DJ - Welcome to our update. Today we'd like to tell you the rest of the story. It's normal in life and pleasing to be able to put the emphasis on the positive and tell about all the good things that happen, such as the fact we were able to cross the United States from New York to San Francisco to begin the first leg of our trip Around The World without any problems in a manner that was really quite smooth and uneventful except for a deflated tire in Nevada on our final day. But that's only part of the story. The other part of the story is that there were a lot of obstacles to be dealt with in getting the car to New York from California. So I thought I would share with you what some of those obstacles were and how on a trip like this one, has to improvise and deal with things as they come up.

There in fact were four obstacles and problems that arose in getting across the country not once, but twice. The car left California headed for Wisconsin with the intent of arriving on Monday in Manhattan. But en route to Wisconsin from California, where the improvements to the car had been made in the last several months, the car in the high Sierras of California had a mechanical failure. The analysis of the failure by Carl and Alan was that repairs could not be made in Susanville, California and so the car had to be towed on a transport dolly by means of a rental vehicle to LaCrosse, Wisconsin in a garage where Alan Bobillot made the necessary repairs to the cylinder of the engine. There was some question when that happened whether we'd be able to get to New York in time at all. But that was dealt with in a timely way and thanks to the skills of Alan Bobillot we were able to leave Wisconsin on Sunday morning and head for New York.

But an uneventful trip was not to be because the car, late Sunday night at about 11 PM on the Pennsylvania interstate stopped running correctly. We had to pull over onto the shoulder of road and call 911 and have the car towed into a back woods garage where it was worked on during the night. Repairs appear to have been made and we proceeded on, headed early Monday morning into New York City.

But within eyesight of New York, in New Jersey, the car at midday on Monday in intense heat on the interstate highway, with bumper-to-bumper traffic decided to not operate properly again. So we had no choice but to pull off of the interstate, the New Jersey turnpike, into downtown Newark, New Jersey. As we entered what is one of America's most difficult urban environments, we weren't quite sure what was going to become of us. However we had the good fortune of coming in contact with the Nesbitt Garage operated by Mike Allora and his mechanical team right in the center of downtown Newark, New Jersey. Within a few hours of work they were able to make improvements to the engine and the electrodistribution and send us on our way into Manhattan. We thought that would be the end of our difficulties, but that was not to be, because later that evening when we went to start the car, the starter had failed. So with the extraordinary efforts of Mike Allora from Newark who came into midtown Manhattan the car was push started because of the failure of the starter and it was then driven back to Newark, New Jersey and the Nesbitt Garage. We needed the car the next morning, Tuesday, July 15th for the starting ceremonies in Times Square. However, the company manufacturing and repairing the starter for the '54 Packard couldn't have it in time and so it was decided to push start the car and drive into Manhattan and to perform the ceremony for the departure and then be on our way. However we had to stop first back in Newark to have the starter installed and final tune-ups made to the car and that was done.

And so it was at 3 o'clock on Tuesday, July 15th we were able to leave the New York metropolitan area and to proceed across the United States to San Francisco without any difficulty. And it was all because of the learning we had achieved in dealing with the previous mechanical problems of the automobile. We did have one obstacle to deal with when we got up Friday morning with the intent of entering San Francisco that day. We found at 7:30 in the morning that the car had a deflated tire. So we had to deal with that and that required an hour, which set us back in our schedule. We found that a stem on a tire had allowed the air to leak and that everything else with the tire was OK. Repairs were made and we arrived in San Francisco 2 days, 21 hours and 19 minutes after we departed Times Square in New York.

Well it's been pleasant to say in response to how did the first stage of the trip go from New York to San Francisco and say that it went well. But that was only part of the story and we thought you would enjoy hearing the rest because these journeys are very much life, there are obstacles and problems to be dealt with and that's like the satisfaction and joy of the journey.

There were obstacles to be dealt with in getting the car shipped on its way to China and we're very distressed and it's bothersome to have to report that our chief mechanic, Alan Bobillot was involved in a personal injury automobile accident in Eureka, California 48 hours before the car was to leave for the Oakland docks. Alan's injuries were to his head and to his hands. The doctors have advised him to take 30 days to heal. As a result, some of the last minute refinements and adjustments to the car were placed in the hands of others. While we're confident that everything is in good shape with the car, we're concerned and sorry that Alan Bobillot who began this project, was not able to see it through to the final moment. Alan is at home resting and healing at this time and we're very grateful for all that he has done and we're counting on him getting well very soon.

That's an update here at midweek. We will continue to keep these updates current over the next few weeks as the countdown begins from the first of August for our departure at the end of August for Peking. Meanwhile the automobile is safely on board a sailing vessel on the Pacific en route to mainland China. That's today's update. Thanks for joining us.