We're sitting in a Walmart parking lot because there is no housing whatsoever in Williston, North Dakota. So for the time being, we're crashing in our car, which is a Grand Prix. We've got no room because all the stuff that we own is in the backseat of the car.
We're hoping to be able to find jobs -- something that offers housing -- we're just shooting for that. We hear that as an oil rig floorhand you can make $18 to $24 an hour starting out.
Maybe we'll have to go back home and come back in the spring if we can't find anything. You can't survive negative 60 degrees in a car -- it's not gonna be possible.
But you can't just sit at home expecting something to plop into your lap. You gotta go out there and fight for your dreams.
Update: Jake is now working for an oil refining company 70 to 100 hours a week making $15 an hour and getting lots of overtime. He's still sleeping in his car, and the police kicked him out of the Walmart parking lot so he's now parked on a side street near his work.
In Williston, N.D., America's newest oil boomtown, thousands have come looking for work. Yet, many of them can't find housing.
