North Dakota..Montana...and men shopping for groceries!

     There is a reason this country of ours is now leading the world in oil production, and one is hard working dedicated men making a living for their families anyway and anywhere they can.  We visited this area two years ago at the height of the boom in these oil fields, and even with a bit of a slow down their still going strong here.
     But what brings about this blog is what I/we see in the stores and shops and RV parks around these small towns in this neck of the woods.  Let's take the RV parks, most are full, expanded, but yet a few spots for travelers like ourselves.  Housing has been booming and high priced as you might imagine, so trailers, RV's, motor homes, park models are filled with folks making a living sometimes far from home.  Yes, sometimes far from home and far from families but providing a good income and sending it home.
     We shop a lot at Wal-Marts while on the road, and in these small communities it's the go to store for most folks, including the guys working in the oil industry and all the jobs that go along with keeping the industry going.  Literally thousands of jobs are created keeping the drillers and their rigs operating.........my God if you were a truck driver right now you could write your own ticket anywhere around here for big bucks...........help wanted truckers signs along the highways.
     Enough of that, needless to say jobs are abundant if you want to work..........but this is about my shopping experience.  In the few days and weeks we've been in the area I've had occasion to go shopping for odds and ends at Wal-Mart and groceries there and other markets.  The isles are filled with men, hand baskets, grocery carts, and typical man stuff in those carts.  I notice things like frozen pizza, lunch meats, munchies and things like that, large cans of white chicken meat, hamburger and hot dogs and beer!  Their not like shopping for the week but shopping for the next couple of days it seems or maybe just for lunch stuff and eating out a lot.  These are the guys living away from home and building bank accounts for their families and making due with want they can prepare I guess.  My shopping has been in the early evening like after work for these guys, and on weekends.  Weekends at Wal-Mart will have long lines at the service counter and a counter called "money service" where these guys go to send money back home to their families.