DJ - We bring you this update from halfway around the world in Lanzhou, China. We are joined on the update with our family and friends by some new friends who are traveling the route from Peking to Paris and had been planning a long time for this event. We welcome them to our network of family and friends. We are excited that their many friends, particularly the school children at Rogers School, will be able to both listen and read this account from Mary and Pat Brooks of Iowa, who are on this journey with their very marvelous, handsome Buick 1949 Woody station wagon. An automobile that is very typical of the very nostalgic post World War II time in American history. At the present time, 91 cars remain in the competition, the race began in Peking with 94. Three cars are out of the event and each day takes its toll on machinery as well as people, who have just completed a pleasant 24 hour day of rest. However, in a competitive event such as this that means that you have a lot of homework and preparation to do, just like in school. You prepare the car one more time. You unload it, check all of its contents, and then repack it again and get ready for another day's wondrous journey across this extraordinary country of China. That is the setting that we are in today as we bring you this report. Let me introduce to you Mary and Pat Brooks, who will give us their account of how the journey has been so far and their observations. Mary, welcome to our family and friends network.

Mary Brooks - Thank you for this opportunity to share some of our experiences. This has been a fantastic trip so far. My impressions up to this point have been that we have seen a country in transition and many contrasts. It's been like a journey of stepping back in time, instead of seeing horse power doing the work as we are so use to seeing, we are seeing man power. We see people working in fields, harvesting by hand, building roads and railroad crews out working on the tracks. There is a considerable amount of construction, new building going up, homes, shops. Also we have seen their energy source of coal mining, numerous trucks piled high with large chunks of coal being transported across the countryside. It has been just a fantastic site, seeing people working out by the fields plowing. The plowing that is being done is being done by donkeys, with people following behind. There are herdsman out caring for their sheep. We have been extremely impressed with the people that we have met as we have traveled through the small villages and communities. There is a real sense of joy and celebration as we pass through the streets. There is much enthusiasm, just a real sense of hope and future. The people have been extremely hospitable to us and it has been just a positive experience. Like I said there is the contrast of seeing things done by hand in part of this country and then seeing the other part of this country that seems to be exploding with progress in roads, construction and communication. We see people walking with their cellphones. New cars traveling these spectacular highways. It has been a fantastic trip. We have thoroughly enjoyed the adventure and feel that we have been very privileged to have this opportunity to see China. I think that my impression is that we are all looking for a balance. China has a spectacular beauty that is in their culture and yet we see that progress is moving rapidly into their society, which they are looking for to improve the health and well being of their people. But as we all know we can learn and share together and reach a goal of balance. I will turn this over to my husband now. Thank you so much. Pat Brooks - Well this is Pat Brooks and I would just add to that I have observed what I consider to be a disappearing way of life, with it, changes in transportation, agriculture, mode of dress and even the language. The younger people are speaking English. The three wheeled carts are in contrast to the donkeys and the automobiles and new roads. It's a change that will be affecting the Chinese way of life. Frankly, I think we are lucky to be here to see it before it all happens. I think ten or maybe fifteen years from now we won't be able to see most of the things that we have seen on this trip. And so it has been exciting and interesting. I think it was a great decision to come and do this. I am glad we are doing it. And I am glad we are doing it together. I am glad we are making new friends, Carl and Don among them. We are all sharing this trip and the adventure of it. Many people are struggling with their cars and a lot of people are under stress. They are handling it well. Looking to others for help and getting it. There has been a man who spent all day today trying to find a 12 volt regulator for a car and did not find it. He is going to drive on and we all will help him and eventually we will reach a point in this civilization when he can find it. We will keep him going until then. It has been interesting. We are going to go back to Don.

DJ - Well you both sound like the journey might be nearing an end, but we still have almost a month, when you think about it, to carry on here. So, the adventure has only begun. We have been using this opportunity on this telephone network and computer access to journal of these accounts to keep people participating with us in this experience. So, in that spirit let me give you some developments since we last spoke. There is another couple from Ohio, as part of the ten Americans that are in the event, Arlene and Chuck Kleptz, and they are operating a 1919 Marmon which is a car manufactured originally in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Kleptz's had a bad day yesterday. Their car went off the shoulder in a sand dune and got off the road and had to be maneuvered back on the highway with the help of a lot of the other participates. As if that was not enough, after they got back under way the car experienced a malfunction in the drive shaft. Chuck Kleptz spent all day today working with some of the Chinese mechanics available here in this very large city. And he tells us at the end of the day today, that everything will be back in working order and that they will be on the road to Paris tomorrow. So that is good news. Each day we all sort of watch and hope that difficulties will not fall in the way of others and interrupt this great adventure. We watch with care and concern as people deal with obstacles and adversity. And in fact the Brooks modestly failed to mention that they had an abnormal beginning to their day, two days ago when we left the city of Batou when they pulled away in the morning the car stopped, and as I understand it, the accumulation of dust got into the air filter of the car and cause it to not run. They were able to overcome that problem and proceed on.

There is an interesting team here from Australia, and one of the team members is the only gentleman in the group to wear a tie. Everyday John Bryson of Australia who is part of the team with Jerry Thorn, operating a 1964 Holden puts on a tie. Mr. Thorn likes to tell the story that he purchased the car at a stoplight in Sydney, when he negotiated out the window for the car that he admired at that stoplight. Mr. Bryson had to ask his boss for permission to take time off of work to make this journey. His boss responded that he could have the time off but asked if he would wear a tie each day that he was away. Mr. Bryson, being the good natured person that he is, said sure, he would do that. So we want to report to Mr. Bryson's boss that he is being true to his word and he is the only participate that I have observed who wears a tie every day, which is a bit odd, but Mr. Bryson admits that he is a bit odd as a person in a very good natured way. Nice people to get to know.

We have often talked about how traveling for us is a connecting the dots experience relating back to our childhood when we use to draw pictures by connecting the dots. And so we want to conclude the day's report by observing that there was a experience like that for us personally here in this city of 5 million people. When we came to the very modern hotel that we found here, as modern as any hotel in north America, we observed that the door handles were only three feet off the ground and the doors were hinged on the opposite side. We also observed that in the bathrooms, the bathroom fixtures or the commode, carries the brand label of Kohler. Kohler for many friends and family from Wisconsin, as we all well know, is a great America bathroom fixture company located in the village of Kolher, a suburb of Sheboygan, the next county over from our home Fond du Lac. So here we are in China with the Kohler company producing here in China the ceramic bathroom fixtures which we now observe in a very modern hotel. Just another reminder that we truly live in a time of a global economy. We want to recommend to all of you that you find a way to access a web site operated by the Discovery Channel of cable television. The web site is www.discovery.com and there you will find the daily report and update by a team of young reporters who are along on this trip. I first met these people back in the spring of this year when all the drivers and navigators got together to organize the planning for the trip in Chicago. Three young reporters, who were graduates of Columbia School of Journalism in New York, are on this trip, two men and a young woman. They are very typical of the new era of electronic media communicators. They use satellite telephones, they use laptop computers, and they have the very fine gift of collecting information and presenting it in a way that is informative and entertaining. You will find the writing by Chris McKena, who when she is not making trips like this, is a staff member for Time magazine in New York. On the Discovery Channel web site, they have a portion dedicated to the Peking to Paris Automobile Challenge. We recommend that you find the opportunity to follow their account and to observe, listen to their reports and read their reports as well. Well that the update for this day. Day five of our journey gets under way tomorrow and we head out into some incredible places called the Tibetan Plateau, the largest lake in China, salt flats similar to the Dead Sea of Israel and Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States. There are wondrous things ahead for us. We have only traveled 25% to 35% of the distance of our time here in China and we have another 65% to 75% distance in this country yet to complete. We hope to do it safely and we hope to carry on the tradition of motoring as we travel, Carl and I, around the world and with our many new friends from Peking to Paris. We invite those who are hearing the update for the first time to call back in everyday. Its a toll free telephone number that is available to you where you can receive information about the journey (1-888-467-0825). So we will say good-bye for now. Until next time.