July 10th: Casper, WY to Shoshone, WY

The day was steezin from the start. It was to be the longest ride of the trip: 98 miles. Trevor woke up with a non-steezin headache and instead of riding, took the van for its steez factor. David ended up being sweep, which he undoubtedly loved and was a completely steezin move on his part. It was chilly when we left Casper, but everyone in the town was already outside (at 7 am) to watch a parade that was to start at 10. Steezin. Before our first snack break, but after being pelted by Trevor with olives out the passenger side window of the van, Brooke took a spill and had a steezin wound on her elbow. This would result in the first of two trips made to the Riverton hospital for HBC Central 2k7 (woo! spring break). She ended up with four stitches and a steezin fish net sleeve.

Because the van was at the hospital, we all ended up stopping at a gas station around mile 50 for some food. It had some steezin Digiorno pizza that the people heated up for us. Shira ended up drinking her first Red Bull ever (let me note, in under a minute), which, in her words, shot her through the rest of the day. We stopped by Hell’s Half Acre, a huge canyon that Native Americans once used to lead buffalo herds into. Apparently, there are still bones at the bottom to prove it. Also, Starship Troopers was filmed there…interestingly steezin. As we were fixin to reach the end of our ride, the surroundings got more and more beautiful with some steezin rock formations. It made the final ten miles almost bearable.

Before reaching our final destination in Shoshone, which was the firehouse we would stay in, all of us stopped at a place that was supposed to be famous for its milkshakes. They weren’t so steezin though, despite the fact that the cups claimed patrons have traveled there from every country in the world to have a taste. While we were consuming this non-steezin dairy, Darrow was off hitting a bird, which ended up getting stuck in the grill of the van. When we finally got settled in at the firehouse, dinner crew made a steezin dinner of spaghetti and all of a sudden, I was serenaded for a second time with the Happy HBC Birthday song. ‘What could this steezin event be taking place for?’ I thought to myself. The purpose was revealed as Darrow presented me with an HBC birthday cake. It was a dog, and though it was labeled as a cake, I think it was strictly constructed of frosting. Nonetheless, it was delicious and I can claim that I have been the only HBC birthday boy or girl to receive a cake on his or her big day. Steezin. Since we would only have to ride around 45 miles the next day, the night was a truly steezin time. Pretty sure that my uncle is the only person in my family to read this, so hey uj. Hold down the fort without me.

-Liz “Steezin” Ferro