July 15, 2013

A very full day of driving from Cologne, Germany  to Klatovy, Czech Republic for the Czech Out Party / Launch #2  at Klenova Castle!

The drive through Germany was full of gentle rolling hills, farm fields (perfect for glider land-outs), red roofed homes, and a few solar array fields and windmill farms.

One of our teammates departed the bus today – Eric Krause – who had to head back to Chicago for work. Plans for him to come with us to the Czech Out Party did not materialize due to our unplanned stop in Frankfurt (to acquire the new spot tracker) and the slow speed of the bus. (We did set a new top speed record for the bus today of 58 MPH – DOWNHILL!)  We dropped Eric off at the bus station in Plzn around 7:30pm so he could make it up to Prague for his flight tomorrow.  Plnz has some beautiful architecture, but also has some that is a stark reminder that we are now in what was once a soviet bloc country.

We rolled into Klatovy around 9p.  Don’s harrowing steep drive down the forested 1 lane pot-holed access road from the castle down to the campground had us all thinking he was going to string Buddy, The Adventurist Emcee from the Bodiam launch, up by his ankles when we saw him for for this choice road of entry.  (We later discovered – on our way out the next morning – of course – a much more favorable route for the bus!)

We quickly set up camp before total darkness ensued, and hiked back up the hill to the Castle entrance and the party.  Inside, plenty of food & alcohol was on hand to nourish the Ralliers after 2 very long days of driving to get here from the UK (nearly 800 km!).  The views were wonderful, the rave cave w/lasers and electronic music was filled to capacity with the 20-something’s dancing all out, the rest of us explored the castle grounds meeting more new ralliers & catching up with the other teams on what they’d all gotten into (and out of)  so far.

The best offering of the night came at 11pm when a group of fire spinners took to the castle grounds and memorized the crowd with their finesse.  The most awesome was the finale with the poi spark spinners. – (And as soon as I figure out how to add the video I will)

The after party down at the campground in the military hangar, and at the bus, were nearly all night affairs, including Sarah giving over 100 tours of the bus!.  Alas, a la a night in Vegas, the stories should likley remain in the journal, and not here (something about Absinthe, a bus roof dance photo shoot,  failed sobriety tests…) I woke the next morning to a group of guys playing golf through / around our tents.

We decided to skip the 2nd launch shenanigans and get on the road early and head for Budapest and another very long day of driving.