The Adventure Begins! Five Teams Depart New York for the Best of the Road® Rally

SKOKIE, Ill., June 24, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The iconic Liberty State Park in Jersey City, N.J. was the setting on June 23 for the kickoff of Rand McNally's inaugural Best of the Road® Rally, in collaboration with USA TODAY, the exclusive media sponsor.  Celebrating the great American road trip and the official start to summer, five teams of traveling duos were handed the keys to a brand-new Saab equipped with Rand McNally's RVND navigation device as they hit the road on a three-week cross country adventure in search of the Friendliest, Most Beautiful, Best for Food, Most Patriotic and Most Fun towns in America.  

Weighing reviews, photos and videos posted by each team during their travels on www.bestoftheroad.com, judges will choose a winning team on July 15 in Los Angeles. Rand McNally will reward them with $10,000 and --- announced yesterday --- a 2011 Saab 9-4X.

"Our country's small towns are truly the heartbeat of our country," said Dave Muscatel, CEO of Rand McNally.  "The response to the inaugural Best of the Road search has been incredible and we're thrilled to find out which towns rise to the top and to publish the results in our 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas and on bestoftheroad.com."

MEET THE TEAMS

From dozens of entries, five finalist teams were selected based on creativity/originality, quality of submission, fit to contest theme and public appeal. The teams, and their categories, are:

FRIENDLIEST:  Gone with the Wynns: Jason and Nikki Wynn, both 29, from Carrolton, Texas; This married couple traded in their Dallas home for a life on the road in a fuel-efficient, sustainable RV.  Jason, a photographer, and Nikki, a makeup artist, take pride in their travels on their blog.

MOST BEAUTIFUL:  McNavigators: Daniel Schaub, 36, and JoAnne Schaub, 35, from Cary, North Carolina; A happily married couple for 14 years, the Schaubs met at Yellowstone National Park. Like the Wynns, the Schaubs are also pursuing a fully sustainable lifestyle in an RV, and have already visited a few of the top 30 towns in Best of the Road, and see beauty everywhere they travel.

BEST FOR FOOD:  Fun Finders: Jim Parr, 67, and Bonnie Parr, 65, from St. Petersburg, Florida; This retired married couple have dedicated their lives to clowning around and helping others.  A former mechanic and teacher, the duo met in clown school and now spend their time volunteering to help the homeless in their community and spreading fun wherever they go.

MOST PATRIOTIC:  Captain and Clark: Christopher Staudinger, 25, from Pasco, Washington and Tawny Clark, 25, from Bremerton, Washington; A couple who met at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro two years ago, Chris and Tawny have dubbed themselves the "modern cartographers," and document their travels on their popular blog.

MOST FUN:  Traveling Jules and Traveling Joan: Joan Broste, 62, and Juliana Broste, 28, from Littleton, Colorado; A mother and daughter who have both traveled extensively on their own, but the Best of the Road Rally will be the first time together. Juliana, a travel journalist and expert snowboarder, and Joan, a retired teacher, are ready to show the world that wanderlust is all in the family.

ON THE SEARCH TO FIND THE BEST OF THE ROAD

The winning towns will be announced on July 21 at the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Annual Convention in New Orleans. Top towns will be highlighted on www.bestoftheroad.com and in the 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas, as well as on USA TODAY's Travel site.

The inaugural Best of the Road Rally promotional sponsors include Saab, Country Inns & Suites By Carlson, Fleetwood RV, Destination Marketing Association International and Shell.

For more information and to follow each team's whereabouts throughout the Best of the Road contest, visit www.bestoftheroad.com and http://travel.usatoday.com.

About the Best of the Road® – Rand McNally has earned the reputation as a trusted source in maps, directions and travel content with its best-selling Road Atlas and annual Best of the Road online guide.  Its celebration of the Great American Road Trip has given way to an online guide of the Best of the Road and features top attractions in more than 20 categories --- from the Best Beach to the Best BBQ.   This year, Rand McNally is revving up, in collaboration with USA TODAY, for an all-new the Best of the Road search with content created by travelers online and published in the 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas. For more information about the Best of the Road, visit www.bestoftheroad.com.  

About Rand McNally – Rand McNally is the most trusted source for maps, directions, and travel content.  Rand McNally's products and services include interactive travel referral service, Tripology; IntelliRoute® truck routing software and GPS devices; and the leading geography-based educational resources for the classroom.  Consumers, businesses, truckers, and educators depend upon Rand McNally to help navigate today's world. www.randmcnally.com

About USA TODAY – USA TODAY is a multi-platform news and information media company. Founded in 1982, USA TODAY's mission is to serve as a forum for better understanding and unity to help make the USA truly one nation. Today, through its newspaper, website and mobile platforms, USA TODAY connects readers and engages the national conversation. USA TODAY, the nation's number one newspaper in print circulation with an average of more than 1.8 million daily, and USATODAY.com, an award-winning newspaper website  launched in 1995, reach a combined 5.9 million readers daily. USA TODAY is a leader in mobile applications with more than eight million downloads on mobile devices.  The USA TODAY brand also includes USA TODAY Education and USA TODAY Sports Weekly. USA TODAY is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).

Press Contacts:

Weber Shandwick for Rand McNally
Kristen Insalaco, [email protected], 212-445-8481
Lauren Lane, [email protected], 212-445-8303

USA TODAY
Heidi Zimmerman, [email protected], 703-854-5304

SOURCE Rand McNally