Back Home

Now that we are back home safe and sound, we wish to express our appreciation and gratitude to all in the Czech Republic and the United States who made this summer exchange possible for us.  It was truly a blessing to share in the lives of the Czech people and the Czech Methodist Church.

As we crossed the border between the Czech Republic and Germany for the last time (with the only border control being a reduced speed limit on the highway at the crossing point), we again had to marvel at the changes the Czech people have experienced in the last 20 years.  At his last evening in the pub with the firemen on Monday night, Phil shared stories with them as they reminisced about what it was like when the iron curtain fell, and they could visit (West) Germany for the first time.  There was so much to see and buy and experience in those days! 

They also talked of why the roads in West Bohemia were so curvy.   It was to slow down any invading western army on the way to Prague to give the communists a chance to mount their defenses.  (Today there is a major highway directly from Nurnberg to Prague). 

They spoke of why there are so many Vietnamese people in Tachov.  There had been student exchange programs between the allied communist countries of the Czech Republic and Vietnam during the 1970s and 1980s as a gesture of goodwill between nations.  Many of the Vietnamese stayed in the Czech Republic and are now integrated in the community.

They spoke of their freedom to travel today, and the joy they have in exploring many places in the world (Virginia too, we hope!!)

We will have many opportunities to remember fondly our time in the Czech Republic, and we are looking forward to sharing our experiences with our American friends.  As we returned to church on Sunday we received a heartwarming welcome home, and we presented our congregation with the Ralf Most painting we had bought in Prague while at the Methodist District Office.  It will be displayed in the church here in Virginia. 

In the coming weeks we look forward to making presentations about our experience to various groups and congregations.  On October 2, Phil will share some of the things we learned in a sermon for World Communion Sunday. 

Today, on his first day back at work, Phil received update reports from our youth group's sponsored World Vision children in Ghana, Bolivia, India and Indonesia.  He received a thank you letter from the Boy Scout troop in Majuro, Marshall Islands, who appreciate the many supplies we sent them.  He received a thank you note from the Board of Commissioners of Meriweather County, Georgia for the work our Early Response Team did in the aftermath of the spring tornadoes.  He reviewed reports from our mission teams that had been in Louisiana, Ohio, South Carolina, Pennsylvania and Jamaica this summer.  And he looks forward to hearing more from the young adult missionaries who went to the Dominican Republic and Israel this spring and summer.  Not a bad track record for Sterling United Methodist Church for 2011, and the year is far from over!  We are privileged to be part of a congregation that takes to heart the Great Commission Jesus offered us as His parting command.

Thanks be to each of you and thanks be to God.

Nashledanou Tachov - Goodbye Tachov (for now!)

Days 53-56

So, Prague was a wonderful European cosmopolitan city filled with beautiful buildings, museums, and attractions.  But we must say, it felt a little bit like cheating when the waiter handed us the menu in English.  After 8 weeks of not understanding, it seemed a bit unfair to not have to translate from Czech to German to English.  We enjoyed meeting up with one of our translators from youth camp while in Prague, and spending a morning at a museum with her.  We hope perhaps next time we will see her in the United States!

Back in Tachov (ah, home sweet home), we continued our goodbyes at church this morning.  This afternoon we visited Royal Rangers camp, which is in full swing.  We shared in Sunday worship with the kids, then followed the group into the woods where they were doing their group activities for the afternoon.  The camp has a "Hobbit" theme, so three teams have to compete in different games and activities to win Hobbit points.  Today's activity was crossing a stream on a wobbly log.  The children, ages 4-10 or so, skillfully navigated the stream, with only one little girl falling in.  Of course, this being a rare hot day, it was actually a bit of a treat to splash in the cold forest stream.

We returned to Tachov for an English lesson with Michal before Phil went back to camp to join evening worship and activities.  The evening activity was for each team to perform a song for the Elf King at the campfire.  The Elf King sat on a stump while the songs were performed.  The kids had each made their own musical instruments, so it was quite fun to watch.  The blue team, which added a sort of interpretive dance into their song, won the competition. 

On Tuesday, in our last official acts here, we will lead the children in a game of kickball, and then Phil will give the evening message.  It will be about the battle between good and evil, and our part in that battle.  Tomorrow we have our final lesson with Michal, followed by the final meeting with the ladies English group and the final meeting with the firemen. 

Leaving is a bittersweet experience for us.  This summer has been so wonderful for our family that it is hard to close the door to this chapter.  We have many great memories of the people here.  We have been invited into the lives of many people in a way that would not have been possible as tourists.  We have a deeper appreciation of the Czech people and culture, and especially of the Czech Methodist Church.  It is a country that is still rapidly evolving.  On the train back from Prague to Tachov we noticed that about 1/3 of the route was under construction.  New highways, new railways, new renovation of many old national treasures - this is a country catching up from years of stagnation, and the pace is rapid.  In another two decades this country is likely to have the equivalent infrastructure to the western European countries.  It sure is a far cry from the mental image Phil had of Eastern Europe from his visits in what had been East Germany 20 years ago, where everything was dirty, delapidated, gray, and depressing.  We have similar hopes for the Czech Methodist Church.

At the same time, closing our time in the Czech Republic means we will soon see our friends and family who await our return, and we are grateful for each of you.  We also look forward to stepping into our new role at the church in Virginia, and the new school year with Eric starting kindergarten and Daniel in 5th grade.  We are so proud of both of the boys.  Time and time again people commented on their good behavior and polite manner.  They were excellent anbassadors for our family, our church and our country.  During the radio interview the interviewer even commented on the boys' good manners, which made Phil a proud dad!

Thank you for your support, your prayers, your encouraging notes, comments, letters and financial gifts.  You have blessed us in so many ways!

Our next and final blog entry will likely be on our return to the United States, as we have only a few busy days left.

Some Photos:

Sunday afternoon worship at Royal Rangers camp.

"Gandolf" (Pastor Milan) giving the message during worship.

Crossing the stream in the woods.  It looks easy, but the log was pretty bouncy.  All of the streams and lakes here have that chocolate colored water.  There must be some mineral that colors the water.  We'll try to learn the answer before we leave.

The boys on the train from Prague to Tachov.

Feeding the ducks on the Vlatava River in Prague.  We wanted to feed the swans, but they weren't around, and the ducks seemed pretty appreciative.

Phil and Teresa on the Charles Bridge in Prague.

Daniel enjoying a paddle boat ride on the Vlatava River.

Days 50-52

As the end of our time in the Czech Republic is rapidly approaching, we are trying to take care of many last minute things.  On Monday and Tuesday Phil continued to help with preparations for Royal Rangers Camp, building picnic tables and wooden cots.  Phil enjoyed working with the rough hewn lumber harvested directly from the forest, and using traditional tools. (Ok, the chainsaw was an exception, though watching a professional woodsman use it as though it was an extension of his hands was awe inspiring.)   Everything smells so good in the pine forest after the rain.  Phil could spend hours there just breathing the air and watching the small brook bubble by.  Eric and Daniel spent one afternoon playing in the forest while Phil worked.  The favorite hide-out for Eric was the 3-foot deep hole that had been dug for the latrine.  Fortunately it had not yet been commissioned.   There are still many little projects to complete, but we are confident the camp will be ready in time.

On Monday Phil was interviewed for radio by Petr, a member of the congregation, who is a Christian broadcaster.  Petr creates radio broadcasts for various radio stations, including the Czech Republic's version of BBC or NPR.  The 90-minute interview (before editing) covered many topics from Phil's life history to cultural differences between Germany, the US, and the Czech Republic, to Phil's impressions of the Czech Republic, to topics relating to Phil's Christian faith and worldview.  The conversation revolved mostly around these faith issues.  This was in part because Phil feels more comfortable talking about these topics than politics and economics, so the conversation tended to return to faith perspectives on whatever topic was being discussed.  The program will air in two weeks on Sunday morning on the Western Bohemian Public Broadcasting station.  Vladimir from church translated all of Phil's responses into Czech, so that the Bohemians can understand.  Please pray that the interview sounds somewhat intelligent, and that it might positively influence someone who hears it.

On Tuesday evening we had a goodbye barbeque with the firefighters at Pavel the fire chief's house.  This was a great time with grilled meats over the open fire, and lots of laughter as we talked long after the sun went down over Tachov.  Pavel's house is at the edge of town, overlooking some pastures and the train track.  Pavel grew up in the house, which his father built.  It was not uncommon here in communist times to build your own home.  Now he and his family share it with his parents.  It is also not uncommon to share the home between generations.  A great custom (as long as you like the in-laws).

Today we took the train to Prague (about a 3-hour ride), where we will spend three days, staying at the Methodist Church District Office, which has a small apartment they are allowing us to use.  We were pleased to find that the apartment is adorned with artwork by Ralf Most, a Czech poet/artist who we got to know as the camp manager at the youth camp.  The district office and apartment are right downtown, and the people here are exceedlingly friendly to us.  Good Methodists!

Prague is a magnificent city, which is also completely overrun by tourists.  We heard English, German, French, Spanish, Japanese, and just a little bit of Czech today.  Bustling Prague is the antithesis to the slower paced rural Czech Republic we have come to know.  It is easy to envision Tachov under an oppressive communist rule. Today it is almost impossible to imagine Prague that way.  The life, the vibrancy, and the energy of the city rival that of any other European city like Paris, London or Berlin.  The buildings are beautifully restored or maintained, and there are endless corners to discover.  One afternoon Phil was lumberjacking in the unspoiled forest - the next day exploring a major metroplis.  Life is good.

Speaking of travel, we want to rewind to communist times and change the subject once again.  At Vladimir and Helena's house on Sunday we learned a little bit about travel in the Czech Republic before communism fell, and we found it fascinating and worth sharing.  When Vladimir was a child, his parents loved to travel.  However, receiving permission to travel outside the country was difficult (hence the culture of building weekend cottages inside the Czech Republic).   To get permission to travel abroad required getting someone who was trusted by the communist party to vouch for you that you would not attempt to flee to the West.  If you did flee, the family that vouched for you could suffer harsh reprisals.   One time Vladimir's family traveled to Yugoslavia.  However, they could not travel the direct route through Austria.  Instead they had to drive around Austria through Hungary.  The trip took six days in the small Skoda 100, which was packed with spare parts for the Skoda, and with cases of beer with which to bribe the border guards (there's nothing like a couple of Pilsner Urquells  to grease the border crossing process!!).   Permission to go to Yugoslavia was particularly difficult to obtain because fleeing to the West from there was easier.  A favorite destination for Vladimir was East Germany, because they had model railroads there, which were nearly impossible to get in the Czech Republic at the time.  Vladimir lived in Plzen at that time, and travel to Tachov would not have been advisable or desireable with it being so close to the border with the West.  Tachov at that time was inhabited mostly be soldiers, secret police, border guards, and miners who worked in the Uranium mines. 

And today you walk around Prague, swamped with so many foreigners (Western, Eastern and otherwise) that the Czechs have all fled for the hills and you can't help but be stunned by what a difference 20 years can make.

Some photos:

Building picnic tables and beds at the Royal Rangers camp.

Delivering more lumber and supplies to the camp.

At the barbeque with some of the fire fighters and their families.

The local train from Tachov to Plana - an old diesel tram engine.

One of ten thousand beautiful old churches in Prague at sunset.

Prague Castle, overlooking the city and the Vltava river, at sunset.

Looking down at the city from Prague Castle.

Days 46-49

Royal Rangers camp starts next Friday, so a camp needed to be built.  Unfortunately all those with experience were not available.  But many hands came together to build a rustic tent camp that the kids will use.  The group of about 25 adults, youth, and children built five large teepees, a large mess tent, and dug several latrines in a large field in the woods west of Tachov.  Each teepee will sleep six people.  A total of about 25 boys and girls (ages 6-12) are expected for the camp.  Some finishing touches need to be added during the week.

Phil spent the morning on Saturday helping to build the teepees, before heading back to Tachov to meet up with his cousins Daniel and Joachim and Daniel's girlfriend, Anna, who came for a weekend visit from Germany.  We spent the afternoon taking in another beautiful medieval castle, Hrad Svihov, which is a moated castle that has appeared in numerous movies.

Each castle, palace, or just about anything else we have visited has been eloquently described by the tour guide as having been "given to" or "transferred to" the Czech government in 1945 (as in "taken by the communists!").  So this made us curious, because from conversations we have had it appeared that many people continued to own their own homes during that time.  Did the state own everything or did they only take rich people's property?  Well, the answer of course is a bit complex.  If you owned a small home, you were likely to be able to keep ownership of it, unless you fell into the bad graces of the party.  If you owned a larger house or estate that could be subdivided into several smaller apartments, it was likely taken away from you.  If you had standing in the proletariat (communist party), the rules might be a bit looser in your favor.  In short, if you owned a castle, you pretty much were guaranteed to lose it.  If you owned a small country home that was of little interest to the party, you most likely kept ownership of it.

We returned to Tachov in time to watch FC Tachov play against FK Tabor in Tachov's first home game in the new football (soccer) season.  Tabor is south of Prague, very near to where we had youth camp in July.  Our friend, Lubos the fireman, is the right defender for Tachov.  And we might add, he played extremely well.  During the game the ball got kicked into the stands by one of the hunky football players, and Teresa caught it.  She had to give the ball back, but she hasn't washed her hands since!  Though both teams had some good chances, and Lubos himself almost scored, the match ended in a 0-0 tie.  It was beautiful weather for the game (it had rained earlier in the day, so we were pretty certain it would not rain again - it rains only once each day here it seems).

This morning started with worship at church - a full house was assembled with not an empty seat to be had in the small sanctuary.  While our last Sunday in Tachov will be next Sunday, the church gave us an official send-off this morning because next Sunday Pastor Milan and many of the church members will be away at the Royal Rangers camp.  We were touched by the heartfelt appreciation that was expressed.  Following church we enjoyed a delicious lunch invitation at the home of Vladimir and Helena, two church members who have translated for us often.  Our boys enjoyed playing with their children, while we had a chance to get aquainted and to talk more about Tachov, Czech history and politics, and of course the world economy and a little about American government as well.  Great people, great food, and interesting conversations (pretty emblematic of our experience here).

Some photos:

Phil with his great aunt (Tante) Trudel on her 91st birthday.

 Daniel on his 10th birthday.

FC Tachov in blue playing in the city stadium against Tabor in red.



Teresa, Phil, Eric, Joachim, Daniel and Anna enjoying the match.  Our Daniel was the photographer.

Svihov Castle.

 Building a teepee. It takes 11 large poles (small trees) and a huge canvas to make one teepee. 



Three of the five teepees, partially finished.  Each teepee will hold 3 double beds and a fire pit in the center.

 Building the mess tent.

Days 42-45

On Sunday morning we had the opportunity to be part of a wonderful worship service.  It was a service designed for people who know little or nothing about the church.  At every point along the service, the church lay leader would give a brief commentary about what was to come next, why we do it, and how it draws us closer to God as Christians.  Whether it was a song, a prayer, the scripture reading, or the offering – everything was given a context within our worship and our Christian experience.  Fancy churchy words like “doxology” and “liturgical” were either explained or omitted.  A number of people who are unfamiliar with the church were invited, and indeed 5 first-time visitors attended.  The church was left set up the way it had been the day before for the tea room, so it was a cozy, non-threatening atmosphere.  It was a great example of how the church can recognize that it speaks a strange language to outsiders, and how it can respond.

We told Pastor Milan that this is something we will suggest in our own church in Sterling – perhaps attached to a direct mailing to families in our immediate neighborhood.  The congregation, which as we have said before is highly tuned to the need for outreach to be part of its fiber, was very receptive and supportive.  In fact, the suggestion was made to use the more informal “tea room” approach more often.  After the service, tea and cake were served, allowing anyone with questions to discuss them while seated at a candle-lit table.

Rewinding 1100 years, we went with Pastor Milan and his family to Plzen in the afternoon on Sunday to visit a castle and an old church.  Every time that begins to sound routine (there are SO MANY castles and old churches here – all of which are worthy of a visit), it turns out we stumbled upon the oldest intact building in the Czech Republic.  Okay, “stumbled upon” is the wrong wording, since this was orchestrated of course by Milan and Dana.  The church, a Romanesque circular stone building called the Rotunda, was built in the 900’s in what is now called Stare Plzenec (Old Pilzen).  It was part of an old settlement that became home to an important feudal nobleman, 8 churches, and more recently, Milan’s parents.  The orchestration continued when Milan’s mom just happened to know the lady who has the keys to the Rotunda, so she met us on the mountain to open the small building for us - a rare treat since it is usually only opened one Sunday morning a month. 

Inside the church was a beautiful tiled floor.  The tiles depicted two themes – one was a winged animal described in the book of Revelation, and the other was the head of Emperor Nero, the Roman Emperor who killed so many Christians.  It might seem strange to seemingly pay tribute to Nero in this way.  However, the tiles symbolized that the worshipers would forever walk on Nero’s head, or in short that God ultimately triumphed over Nero.  It brings to mind the bumper sticker that says, “God is dead. – Nietzsche, 1882.  Nietzsche is dead. – God, 1900.”  God always wins.  It was actually pretty moving to walk on Nero’s head – not out of some sadistic sense of 2000 year-old vengeance or something, but simply as a humble reminder of Christianity’s unshakeable foundation – something recognized and understood throughout the millennia, and beautifully explained at that morning’s tea room worship service.

Oh, and the castle was not too shabby either!  Not a bad way to spend one’s 10^th birthday!  Happy Birthday Daniel!  We ended the day at a shopping mall (a fitting way to bridge the millennia once again) eating a cheeseburger and buying a small Lego set or two to round out Daniel’s birthday celebration.  Yes, it’s true, after seven weeks we broke down and bought a cheeseburger!  At least it wasn’t from McDonalds or Burger King!

On Monday we met again with the ladies’ English class – a small group this week because of various vacations.  Now we just returned from a quick jog to Germany to celebrate Phil’s great aunt’s 91^st birthday.  This was a joyful occasion.  Because she is currently homebound after a small stroke, she was especially appreciative of our company.   The visit from her church’s visitation representative on her birthday was a welcome surprise, and re-emphasized to us the importance of the ministry to homebound and shut-in people.

Tonight we are back in Tachov, where English students await, as well as possible participation in the work day to prepare for the Royal Rangers camp starting in about a week.  Two of Phil’s German cousins will also be visiting us over the weekend, so it promises to be a full schedule. 

Some photos:

The mayor of Tachov (center) opening the Historic Festival.



The bearers of Tachov's coat of arms who would head up the parade.

Some of the parade's participants preparing to march in their period costumes.

Who said a string bass can't be part of a marching band?  It only took 3 people to play it!

One of two troops of baton girls in the parade.

Remember how we bragged about the fire department's state of the art equipment?  This is their fully operational horse-drawn (tractor-drawn for this parade) steam fire pumper.  The firemen are in their traditional turn of the century uniforms.

Anna K., the Czech pop star, singing at the festival.

The Rotunda in old Pilzen.

The tile floor inside the Rotunda.

Days 39, 40 and 41

Bike Camp ended on Friday night with a musical/drama program given by the camp participants.  For a bunch of sports camp participants, these kids and adults broke out into some beautiful song!  There is definitely some musical talent around here.  The best part was some of the musical instruments that came out to accompany the singing.  Sure, you had the standards - the guitar, the keyboard... and then you had the violin, the flute and the bassoon!  It was really stunning.  We're not sure we would have thought to bring a bassoon to an intensive week of biking, but we were glad someone did.

On Friday we also spent some time helping to set up the church to become a "Tea Room".  This was an event that was held on Saturday as part of the annual town historical festival.  The tea room is an evangelism project of the church, where the congregation members offer tea and pastries at no charge to anyone who would like to escape the hustle and bustle of the town festival for a few minutes.  The tea room will be followed on Sunday morning with a special worship service to introduce those who are not familiar with Christianity to the church.  This year was the first attempt to offer the tea room and special worship service, so hopes are high that it will be successful.

First a little bit about the town historical festival - then we can get back to the tea room.   The "Historické Slavnosti v Tachově" (Historical Celebration in Tachov) has been held each year for the past 148 years, one of the firemen told us.  It involves a main stage in the town square with bands and performances, lots and lots of vendors, carnival rides, a parade, and a short fireworks display at the end.  Think of it as Sterlingfest on a grander scale.

One of the highlights was that the fire department brought their trucks to the old firehouse downtown, where they also pulled out their large ladder truck.  They invited Phil and Daniel to step onto the platform at the top of the ladder, and they were raised 32 meters into the air (today the number we were given was 32 meters), for a bird's-eye view of the town.  It was every bit of 32 meters from that perspective!  It was a beautiful day of sunshine and white puffy clouds.  (Of course, there are always white puffy clouds here - it's just that they are usually laden with rain.)  We've attached some photos below.

On stage we saw a performance by Anna K., one of the pop stars of the Czech Republic.  We hadn't heard of her either, but then, we don't spend all that much time listening to Czech radio stations in Sterling.   Maybe we should.  She was pretty good.  We even caught a word or two here and there to know when she was singing a love song.

We think the tea room went well.  There seemed to be interest, particularly in the afternoon.  To our surprise the Czechs were not interested in drinking tea at 10:00 AM.  We thought they always drink tea, but alas, that turned out to be a myth.  There were some new faces that were clearly not from our congregation, as well as some of the firemen and other English students who stopped by.  Phil opted out of tea and ordered a warm pineapple juice instead.  If you've never had pineapple juice warm, you should try it sometime.  It was nice to see how the church here has outreach into the community as part of its DNA. 

Some pictures:

Some of the youth musicians at bike camp, playing flawlessly after riding 30+ miles that morning.

 One of the skits from the bike camp participants on the closing night.

 A unique view of Tachov from the top of the fully extended fire truck ladder.

 

 A unique view of Phil and Daniel at the top of the fully extended fire truck ladder.

 Bird's eye view of Tachov.

 The tea room in what is usually the church sanctuary (tree added for effect).

Next time we'll post pictures from the festival and parade.

Days 36, 37 and 38

Bailey's and Bike Campy!

We haven't usually titled the blog entries, but this one just seemed to have a nice ring to it! 

Bailey's is the famous pizza restaurant in Tachov that everyone has mentioned to us at least once during our stay.  We've actually only been to two restaurants in Tachov this whole time - the pub where Phil went with the firemen, and Bailey's.  Bailey's is famous here for two reasons:  they make good pizza, and they have delivery cars that will bring the pizza to your home.  While in many American towns we are familiar with this type of delivery service, in a small Czech town like Tachov, it is a noteworthy exception.  And we must say, the pizza really was quite good.  But you have to be careful when ordering, because Europeans are not shy about what they put on their pizza - tuna fish, corn, chicken, sardines, blue cheese... Fortunately the menu was in Czech and German, so Phil was able to steer the boys clear of a great disappointment after 6 weeks of illustrious promises about Bailey's pizza.  

Why were we at Bailey's?  English class of course!  The ladies' group chose this as the location for this week's lesson.  Do you get the sense they enjoy having a good time together?  Indeed they do.  Last week they said goodbye to one of their members, Petra the forest ranger, who moved to England.  She is in England for training, before she will move to Africa to do conservation work there for two years.  Hopefully her English studies prepared her well.  We feel she was quite proficient.

Much of the rest of the week has been focused on Bike Campy.  It is a Methodist youth camp being held about 10 miles south of Tachov where the emphasis is on biking.  Phil gave the evening devotions several times, to which Teresa and the boys expressed some feelings of deja vu.  Okay, so he borrowed from some of his youth camp talks a little... He was pleased though, when over the past few days the topics he discussed were still being mentioned during testimony times by the camp participants.

Like all sports, they take biking VERY seriously.  Biking 60 km (40 miles) in a day at a fast pace up and down mountains is standard.  Daniel and Phil went on Tuesday to ride with the group.  About a minute and a half into the ride (well actually not that long) it became clear that this was not a pace we could maintain, so we told Filip, the team leader who was hanging back with us, to go on ahead and that we would do our own smaller tour.  Our smaller tour became a 33 kilometer (20 mile) ride all through the beautiful countryside south of Tachov.  Except for the one mountain, which was about 3 km straight uphill, Daniel did superbly!  We are extremely proud of him, as this was his first major bike trip.  All in all, with several breaks and a lunch stop at a roadside picnic table, we spent a nice half day on the road (and one mountain dirt track through the woods which we took as a shortcut to avoid another long climb).  Our hand-held GPS kept us on track and away from getting too far lost.  Being on the bikes allowed us to get up close to some wildlife such as hawks and a few deer that ran across the road right in front of us.  We also saw some old men hunting for mushrooms in the woods, but they didn't look too wild.

At the bike camp there is a small group from Tennessee who are riding along as part of their mission trip experience.  We have enjoyed getting to know them a bit, and Phil showed them around Tachov one afternoon.  After being with them it reminded us of how we were when we first came to Tachov, and it has become clear to us how much we have already learned and experienced here in just under six weeks.

Some pictures:

Daniel and Eric with the Bailey's car.  The first time we tried to pose them for this photo the delivery driver came out, jumped in the car, and zipped away, so we had to wait until he came back.

Getting ready to ride.  This is the first and only shot we got of some of the group of about 20 riders before they hit the road.  The start was very hectic, and then no further opportunities presented themselves as all we saw were little dots riding into the distance.

 Phil taking a break on the trail early on in the ride, at about the 10 km mark.

 Daniel after about 23 km, still able to stand up straight.

Back at the home base for evening devotions.  The man standing is Radim, one of the two camp leaders, and the generous man who lent us the car.