Colorado: Day 8

At 6:00 am, approximately the same time we arrived at Horizons a week before, we packed our bags into the van and car and departed from Boulder. The sun was rising as we got onto the highway and began the first leg of our journey home. The mountains behind us reflected the morning light and shined a farewell glow toward us.

Most of us slept for the first couple hours. We stopped in Nebraska for a rest stop and put some oil into the van to keep it going strong. A few hours later, we stopped to get lunch at Arby's and then got back into the cars to eat it on the road. I read another chapter from Velvet Elvis, and it was just as good as the first.

The sun eventually set as we neared Des Moines, and we played the alphabet game a few times to keep ourselves occupied. The two cars talked over Jim's walkie talkies about our favorite memories from the past week. We also came up with some interesting questions for each person to answer like, "If someone were to make a movie based on your life, who would play you?" I think mine was Denzel Washington. In Illinois, we passed Geneseo and said another thank you and farewell to our friends who aided us in our need a week earlier.

I was riding in the car with Jim and a sleeping Riley toward the last leg of our trip. We listened to soft music while the miles went by. When we got to Michigan, we were greeted by a very thick fog. At certain points, we had zero visibility. We had to take it slow for that last couple of hours, but eventually, we made it back to Kalamazoo. We arrived at the church at about two in the morning, got our bags out of the van and said goodbye to each other; to the people we spent the last week getting to know and love.

This year's trip to Colorado was a great experience for me. I really got to learn a lot about the Islamic religion and I was able to make some pretty cool friends in Boulder. I think that God definitely uses trips like these to shape who we are in Him, and this was no exception. God has really been working in me since this trip, and I can't wait to see what He has in store for my life.