postscript

113 journeys
vole stare toad race
postscript
.
the roads are open.
the rock is empty.
the katydid chorus is singing to no one.
.
the 113 who took the ferry have returned to their lives
but there is something different about them…
.
it is not the fading sunburn
nor the healing blisters
not even the improving limp.
.
no
the changes are not physical.
the changes are inside.
.
the journey changed them.
.
we were made to struggle.
we were made to face challenges
we were made to make great journeys.
.
for 314 miles life was simple
reduced to the search for water, food, and shelter
and reduced to the need to move.
.
every journey was different.
some took the journey to race
and to accomplish great things.
for others it was a quest to find if they could do it.
it was a vision quest
a search for self.
or even a search for belonging.
but every journey was the same.
it was a return to a simpler existence.
built around a single goal
to reach the rock.
.
along the way they cleansed their souls
they found freedom on the open road
they found purpose in the goal
.
and on the way to the rock
they found themselves .