The next morning it was time to begin the journey back home. We woke up and packed, took down the tent and straightened up our campsite. We stopped at another overlook on the way back through the park, away from the campgrounds, to see one more view and say goodbye to Arches. We wanted to see Moab one more time, so we headed into town for breakfast at Eclectica Café, browsing the various flea market items for sale while we waited for our food to cook. Then, time to hit the road. We drove back through eastern Utah and into the mountains of Colorado, stopping for lunch at the Happy Cooker in Georgetown, and then a stroll around town to stretch our legs.

After lunch we were back to the road and on the final chapters of our book. Trinity was driving, and I was riding and reading slowly to savor the last chapters and pages of the story. The end of The Time Traveler’s Wife is so beautiful and sad and happy all at the same time, and we were rolling through the mountains of Colorado balling our eyes out as we finished the book. I stopped a few times to make sure it was safe for Trinity to be driving through her tears!

We contemplated driving through the evening to get back home late Saturday night, but we have both been miserable when we’ve tried to do that before, so we opted for another night in the tent. It was finally time to check out Bonny Lake, where we had originally planned to stop the first night. We got a few more groceries for dinner, and then figured out which of the many forms to fill out at the ranger station now empty for the night. Now that we had a few nights behind us and knew exactly what needed to be done and where everything was, we had the tent up, the fire blazing, and dinner started within ten minutes of pulling up to our spot. Another night of eating in the dark, but no mishaps this time!

Even though we still had more than a few hours across Kansas to go in the morning, we were back to the rolling plains of our part of the country, and the sights and sounds were a little more familiar to us. It was nice to hear the crickets and tree frogs chirping in the distance, though I certainly did not miss the mosquitoes in the desert. There were even a few little frogs hopping around the bathroom to welcome us back to (almost) home.

Then Sunday. A long day. I have an above average appreciation for the drive through Kansas, but wow this day seemed to drag on forever. Our book was finished, it was the last day of our wonderful vacation and back to work the next day (with many of the typical vacation reentry realizations), and I-70 on Kansas is long and flat.

Actually, that might be an appropriate way to describe how we were feeling during that part of the drive, and how I have felt many times for the last couple of years, in this confusing stage of my life – long and flat. We’re still trying to figure out how we can bring that calm and collected, optimistic, rejuvenated spirit with us through more than just vacation days. Some days are good, others not so much. Writing about our trip has helped, and I wonder in what ways I can perceive my daily experiences differently, see the bright side, the possibilities, the resourceful opportunities that I miss in the midst of a boring and stressful routine. How can I transform the boredom and stress; and into what? The desert of Utah was a time of renewal for us, because we chose to embrace it in that way. How can this time of desert in my life be renewal too? How and what do I need to embrace to make it so?

One of the themes of The Time Traveler’s Wife is embracing the present moment, because really, the present is all we have. When things are great, like vacation highs, this is easy for me, as it is for most of us, but other times it’s very hard because I am so adept and practiced at focusing on the negatives of any particular moment. After we got home and unloaded the car into the living room floor we decided we needed another hike, this time around the neighborhood. As we walked Trinity had the brilliant idea to just ask, “What is good about this moment?” and so we’ve been working on that question in many present moments since.

Even though we are practicing finding the positive in the present, we are also looking forward to our next big trip, and hopefully some smaller camping trips in the meantime. I am dreaming of a long crazy float trip down the Colorado River, through Canyonlands or the Grand Canyon, to see the same places from another perspective!