Day 11: Riding at a Snail's Pace ... on Purpose ... Because it's Our Last Day on the Bikes? 

(Or will our saddle-weary tushes welcome a well-deserved rest!)

Day 11, An Easy Ride to Melnik, Then a Bus Ride to Magical Prague

As Sylvia Mabe (rear) looks on, Elliot Kaufman can't believe his luck! He's been hungering for escargot ever since he left Chicago. And now, it's within his grasp, right there on the Elbe River bike path ...

   Triumph but with regret. You can imagine it was like this for Lewis and Clark's Corps of Discovery in November 1805, when America's most famous explorers floated down the Columbia River and reached the Pacific Ocean after a two-year journey. Our party of 18, plus Group Leader Dirk Broeren and wingman Carl Heinz Schneider, was within 17 miles of the end of our journey (at least on bikes) when we climbed on our two-wheelers and began pedaling this morning after 11 days on the Elbe. The mood of the group was mixed — pensive, melancholy, relieved, joyful, plain weary.

    It was a gray morning as we pedaled toward the Renaissance Lobkowitz Chateau, owned since 1739 by the family of the same name, at the confluence of the Elbe and

Nan Ottenritter has a red light, but she doesn't mind the greenery.

Vltava rivers. I'll admit to a mixed bag of emotions. I had been out of the United States for two weeks on two previous occasions, when my career as a sportswriter brought me to the 1991 Pan-American Games in Cuba and to the 1992 Barcelona Summer Olympics. That was 22 years ago and I was a relative youngster. I think veteran travelers will agree that spending time away from home is a learned endeavor, both mentally and physically. I was in great biking shape. But I was out of shape for the mental part of it. So, yes, I was looking forward to being home in a few days. On the other hand, I wasn't ready to part with the enjoyable dinner conversations with Nan; with the wry wit of Elliot or Kate's omnipresent enthusiasm; with Nancy's infectious spirit — with any of the unique traits of every one of these new friends. I wasn't done getting to know them.

    Camaraderie like this, on adventures of all kinds, whether in a Road Scholar group or

Leah Hayes and Jay Schneider take a break in the Czech countryside.

with another group, is what spawns talk, as an adventure winds down, of the group reassembling for another adventure — "Let's do this next year, all of us!" We certainly talked about doing that. We talked about how much fun it would be to choose something palatable to all of us, most likely on a bike, perhaps on a bike and barge, a year from now. A number of our new friends had ridden in years past on the Danube on a Road Scholar program, "Bicycling Along the Danube." In fact, Sue Walker was on that Danube program some 20 years earlier and, if you can believe it, her Group Leader was ... drum roll ... wait for it ... Dirk Broeren! That's correct, and Dirk remembered Sue! Will we all reassemble at some point? Will a smattering of us reassemble? Who knows, because we shared emails, and I knew some of us would stay in touch.

    And so it was such thoughts that were on the back burner, I'm sure for many of us, as we cruised up

Doggone it! Dick Morasch (left) isn't interested in any sheperding.

the river to our destination, the aforementioned Lobkowitz Chateau, less than an hour north of Prague.

     Formally the Melnik Chateau, the chateau was originally wooden and was rebuilt with stone in the 10th century. In the 13th century, it got a Gothic makeover and was the home of 23 Czech queens and princesses. In 1753, the Lobkowicz era began.

The Lobkowitz Chateau is sittin' pretty.

During World War II, the Nazis took control of the chateau. Then, in 1948, it was nationalized and the family was forced to leave the country. The chateau was returned to the clan in 1992. Inside the chateau are valuable pieces of art and historical furnishings. One of my favorite works was the Big Hall, where detailed 17th-century maps of countries and European towns are exhibited, including Paris, London, Venice, Vienna, Florence and Madrid.

We sat down for a nice lunch after exploring the chateau, then it was time to make our way a

Kay, Kate, Jay and Elliot prepare to depart.

quarter-mile downhill to a parking lot where our bus awaited us for the one-hour ride into Prague to the exhilarating final day of our adventure. A heavy downpour chased us down the hill (really, Mother Nature!?!???). When we first rode up to this parking lot on our bikes a couple hours earlier, it was dry — and least in the skies. I didn't look around too carefully to see if their were any visible tears as all of us adventurers handed our bikes over to Carl Heinz Schneider. We all hugged Carl, because he was heading back north to deliver

Carl and Dirk make final tallies.

the bikes to their next destination. Same with John and Bettina Caffrey, who weren't joining us for the final two nights in Prague, instead meeting up with their family for a two-week cruise. My memory of that final day with our old friends, the bikes? It was Sylvia Mabe giving her bike a well-earned thank-you kiss. And shortly after, we boarded a bus that would get us into Prague by day's end. I think we were all eager to spend our final two nights in the magnificent capital of the Czech Republic.

After riding tall in the saddle for 10 days, Sylvia Mabe leaned down to give her bicycle a gracious goodbye.

Elliot's Day's Biking Total: 17 miles.