The End of Salt Lake City

The following is our vacation's end.
AKA, days 6 and 7.

1-3
Our vacation was approaching its end,
But a day of adventure created a boundary
As large as a mountain,
Like a drawn curtain shielding us from the harsh morning light of our previous life.
Facing a day in the car,
Hours of driving,
And the return to reality,
We spent our final day free of confines,
Careening down a mountain,
Feet firmly fixed on a waxed bored,
Hearts and mind free from
whatever awaited our return in Joplin,
Focused on nothing but the reality of the moment.
Needing a break from absolute freedom,
Lunch made me wish we had never returned to the lodge.
My sandwich was awful. It tasted like a giant green olive.
Which i hate.
That sandwich was like the sun berating the stiffened ground
As it longed to be quenched by a torrential downpour during monsoon season.
However, i refused to allow that sandwich to chain me to the lodge.
As our lift passes expired, so did my energy.
My body longed for a rest.
Turns out being unchained, free, wild if you will,
Destroys your body.
Maybe that's why hardly anyone is.
Nonetheless, i needed to be refueled.
So we went to Dakota's to freshen up,
And feed on lasagna like cows in a never-ending prairie.
Coffee was the only proper ending to this day,
And subsequently our vacation.
So, we went to the local Sunset Coffee,
Where we listened to Dakota's IPod
And continued our tradition of Bananagrams.
Although caffeine gave us a boost,
It was clear that we were losing steam as our coffee warmed.
Returning to Dakota's House,
I didn't want to sleep.
Sleep represented the end of vacation,
The return to reality,
The end of an era,
The conclusion to our excursion.
Still, exhaustion persevered.
Sleep.

1-4
We woke up and got on the road,
Grabbing iced coffee as we had before,
However, it tasted more bitter this time.
I'm not sure if it was the coffee, or our departure
That left this taste in my mouth.
Wyoming ushered us with wind, but no snow this time.
Stopping at Dakota's sister's house was necessary to delay reaching our destination.
Wishing to extend our time away as much as possible.
Our driving continued until we reached Jordan's House in Nebraska.
This seemed like the longest day ever.
Not because of the drive, or the company, or the weather.
Instead, it was the news.
As we drove, we received word that our good friend had encountered tragedy.
A friend we had been praying for throughout our trip.
A friend we loved so much.
Emotions overcame the four of us as we wept
and prayed over the next 40 miles.
This surreal moment will stick with me forever.
Never had i prayed so hard. Never had i invested so much emotion.
Never had i connected with a group in community,
As i had in that car.
Going to church, living in a dorm, hanging with my friends,
Nothing even approached what i experienced as we traveled.
Every curve of the road, every mile post, every minute that passed,
Seemed fake. Unreal.
At that point, the only thing that was real were the four people in our car.
The road was a welcomed sight.
A seeming escape from the hurt of the world.
Reality was a harsh climate. And the road provided an oasis.
Still we had to continue our return to "normal life."
But how could we?
This trip changed me.
And returning to life seemed to be a regression.

1-5
Nevertheless, we arrived back to Joplin on day 8,
Only to hang out that night as we had the previous seven,
By watching a movie and dosing to sleep.