No more stops for wildlife!

Yesterday, we were driving along backcountry Czech roads, enjoying the rolling green hills dotted with red tile roofs. I love that every little town has a clock tower punctuating its skyline!
We had just stopped at a castle that had some birds on display. My guess is that the somewhat shady man smoking a cigarette not too far away with the large leather gloves would put on a show with the hawk, and other birds of prey. However, when we were there they were all tied to their own stump, the hawk even had blinders on.
As we turned a corner in our car, I noticed the wingspan of a large bird swooping down to a tree, so I slammed on the breaks and threw it into reverse and turned down the hawk's street. We turned off the engine and rolled in, as to be sneaky! We got a pretty good look, before the bird noticed our bright red car (not great for wildlife stalking!) and flew off. But, we got to watch those huge wings power off into the sky.

I put the car back in reverse to turn around, and was watching for traffic out on our bigger road, when I felt the back tires slip off the road! We had already been commenting on how deep the ditches in the Czech Republic are, and now we were about to really find out! Luckily, I was driving so the other three hopped out, Jen without shoes, and got behind the car. We had cooked up our plan of attack when a Czech lady drove up and started shouting questions in Czech. When she realized we only spoke English, the pity and amuzement filled her face, and she also ran to the back of the car.

When I felt the wheels slip the first time, my hands had done a little flying for the emergency break, and in the process I had turned on the windshield wipers. So the girls are all in the back trying to hold the car, and getting their fingers hit by the back wiper. They start hollering to fix it before moving the car. I started pushing buttons and moving the extra sticks on the steering wheel, but all they really got was shot by the wiper fluid! Luckily, we were laughing hysterically!

Because I am such a fabulous stick car driver, and I know special tricks with the emergency break, and because of my great defensive line in the back, we got the car on the road no problem. Crisis averted! And we made a new Czech friend!

Next time a bird's shadow crosses our dashboard, we will pretend it didn't happen!