Eric and I met in December '07 in Denver, CO. He is originally from Golden, about an hour north of my hometown of Monument. We dated long distance for a year and a half while he was in Reno working and I was in Grad school in Salt Lake City. Thank goodness for Southwest Airlines. We decided to move to the same city when I graduated and on a whim I made a phone call about a job in North Dakota that I heard about through school. After Eric showed such excitement about moving back to the state where he'd gone to college, I agreed and accepted the job in Dickinson, ND, a town of about 16,000 in Southwestern ND. We are about 400 miles from Billings to the West and 100 miles to Bismarck to the East. Its a long way to a Target, TJ Maxx and most other popular shopping options besides Wal-Mart.
After moving here we rented a basement of a friend before buying a house which needed well, new everything: electrical, plumbing, insulation, walls, bathroom, kitchen. You get the picture. It's kept us busy and we've had many new experiences I don't think we would have had if we hadn't chosen Dickinson. I (and I use I loosely of course, meaning with Eric's help) can snake a sewage pipe, cook in the garage, wash dishes in the yard, and drive on snow pack roads for six months straight. It's been an adventure so far and we are still figuring out life in rural Southwestern North Dakota with a first house, first pet, first garden, and lots of other new projects to come that we will welcome as opportunities.
