offer to move to Fargo, North Dakota. The night before I was ready to move, I rented the movie FARGO, seven minutes in, I hit pause, and I muttered to myself "What in the hell am I doing?". The FROZEN picture on the screen of SNOW shook me up a bit, you see I had never been in it or seen white flakes fall, let alone had I ever experienced weather colder than 30 degrees ( ON THE PLUS SIDE ). My pursuit of radio took me to Casselton, ND. I entered a brand new world as far as I could tell. One of the more common questions I received "Do you have a survival kit in your car?". Of course, I do," I have a jack in the trunk " I answered blindly. NOW I know what they were referring to were "extra blankets, a full tank of gas, cat litter, a blow-torch, a ladder" - In case I got stuck in a blizzard. One of the things I learned almost right away was that the phrase * "North Dakota Nice" is EXACTLY that.

I moved to Minot after a year in Fargo, spent five years there, where the *NDN tag continued. I ran out of gas three times in like -10 weather, and each time within minutes had about 10 people pull over and came to my aid. Now here I am, in Bismarck, a seasoned North Dakotan - I know all about block heaters and the absolutely crucial remote car starter. I love the change of seasons, you don't have much of that in San Diego. The lack of people wearing flip-flops and butt-ugly Hawaiian shirts here in Mandan is obvious. There are those people, even to this day, question why I am here. "Why did you move from sunny California to North Dakota? Are you running from the law?"  I am not. I learned a while ago, that if you absolutely have a passion for what you do ( Radio ), paradise is where you're at, and for me, it's Bismarck, North Dakota.