"James, I dreamed last night that we were on the Oregon Trail,

 and we took the Barlow Cutoff."

"That's not such a bad dream Mary Ann, it was the best road we had on the whole journey."

"Yes, but in my dream we had no money to pay the tolls and at each gate they treated us worse and worse until at the last gate, they said they would put us in jail for robbing the tolls."

Painting by William Henry Jackson, owned by the National Park Service - public domain.

"Is that how your dream ended, Mary Ann - with us all in jail?"

"No, because a stranger came and paid all our tolls for us. What do you think it means, James?"

"I think your soul is reminding you that there is a price to pay on our journey through life, and that no one can afford to pay that price, but we have a Savior who pays it for us."

"I see the parallel James, and it is a beautiful interpretation."  

"You had a 'true dream', Mary Ann. Do you remember there were people who refused the offers to pay their tolls, because they had their pride, they said, and had to do it themselves."

"Yes, and I could not understand -- none of us could get over the Oregon Trail all by ourselves -- we all had to help each other, and accept help when we needed it."