DJ - Welcome back to the update. Today we'd like to share with you some current news and events. To do that I'd like to describe that for me travel is a throwback to childhood and connecting the dots. To explain what I mean, I recall as a child enjoying using coloring books and books that contained images with dots that had to be connected by drawing from one dot to the other. When the dots were completed, you had a full picture and image. The relevancy of that childhood recollection is that as an adult I find that travel experiences are like connecting the dots - a picture is completed. What I mean by that is that as you travel and as you interact with the people throughout the country, throughout the world, throughout your local community in fact, you get a more complete understanding, perceptions begin to be formed based on reality. As you travel about the world, you go about and connect the dots and the image that you're receiving could be one of culture, it could be one of economy, it could be one of trends in technology, it could be one about politics, both domestic and international, could be one about the social well being and humanistic conditions of people who, like you, are citizens of the planet. And so I'd like to connect the dots for you, or illustrate for you how I go about that process. On one of the accounts of the travel across the United States we described for you the road kill of deer in Pennsylvania. There were so many deer along the road that you couldn't help but notice it. Now ordinarily that would be sort of a non event and not of any particular significance. However, such minor things often have a way of becoming part of your greater understanding and you can relate to things that occur after the fact, such as the lead editorial in the New York Times last Saturday, July 26th that was entitled "Bambi The Pest". And mind you this is the lead editorial. It is above Resuscitating The Mideast Peace Talks, which is an editorial that followed. The significance of this editorial is that it speaks about the fact that there are 27 million deer roaming through woodlands and into the suburbs of the Northeast. Last year more than 100 people werekilled and nearly 500,000 motor vehicles collided with deer. Deer overpopulation has become a vexing issue in the Northeast and currently there are nearly one million deer in New York state alone, up from roughly 300,000 in 1954. The editorial says that to stabilize the population, approximately 200,000 must be removed annually. The main problem is in developed areas. Indeed there are denser deer populations in some suburbs than in the Adirondack State Park. The editorial goes on to explain that the animal rights activists prefer an experimental technology called Immunocontraception or birth control for female deer. The deer is injected either by blow dart or after being tranquilized. The contraceptives are not immediately practical in areas with dense deer populations because it could take 3 to 15 years before a community sees a significant reduction. Meanwhile the New York state legislature has appropriated $150,000 to study the effectiveness of deer contraceptives in two counties. The editorial concludes in the New York Times, "Vigorous action is clearly needed. Deer population in many areas is out of control. Authorities have no choice but to reduce the herds." For me when I saw that editorial I recalled the comment that we shared with you as we traveled from New York to San Francisco. The comment being significant number of deer were lying along the highway in Pennsylvania. That, for me, was connecting the dots. Filling out a picture based on the observation of traveling through Pennsylvania and seeing for ourselves a very significant number of deer dead lying along the highway and this editorial points out that it's not just a casual matter. A hundred were killed and nearly a half million motor vehicle collisions with deer. And thus, for me I learned and related to a significant problem in the Northeast part of the country.

Well we're now going to shift our attention to another part of the world and connect yet another dot. The itinerary for our trip between Beijing and New Delhi, India requires that we pass across and over The Roof of the World, as it's referred to, the Himalayas. And to do that we go to Katmandu and we spend three nights in Nepal. But before Katmandu, in Tibet and China there is the city of Lhasa, it is the capital of Tibet. There is one hotel in Lhasa and the arrangements for the journey provided for the Peking to Paris Motor Rally Challenge participants to stay at the Holiday Inn. But now comes a news release at 11:30 PM Friday night, August 1st from San Francisco, reporting that a nationwide boycott in the United States of Holiday Inn was instrumental in persuading the hotel chain to stop running the only hotel in Tibet, according to the San Francisco group fighting for Tibetan independence from China. Holiday Inn announced Friday it would end its business interest in the embattled region which has been under Chinese rule since the Dalai Lama fled the country in 1959. The chain's contract to run its hotel in Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, ends in October. Hotel officials say they don't plan to renew it. In 1993, the London based Free Tibet Campaign launched a boycott of Holiday Inn hotels, products and its parent company, the British brewer, Bass PLC. The campaign was having problems because Holiday Inn is centered in the States said the director for a Foundation pushing for Tibetan independence. In March more than 50 US based activist groups joined the boycott. Holiday Inn has no comment on the boycott's impact on their business. The Chinese government has claimed the region of Tibet as part of its territory for centuries. It's rule was stepped up in 1951 when Beijing sent troops into the region. Holiday Inn's presence in Tibet lent legitimacy to unfair Chinese rule according to a spokesman for the Boycott. Holiday Inn managers cooperated with Chinese security forces from insulating visitors from protests against China. So the question is will the Holiday Inn contract effect the status of that facility in Lhasa, Tibet and will we arrive in time before the Holiday Inn contract expires in October. And so before we even begin our journey, we begin to see the relevancy of international events to our passing through that very part of the world. And we look forward to connecting yet another dot.

In conclusion for today we have a weather report to share with you. As it's the first of August we've begun to monitor weather conditions in the area that we're going to be crossing. That weather report is based on information from The Weather Channel's web site which has a convenient listing of international weather forecasts. In Beijing, over this weekend, the temperatures range on Saturday from a high of 101 degrees with fair skies to Monday a high of 89 degrees. Now that sounds like summertime weather, however the humidity in Beijing is reported to be 97%. We may not have to take showers in Beijing. In Mongolia where we'll be passing Ulan Bator, the capital. The temperatures there are quite mild. A high of 80 on Saturday, high of 76 on Monday and things are partly cloudy in Ulan Bator. In Katmandu, Nepal the elevation is sort of similar to Denver, it's about 4,500 hundred. The have rain on Saturday, Sunday and Monday with temperatures ranging between 80 and 85 degrees. Looking further on down the road it's raining in New Delhi, India Saturday, Sunday and Monday with temperatures ranging between 89 and 95 degrees. Sounds like hot and humid and rainy, steaming conditions. It's going to be very critical to watch the monsoon conditions in northern India and Nepal. That will effect the run off in rivers that have no bridges that we have to cross. And looking further down the road to Karachi, Pakistan. They have hot and humid weather, 95 degrees. And in Ankara, Turkey the temperatures there are in the mid 80s and humidity is a mild 37%. Can't wait to get to Turkey. But, that's almost two months off, maybe 45 days.

That's the update for today. Disparate amount of information. I do want to close on a real update and positive piece of information about my co-driver, Carl. He received a very good medical report on Friday from his doctor. Blood pressure is in wonderful condition and medication necessary to avoid various illness and high altitude conditions have been made available. So Carl's fit as a fiddle.

That's the update. Thanks for coming along for this portion of the ride. There is more to come. Bye for now.