North Dakota gear and how I got here.

So here I am in North Dakota working on the Bakken oil field working for Cruz Energy Services.  For almost the entire fall term at OSU this year I have been going nuts looking at different contractors to intern with and putting myself out there. I have had over 15 face to face interviews, applied online to 4 different places, had one video interview, and one invitation out to dinner. It has been a lot of fun and at times very stressful but in the end I got what seems to be a pretty awesome gig. I flew out of Portland Oregon only 23 hours after my last final for the term, December 8th, and am staying here in Dickinson North Dakota until January 7. This is the part where most people get that oh my gosh it's so cold there look in there face and then tell me, "Oh my gosh it's so cold there."  Having never been to North Dakota I thought pretty much the same thing but after a -12 f day and a 24 f day I feel kind of let down.  I thought -12 f would be worse but with the right layering, a winter protection beard, and enough work it gets down right balmy. 

For my feet I'm rocking a pair of Georgia 8" Loggers with steel toes and some thick Fox River wool socks.  The boots are pretty good, they're water proof, have decent tread, and just a little bit of insulation.  The Fox River socks are okay but they tend to bunch a little bit near the bottom. Sooner or later I'm going to try out some of my smart wools but they are all pretty thin.  My legs are wrapped in a Smart wool base layer, followed by a pair of denim jeans, followed by a pair of Arc'teryx bibs.  The Smart Wool and Arc'teryx bibs have been amazing full range of motion and wind protection from the bibs and the perfect amount of warmth from the Smart Wool.  For my upper half I start with a synthetic tee followed by a Smart Wool top, followed by a sweat shirt or fleece and finally A Sitka Pantanal Parka.  Again the Smart Wool has been awesome and the Sitka parka is a great piece of gear. The parka has a fairly light layer of insulation and Gore Tex shell that keeps the wind at bay and the cold manageable. The pockets are a little busy but I'd rather have to many than not enough. To cap everything off I have squeezing my hard hat over a thick fleece beany.

 Now for the pictures!!!

This is where I sleep.

This the 200 ton crane I helped pull apart and put back together the first day.

It takes about 5 to 6 semi trailors to carry all the pieces in the foreground you can see one track and one counter weight, in the back ground you see the crane body.

 Here she is later that night when it warmed up to 0 f.

This is one of the lighter things the crane picks.