The oil boom in North Dakota has created tens of thousands of jobs with good wages — pretty much in the middle of nowhere. So for workers across the U.S., the boom is an opportunity to get back on their feet, pay off debts, save some money, at a cost — leaving their families behind.

Todd Melby is reporting from Williston, near the Montana state line, for a year-long project, Black Gold Boom, an initiative of Localore and the Association of Indpendents in Radio. His family’s back in Minnesota. He started out living in a mancamp — one of those temporary barracks for oil workers. But he’s lucky — he’s now renting the basement of a house in Williston.

Marketplace is airing a series of Todd’s vignettes of people and scenes from the boom region. In this one, he talked to another man living away from his family.