I have. That's why I was shocked to see that Bismark, North Dakota, a town with a population of only 61, 941 people could be ranked as the 51st best place in America to live. And where did Greensboro come in? Number 91.
It's 180 miles from Greensboro to the nearest beach. It's over 1500 miles from Bismark to the nearest ocean. From Bismark to the closest point of Lake Superior-- the closest thing that resembles an ocean-- is 435 miles. The mountains are 2 hours away from Greensboro. The mountains are much farther away from Bismark.
Bismark is isolated with only 1 Interstate highway I94 passing through it. Greensboro has I40, 85, 73, 74, the loop whose number escapes me and more in the works.
The weather in Bismark can be horrid with the record Summer high at 114 F and the record Winter low at -45 F. Bismark's winters are long and summers are short. Greensboro's record high is 104 F, our winters are short and our record low is -8 F.
And don't even get me started on the wind chill. I once almost froze to death when a broken down tractor-trailer left me stranded just outside of Dickenson, North Dakota, a town not too far from Bismark. It was -40 with a wind chill factor of -70. And it was only Thanksgiving Day. Most years my family enjoys Thanksgiving dinner on our porch here in Greensboro.
Walmart is one of the largest, top 10 employers in Bismark. Walmart doesn't even make Greensboro's Top 20. But despite all that Bismark outranked Greensboro, North Carolina by 40 places. Just think how great a place to live Bismark would be if it were located where Greensboro, North Carolina is today. Why I've no doubt there would be Bismark on one list of greatest places to live and 100 other cities on the second list of great places to live.
Perhaps Greensboro should aspire to be more like Bismark, North Dakota? I vote we send a team there to explore Bismark ASAP. They've got something we need.
