Grand Forks, North Dakota

I lived down the highway from Grand Forks in Fargo for several years. Some things:

- Whatever you end up driving, get an engine block warmer put in and never park it overnight in the winter without it being plugged in. It gets cold - like, it will go below freezing sometime in late November/early December and stay there until March. -10, -20, -30 degrees for weeks at a time, and that is not including wind chill. If you don't plug your car in (or keep it in a garage), it *will* freeze and you will be fucked for days while it thaws. As for the type, it doesn't matter much; I drove a Ford Taurus while I was there and it was just fine, they are pro at keeping the roads clear - or keeping people off them if they aren't clear.

- There will be significant snow. The main problem with it is not massive amounts; it is that it doesn't melt. That shit piles up from November/December and then melts all at once sometime in April, which will then give you the glory of worrying about the river flooding - and finding the half-dozen or so bodies that pop up floating down the river after the thaw. That being said, there will be some pretty impressive snowfalls and blizzards, because it is North Dakota and that is what happens there.

- Grand Forks is small, there isn't much going on there, so I hope you like beer. Minneapolis is like 3 hours away; there is your nearest cultural center. The base there is nice, though, like all Air Force bases.

- The women are what you would expect - either norwegian (95% or so), or native american. I am not saying they are the hottest women on earth, but if tall, blonde, and able to kick your ass is your type, there is no shortage.

- Now its been over 10 years since I lived there, but when I was there, shit was inexpensive. I had a giant apartment for like 500 bucks a month on the edge of Fargo, and BAH was extremely generous, so living was pretty easy. When I moved back East, I was appalled at how expensive everything was compared to how shit was in the ND.

- The people are nice. Really nice. There is no crime (probably because its too fucking cold). I think in the 2 years I was there, there was one violent crime.

Look, at the end of the day it is Grand Forks. It is the middle of fricking nowhere, it is cold, and there isn't shit to do. Flat land as far as the eye can see in every direction. Despite that, I loved my time there; the people were great, the beer and smokes were cheap, and if you like a small town atmosphere, there is no better place to be. I still miss it and if my wife ever said to me, you know, I just decided that the cold doesn't bother me much, I would move back there in a heartbeat.

Yeah, pretty much any car can be driven in that kind of a climate, if you're in a town/city. Roads get plowed regularly when it snows. If you're on an acreage or out in the country, then that changes things. Good tires are a must, whether you go with regular all seasons or full on winters is up to you and how much you drive.

And the other thing to keep in mind is that even though it's cold, or even because it's so cold, the snowfalls that you see in the middle of the continent tend to be nowhere near as big as what you'll see in the NE or around the Great Lakes. There's not a ton of moisture in the air when it's that cold.

Also consider a car starter, which are awesome in the winter. You can also set them to start and run the vehicle for a say 5 minutes every 2 hours or some shit.

I had Lejina's A (and I believe B) installed, cord hung out the front of my car's grille. They will probably brief you on where to go to get this done when you arrive; the mechanics around Grand Forks will be used to the constant stream of new people coming in and probably do most of their business putting in these things for incoming airmen. Now, I don't know if it is different now, but I would run that plug from my apartment, and I never noticed my electric bill being abnormally large. Of course, I was drunk most of the time and swimming in money as well (thanks BAH!!), so maybe it was bigger than normal and I never noticed. Energy was generally pretty cheap though (along with everything else). You will also have little plug in stands damn near everywhere. Definitely get a long ass industrial size extension cord to keep in your car.

Faltigoth_sl said:

I had Lejina's A (and I believe B) installed, cord hung out the front of my car's grille. They will probably brief you on where to go to get this done when you arrive; the mechanics around Grand Forks will be used to the constant stream of new people coming in and probably do most of their business putting in these things for incoming airmen. Now, I don't know if it is different now, but I would run that plug from my apartment, and I never noticed my electric bill being abnormally large. Of course, I was drunk most of the time and swimming in money as well (thanks BAH!!), so maybe it was bigger than normal and I never noticed. Energy was generally pretty cheap though (along with everything else). You will also have little plug in stands damn near everywhere. Definitely get a long ass industrial size extension cord to keep in your car.

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It's likely that the outdoor power plugs are on a separate circuit that runs on a timer where there's only power intermittently, or from 4am to 8am or something along those lines.

North Dakota is no longer a cheap place to live, though being in the military that's not much of an issue. The oil boom in the central/western part of the state has really changed a lot of things about the place, though on the far eastern end of the state it won't affect you quite as much. Also as mentioned it gets fucking cold in the winter.

Hahahaha, Grand Forks...

I lived there for a year and a half for college before I moved to another school. I am Norwegian and yes, there are lots of Norwegians there. Or people who say they are by decent.

I haven't lived there since 02, so my information might be a bit outdated, but

- If you like hockey, they have a massive world class hockey stadium there with stairs so high and steep they give vertigo. Do NOT go there drunk. Funded by a crazy old rich guy who might been an old Nazi.

- It is flat. So flat. Bring pictures of hills. If not, on the college grounds, there is a little underpass built under the main road running through the college. It is around 15-20 feet, and people used to snowboard down there. I remember one guy yelling "glide you fuck, glide!!!" before he raged after the 3 second or so glide down the hill.... It is so flat...

- It is very cold during the winter and very humid during the summer, with HUGE mosquitoes that actually sting when they bite you. Get those netting / grid things for your windows. June-July, decent. August-september, humid as hell. October - march, random blizzard territory. I quite literally woke up from sun and shorts weather one day to a feet+ of snow the next. There is a reason nearly every building on the college grounds have underground tunnels connecting them. It gets COLD.

- Friday nights have buck fifty pitchers at Down Under (shit beer in the pitchers, but will get you drunk real cheap). Tuesdays there is a special on Long Island Ice tees in The Edge (they give massive heartburn). I forgot the names of the other places, but every day of the week has a bar with a special on it. Those places will be packed with college students on those days.

- Speedway has cheap and good ribs. It is located not far from Down Under.

- Buffalo Wild Wings... Best restaurant in the town for wings. EDIT: Arguably also the best sports bar.

- Parrots Cave (bar) has chicken wings that rival/exceed the hotness of the Blazing sauce of Buffalo Wild wings, though the wings aren't as good/jucy. You can buy the sauce though.

- There is a potato factory there, that sometimes stinks up the entire town.

- It is close to Canada, so can easily go there for weekend trips.

- Deeks pizza lets you order some great combos for cheap. Buying the sauce from Parrots Cave + Deeks pizza and wings isn't a bad combo.

So, 12 year old outdated info, but that is what I remember

BrutulTM_sl said:

If you have a modern, fuel injected gasoline car you don't need a block heater. It routinely gets to 20 below and colder here and none of my vehicles have heaters in them. They start without hesitation even at 30 below. If you drive a diesel that's a different story but having a block heater in a gas car is a thing of the past as long as your car was made in the last 10 years and your engine coolant is mixed appropriately.

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I don't agree with you at all. Up here in Alberta, everyone plugs their cars in during the winter, diesel or not. Because when it's -20C or colder at night, if you don't there's a good chance you won't even be able to start your car the next day, and if you do, it will make some pretty horrible sounds for the first minute or two. I don't know if we're all that much colder than Montana or North Dakota in the winter. There's no reason to NOT plug your car in other than the utility costs, and it will make a significant difference in the longevity of your engine.

If you think that running an engine with minimal lubrication for a minute or two while the oil warms up isn't going to reduce the engine's life, I don't know what to tell you.

He's military anyways, likely won't be paying for his electricity!

Brikker_sl said:

I've had a few people on craigslist tell me that the USAF has a stigma in town which makes it harder to rent/find roommates. Anyone know why that might be or is it just the general asshattery of most young people?

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College people don't want to room up with people that might be against parties / weed use (which is used by nearly everyone there unless times have changed). You as an adult + military fits right into that.

If I remember correctly the ROTC (or whatever it is called) guys had similar issues when wanting to move out from the dorms, as I think they were subject to possible drug tests? Doubt you will have more luck as an active military member than those guys, not in a roommate situation with regular college students at least.

You might look into seeing if you can room up with ROTC people from the college though, there were quite a lot of them when I was there. Take a look at the boards or web pages for the University of North Dakota, and they might have a separate section for those guys, with some contact info or a forum where you might list wanting to share an apartment.

EDIT:ROTC | UND: University of North Dakota