All North Dakotans Know This – “You Can Die Out There”
One of the most significant things I have learned in my life in the last 9 years...
...ALWAYS have respect and fear for the weather in North Dakota, NEVER ever take it lightly, for it could cost you your life. I moved from San Diego, California back in 2014 to Fargo, North Dakota. I will never forget the night before I left, I watched the movie FARGO -after about ten minutes, I hit pause and said to myself "What in the heck am I doing?" Obviously, I wasn't prepared mentally or physically for the move for one simple reason - I had no idea how deadly and serious the weather is in North Dakota.
My whole life I had never set foot in the snow, had never experienced temps below 36 degrees
So needless to say I was in for a major adjustment. During my first week of driving a car around Fargo, all I heard from so many people was "Hope you have a survival kit in your car" - Of course, I do...."I have a jack and a spare tire...". Most people were kind and knew that I was from California, and had no clue whatsoever.
Blankets, water, spare batteries, a ladder, a blow torch, cat litter...
...were among the items mentioned to me as what every car should have if you intend on driving in the winter. "You could DIE out there" - that was always the stunning 5 words that were said to me a million times. I always thought to myself how overdramatic they were with that statement, Yep I thought that way, right up until the day I ran out of gas ( another rookie ND mistake by not having at least a half tank of fuel in your car ). Well, at least I was only like a half mile away from home. Here was my problem, I was wearing only a sweatshirt and had no gloves with me. I swear I almost lost my hands that day, as the weather was like -14, with a wind chill of -800. That 15-minute walk was memorable, to say the least, for the whole time I was trying to get home I kept thinking to myself "Yes You Can Die Out Here" - When I tell that story to North Dakotans they all nod their heads in agreement.
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