We are officially drivers of Virginia.

Going to the DMV involves paperwork, long lines, confusing questions, disgruntled employees and drivers, and faked smiles which lead to horrible, possibly convicted felon, looking license images. Luckily, we have it easy compared to the Chinese.

The cities in China are teeming with eager driver's and the cars they own. Unfortunately, the infrastructure fails to meet their needs. The number of car's in China has doubled since 2007. At the end of 2011, China had more than 225 million cars on the road, according to traffic department stats. Holy Chinese car boom. For comparison, the United States had just more than 250 million in 2010. While we have near similar amount of cars, we have had time to slowly expand. Since 1994, we have had at least 200 million cars zooming around on our roads.

This huge increase has led to crazy rules and lots of people trying to break them. Police constantly are on the watch for counterfeit plates and people sidestep city rules by licensing their car in a different city. Getting a car isn't the hard part for the Chinese. It's the plate and license that are literally at odds with people.

Need a license like our beautiful Virginia plate? Well, in China so do 900,000 other people. Sadly, The government in BEijing holds a lottery for 20,000 plates. May the odds be ever in your driving favor. In Shanghai they held an auction. Get ready to write a $10,000 check for your car's plate. Maybe they take Visa.

Once you got the luck of the draw, you have to take a seemingly impossible driving test. Answer me this: When a vehicle overturns slowly and jumping out of the vehicle is possible, the driver should jump __________. (Take from my October edition of National Geographic.

a. in the driving direction

b. in the overturning direction

c. in the opposite direction of the overturn

d. to the overturning side

Honestly, I would probably just keep my seatbelt on and stay in the car, but the Chinese government says: c. in the opposite direction of the of the overturn.

Thought that was tricky, try this test with more questions. Will you get a license in China? Let me know if you do. I got a 30 percent. Probably won't be driving there any time soon.

Oh, and our own car might not look fit for driving either. Ever since we left Nebraska, the antenna has had a little static.

Long driving trips can drag on when you only get static and your passenger is asleep. Swinging with Sinatra hour leads to lethargic eyelids.