DJ - Welcome to Paris. 24 to 36 hours have passed and the history books will record that the first private passenger automobiles have traveled across the Himalayas and Tibet, visited the Silk Route and traveled from Peking to Paris for the first time since 1907/1908. And the 1954 Packard is on its way back to America, having completed that portion of our journey around the world. Well we offer some reflections today and some comments now that life is resuming its normal pace. That's right, being on a trip around the world is not normal. There's a lot to be said for normalcy. So we will reflect today on the competition of the Motor Challenge, the Auto Rally, tell you a little about what's occurred to us since the completion and our grand entry into Paris on Saturday and our look forward to the future.

With regard to the future, we've been asked how long the web site will be available and it's our intent, during the course of this week, to complete some reflections and fill in some of the information that we'd like to be able to add to information that we've given in the past, but were not able to expound or to elaborate too much about. So we'll get through this week with some additional commentary. Next week we'll be adding some of the really poignant visual experiences. It would be our estimate right now that the web site will be available, for certain, through the month of November and very likely through the end of the calendar year.

About the competitive aspects of the Motor Challenge, it seems to me as an objective observer and a participant that the Americans did quite well. That comes as a surprise to many because motor rallying is considered to be a European dominated activity and in fact, the world champions in competitive motor rallying are typically Europeans, and at the current moment a driver by the name of Michael Schumacher is the world rally driver champion. In any event, the Americans who participated in the competition were in the minority. Predominantly the participants were European. But for the Americans, the American women, Linda Dodwell and Genny Obert won the all ladies competition. The team competition was won by the 1950 Ford Coupe from Birmingham, Alabama driven by Ted Thomas, John Jung, Andy Vann and Vic Zannis. The American team in the vintage Bentley, Bill Benny and Ted Thompson from New Hampshire did very well in the vintage competition. And American automobile technology, by in large, was at the top of the successful competitive cars. Predominantly, Ford heritage technology. The winning vehicle was a 1940's Ford Willys Jeep driven by two men from Great Britain. The second vehicle being a 1950 Ford from Birmingham, Alabama. Another competitive vehicle was a Cortina from Great Britain, which is essentially a Ford with a British label. So American automobiles, mechanically, were in the forefront of the competition. As I recall, about 14 Americans began the journey. My recollection at the moment is about 8 were able to complete the total journey. Anyone who participated, however, was considered to be a successful participant in a very unusual odyssey from Peking to Perish. I keep saying Perish because along the way, you often thought that was going to be your destiny and whether it was the goal of getting to Paris or the fear of failing, all of those things kept you going.

We've been asked when there might be another Peking to Paris event. All I can say is there has not been one in 90 years. There was some speculation that on the 100th anniversary in 10 years, someone might attempt to do something to repeat the event, but there are many who believe that it will likely not ever happen again. The reasons have to do with global politics and with the public policy attitudes of a number of the countries, primarily China. Traveling through China and into Tibet and over the Himalayas was a major accomplishment which required a great deal of diplomacy on the part of the British organizers. Automobile history was made and we're told probably it will be recorded in the Guinness World Book of Records in that private passenger automobiles are not normal and not allowed in Tibet and to cross the Himalayas in any automobile at the altitude of 16,000 - 17,000 feet is an extraordinary achievement, both for the automobile and for the people.

I have an opportunity to look at some of the still photos of the trip and I can see from those photos that they really do not capture the difficulty and the danger of many of the circumstances. I can also see how these commentaries and the use of word pictures does an awful lot to explain first hand what has occurred, what took place and what it was like, maybe even more vividly than a photograph. I do anticipate, with a lot of excitement, the videos that will be edited and compiled about the journey. I expect that they, as much as any media, will be able to expose and to share beyond the spoken word and still photography what it was like. I think that even the participants themselves will probably be quite amazed at the creativity and the ingenuity that many of the video crews who accompanied the journey, from Britain, from France and other countries, will be able to portray in forthcoming video productions. We're told that those will be available probably by November. A number may find their way onto public television in Europe and the United States.

The Jones family has spent the last 24 hours becoming familiar with the great city of Paris. We had the delightful experience last evening of strolling in the Louvre Museum where there are acres and acres of things to see and not enough time. So we selectively chose to see first hand the extraordinary work of art, the Mona Lisa, the Venus of Milo statuary from Greek tradition, a lot of Greek and Roman statuary dating back 4,000 - 6,000 years, great paintings from the time of Jesus and 200 years thereafter. The scale of the paintings is enormous, just absolutely huge. And we had a chance to pass by the Arc de Triumphe, the champs Elysees, and of course the Eiffel Tower, and then there's the Cathedral of Notre Dame which inspired the Hunchback of Notre Dame. Here in Paris it's Fall, cool, actually cold weather, cloudy, but that doesn't deter anyone from showing affection. It seems to be in the air for people to do a lot of hugging, embracing and kissing in any public place. So Paris retains its allure as a city of romance, as a city of pretty intense culinary opportunities and a city where people sort of take things in stride. There seems to be an element of tension in an urban environment like this as well. Unlike what we experienced when we traveled across many countries where people are forthcoming with their feelings and their emotions. But it's a great city and great to be here with family and to experience these discoveries.

The 1954 Packard is at the Charles de Gaulle Airport awaiting transit by containe. The '54 Packard will be sent to a sea port along the Hudson river at New York and New Jersey where it will be claimed and driven once again back to Times Square in New York, completing the absolute total journey around the world. I must confess that there is a slight scar on the Packard. We were able to drive nearly 15,000 miles without having any serious accidental damage to the car other than some damage done by stones and road surface conditions. But here in Paris, where there's a lot of stop-and-go traffic and where pedestrians kind of dictate the pace in which automobiles can go through the city, the Packard came in contact with the back of a Paris taxi. Damage was limited the lens on the taxi and a little bit of a scrape and dent in the middle of the right front bumper of the Packard. So I guess it's appropriate that it would happen in such a place after the challenges of the long distance motor challenge. But I wanted to admit that before Carl, who has now returned to California, heard it second hand.

I think that is kind of an overview what our thoughts are this time. We'll close out by, doing as we have in the past, acknowledging a lot of E-Mail that many of you have shared with us to express your feelings. We received from Don and Donna Klein in New Berlin, Wisconsin congratulations and well as the G's of the Schneider family and Bellevue, Washington. Jack Shanahan tells us that he's enjoyed the rally and is looking forward to more in the future, maybe with his own involvement. Liz Dykstra from Billings, Montana tells us she might come to Times Square to be with us to celebrate there. Christopher Schneider sent us along an E-Mail and we want him to know we received it. As for the clothing we wore on the journey, we received many compliments from people all over the world. And in fact, many people had asked us if we'd be kind enough to give them a shirt of the type that our team wore in the competition. That clothing was made possible by Mike and Mary Walrath of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin. We want them to know that the preparation of our logo and our team apparel was a big hit with people from all over the world. Randy Proudfit from Iron Mountain, Michigan tells us that he's checked in on the journey and wishes he could be here. One of the outstanding entrepreneurs of Wisconsin, a man who has achieved a lot in his business career, Jerry Mielke of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin sends us along congratulations and tells us he's enjoyed the documentation of the trip. Dee and Bro Park from Grampton, New Hampshire are quite proud of the Binnie and Thompson team in the vintage Bentley and send along their comments and tell us how they've enjoyed following the journey. We've had very heart felt E-Mail and faxes from our fellow competitors, Chic and Arlene Kleptz of Dayton, Ohio and Mary and Pat Brooks of Iowa and as we have said before and we say again, their adversity was an inspiration to all of us and we want them to know that they are very much a part of Peking to Paris. Our nephew, Jeff Jones, sends regards from LaCrosse, Wisconsin and our Aunt Rita in Cleveland, Ohio has been successful with linking us with a member of our family on my Mother's side who moved to Paris and recently was married and tonight we're going to have the pleasure of having dinner with Janet and Dr. Vlad here in Paris. Janet being the daughter of my Mother's sister. As you travel the world, there's added pleasure to discover close ties with people, many whom you would not otherwise have reason to know or meet or to spend time with. Lynda Jones and her family from Springfield, Illinois, my brother and sister-in-law have been very loyal and very close to the journey as a result of keeping up with our daily account. Alan and Shari Grinnell of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin have wished us a safe return home and enjoyed following the journey and we're glad that that's been added to their life. Sr. Judith at Marian College and all of the folks at Marian are delighted with the feat, the dream and the journey and are using technology to stay in touch. We're all stretching ourselves, as Sr. Judith says, trying to be better people and better human beings. And of course, there's our number one Internet fan and communicator, Dawn O'Bar, whose going to need her own web site some day to communicate with here many contacts around the country and the world. We send regards to one and all from Paris.

We will this week complete the reflections and commentary on Iran. An extraordinary experience for Americans, a very positive one, one that helps give more prospective on international relations and on what it's like to be an American in this part of the world at this time in the 1990's. With that, we'll say au revoir from Paris, France and we'll have further updates for you during the course of this week. Don and Carl, soon to be back in the United States of America, and proud to have completed Peking to Paris safe and sound. We're now onto Times Square and the completion of our dream of a journey around the world. So long until the next time.