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Dear Casper,
I moved to Casper from Florida, a year ago on the tailspin of dizzying life circumstances. At first I didn’t think I would stay very long. But I began to change my mind very quickly and fell in love with this place.
At first it was the people, the individualist spirit of the cowboy “live and let live” mentality. Everyone you ran into had a story, some eccentric hobby, or obscure collection of valuables. Beautiful & kind weirdos everywhere you went. An abundance of weirdos, barely any creeps.
There are so many things I love about Casper. The gentle mountain hugging the city edges. The fact that they are tall enough to be seen from anywhere downtown and small enough that you could drive to them and be totally alone in less than 30 minutes.
I have fallen in love with Casper, and I know it’s not by accident we met. I see a cultural renaissance that is happening here.
When I first stepped foot in Wyoming, I remember standing in the prairie, shocked by the silence that engulfed me. And right now, there’s a gold rush in our society to discover that kind of serenity. I’m not talking about West coast yuppies pouring in to raise your rents and crowd out your scenic overlooks. I’m talking about the spiritual pilgrimage of pioneers, weirdos just like you, seeking inner peace and finding it here in the land, the people, and the culture.
If you see one of these foolish weirdos with his long hair blowing out the window of his 2 wheel-drive, compact car, still sporting Florida plates, give him that nifty 2-finger wave you country folk invented. We really like that.
Love,
Jeff Streitmatter IV
