DJ - Time for another update. We've arrived in Pakistan, another country on our journey around the world. Don here and I have a special guest with me on this update. The guest is Carl. You all are asking me, "How's Carl?, Where's Carl?, What's Carl doing?" Carl is here on this report to give his account of his whereabouts and his insights on this marvelous adventure.

Let me describe for you what today was like, the 26th of September. We traveled from Delhi, the capital of the second most populous country in the world, India, northwest across India and through 4 of the 21 states of India and arrived at the border with Pakistan. We drove from 4:30 AM leaving the capital city of Delhi which is very congested and a very difficult place to drive around in and arrived at the border at 1:30 in the afternoon. That was done in order that the cars could get processed through the customs border crossing by 4:30 in the afternoon, because after 4:30 the border is sealed closed. The drive today was about 350 miles, the distance approximately of driving from St. Louis to Chicago.

We drove the 1954 Packard very hard today, we actually had it up to 70 miles an hour for the first time that I can recall in several weeks. We've commented that this event is not about speed, but there are stages of the trip where speed is possible and today was the first time in several weeks that we've been able to attain American lifestyle driving conditions. Although when you drive in India it's not a normal drive. It's very exciting. I can't think of any amusement ride at the county fair, the state fair or a rural fair that would match driving in India. I can't think of any video game that creates a virtual reality experience that would match the actual thrill of going down an Indian highway. We want to report that as much as we've been concerned about the 1954 Packard, that given today's hard drive, mechanically, it is really quite sound and a pleasure to drive.

We estimate that we're about one half of the way of our journey from Peking to Paris by virtue of being here in Pakistan at this time. The city that we're in is Lahore. It's one of three major cities in the country of Pakistan. There's Ialamabad, is the capital city. Karachi is a port city and Lahore is a major city on the border with India. The population here is 2 million people in this city and it is beset with the stress of cultural and population pressures. They say that a major crime is committed here every 10 minutes and that the population is out of control. It's hard to understand what's going on in Pakistan. It's really quite complex, so I think we'll reserve comment on that until we learn more. We'll be in Pakistan over the course of the next 4 days. That's an overview of where we are at this moment. Let me hand the communications hand set to my co-driver and - I'm trying to think of all of the kind of adjectives that you would say about a person after you have spent 4 weeks with them sealed up in a car, we sure have gotten very close, I'll say that much for sure. Here's Carl.

CS - I have a number of comments to make and we'll start with what today was like from Delhi. Don drove out and we played the hare and the tortoise game for some time with the car. There are a number of competitors, especially from Great Britain, who have made discouraging remarks about our "Elvis Presley" car, because the 1954 Packard is a very large 1950's style American car. Many comments are made about it being too big and too heavy and it would never make it across. Well, here we are - we're in Pakistan and a number of comments were made, particularly from the Germans who were following us through the mountains, that they appreciated it being in front because we were grading the road, they call it the road grader, the snow plow. We moved all of the rocks with the bottom of the car so that they could come by on a little smoother road. The car has worked very well, and once again shows Packard's engineering was for durability. Many of the passes and roads that we came over from China, Tibet and Nepal had been badly damaged by monsoon rains, with landslides and washouts, so forth, but the Packard just pulled itself right across, through the ruts without problems of any major size. Today we were able to show the competition what the Packard was really built for. We were going down modern highways that were smooth without washouts, without rocks and moved our place substantially forward from being the last car out of Delhi to coming in in the first one-third of the competitors, with Don driving. Now I have to tell you about Don's driving because we've talked about the hare and tortoise. Sometimes he's the tortoise, but today he was a jackrabbit. The car's movement was unbelievable. Now you've got to picture this road. A very modern road, blacktop, with a mix of cows and goats, hundreds, hundreds and hundreds of bicycles, putt-putts, motor scooters, trucks, buses, cars and people. There was not one mile where there weren't people walking on the side of the road. Children tending goats, people moving cows back and forth. In any given mile, the brakes had to be applied, probably six or seven times because somebody would move out front, such as farm tractors moving out onto the highway without even stopping or slowing down. Don's driving ability was something to see. I was even going to buy him a drink tonight to celebrate the fact that we got here. But we are in Pakistan and there is no alcohol, so we had fruit juice - a lime mixture that was very good. Traffic was something that you could only have nightmares about. We have come this far. The Packard is moving. We've had a few little problems with it and one of our newfound friends, Andy Vann from Birmingham, has been very helpful. I mention his name particularly because it's one of those connecting the dots experiences that Don always talks about. Andy has a home down on the Alabama Riviera near Pensacola, Florida where I spend a lot of time. Amongst the recollections that we were talking about - people we knew - he and his wife, Mary Ann have a favorite dining place called the Wolf Bay Lodge in south Alabama, which has been one of my favorite dining places for many years and our company Christmas party scene for four or five times. So it's part of connecting the dots, as Don talked about. I come halfway around the world to China, Tibet and meet a man that was probably in the restaurant some night the same time I was. We'll probably have our Christmas party there and invite Andy and his wife down for that.

We've had a great time meeting different people and tomorrow here in Pakistan they're going to have a tour for us to see a number of the sights and an invitation from the Governor of Punjab for high tea. Now I'm not sure whether high tea is quite the thing that I want to go to, but then Don always has high tea every time he drinks tea. Don, of course, is one of the objects of great appreciation by most of the people here because he towers over them. I remember yesterday morning when we were still in India, he was taking his camera and taking pictures of the people and one particularly elderly gentleman who was about 4'3" stood alongside of him and Don picked him up and carried him around and the people applauded and laughed. Don has made a lot of friends, not only for himself, but for America. The sights, the sounds, the smells and the scenes of India are something that I'll never forget. Another one of those things that you read about all your life, but to experience some of the wonders of the world, from Tiananmen Square and the Great Wall, across the Gobi Desert, Mt. Everest, Tibet, Lhasa, Nepal, India with the elephants, now Pakistan is really quite amazing. Speaking of the elephants. Beside seeing elephants on the road, one of the things that really, really surprised me was the large number of monkeys. It's like jackrabbits on South Dakota. They are literally are all over the place as we drove through the forest. My good friend Larry Silveride would like to know that they have tree farms in India and they're doing quite a bit of forest management in Nepal and India. The people have been extremely friendly from Nepal and in India, they just can't seem to do enough to make you feel welcome. Here in Pakistan we had a slight delay crossing the border. Don made a friend with the captain of the customs police who brought us ice cold cups of cola. It's just part of this goodwill trip that comes with the race. People love the cars, they love talking to us, we've made some nice friends, some good friends, maybe some people we'll know the rest of our lives. I've had a great time. I think Don has had a great time. The experience has been unbelievable. It may sound like it's starting to wind down now, but it's not - the best is yet to come. When we finish Pakistan, we'll go through Iran, Turkey and then into Europe, where I'm a little more familiar with the road and I think we'll have a good time. I especially want Ed Omara to know that I got the Carnet today and I got the copy of my prescription, so that's all settled and handled. We'll be all ready, hopefully the parts that Alan knows about will be sent to Istanbul and we'll be on our way again.

The Packard proved once more that strength can be an advantage. The heavy car created some problems in the sand, for example and out of the canning fields, where it sunk in, but it was able to pull itself out, didn't have to have to pull anywhere, and it keeps on moving. That's the thing that I feel so good about with the car, it just keeps on moving. Sometime we're the last ones in, but now with the new road, better roads and the desert country coming up, we think the Packard will show the rest of the cars the taillights. Well I think I've talked long enough. I'll sign over to Don for the sign off.

DJ - As Carl's family and friends can probably judge, Carl's in good form - good health and good spirits.

We'll we're often asked, "What do you do when you're together in the car for so much time?" Let me give you an example of what we do. Today, as we're driving across India, Carl asked one of his many trivia questions. And the question for today was, "Who was the bodyguard for Daddy Warbucks in Little Orphan Annie?" The answer is, it was an Indian gentleman by the name of Punjab. That question came up because we were driving across the state of Punjab and it was magical to look out the window of the car and to see the headdress of all the men, to see the flowing beards and the colorful dress and to realize that we were in this mystical and truly foreign place called Punjab, India, which also happens to be the center of the textile trade in India. We couldn't help but notice a lot of billboard signs for both American and Italian fashion clothing, particularly jeans, all of which are manufactured right here in northern India. And just like the Oshkosh B'gosh outlet store in Oshkosh, Wisconsin and the outlet center in Kenosha and other places, here they advertise their local goods, which we know by the brand names that are in our stores, but they're actually made right here in Punjab, India.

Well our update report over the last 24 hours was made by a satellite telephone transmission from Delhi. The hotel telephone exchange failed during the evening and there were a number of power outages at the hotel in Delhi, so we had to resort to the satellite telephone and we understand that there were some pauses and interruptions during the course of our last update. That's to be expected when you're halfway around the world. To illustrate to you how demanding the journey is, on the journals on the Internet of our accounts, you'll see some photographs and amongst the photographs you'll see the three support vehicles that are used by the marshals of the rally, there are about 50 personnel involved. One of the engines of a support vehicle blew up today and the support vehicle had to be towed by another support vehicle. And it's a brand new 1997 vehicle. So that's an indication on how demanding this event is, both on the cars and the people. Many of the people are beginning to sort of "hit the wall" and our stop here in Pakistan includes a 24 hour rest period, which people are beginning to need in order to get their equipment in order and to catch up on laundry and family communications, as well. Well, we're in Pakistan and it's a puzzling place because the Islamic religion is the state religion of Pakistan. It's one of the original countries of the world to adopt a religion as a public policy, but it's also a country in great turmoil, domestic political turmoil and in actual wars with it's neighbors. Pakistan borders Afghanistan and it borders India with the state of Kashmir and there is, every single day, today included, active warfare about 300 miles north of where we are at this moment on the frontier with India and Pakistan. So we didn't know what to expect in terms of conflictive tension in the process of entering Pakistan. We do want to report that that went smoothly and that entering Pakistan is like stepping back in time. There were donkey carts, bazaars and people dressed in costume and clothing that's customary for this region. All of the men with white flowing gowns and turbans. All of the women with colorful gowns and headdress. One can't help but think that you stepped back maybe a couple of hundred years when you enter Pakistan. But, the hospitality is very cordial and we're going to be here for four days so we'll certainly find out more in the course of the days ahead and obviously, we're going to share it with you because we know that you're enjoying this journey right along with us. So we'll conclude at this point with this update and say so long until the next time and good-bye from Pakistan.