Favorite Blog Friday {No.3}

Remember that little 'ol contest a few weeks back that I mentioned?? Well, although we were not selected for a finalist, there is a group of us that competed for a spot that have been building friendships via facebook and tweets along the way - some of them the finalists. The Rand McNally Best of the Road top 5 finalists kicked off with a grand ceremony in Liberty Park, NY on Thursday and have begun the American road trip of a lifetime! The coolest part is that each team is uploading blogs and video daily the to the Rand McNally on the Road site. Now, I don't want to give all of their secrets and excitement away so you must go now to check out where they've been, what they're experiencing and where they are headed.

Why I follow:
1. Let's start with the creative and catchy team names:
Captain and Clark, Gone With the Wynns, The McNavigators, Traveling Jules and Traveling Joan and the Fun Finders
2. Each team is has a unique personality and style about them and are pros on camera
3. Each team was given a "best small towns in America" category and it is a kick to travel virtually as if we were in the back seat of the SAAB with them
3. Did I mention SAAB in the previous Why? - that's right, minor detail, how did I forget? The teams are not traveling in rental cars, but rather brand new SAABs!
4. Can't wait to see who is the official winner in Los Angeles on July 15th. The winning couple gets $10,000 and a brand new SAAB 9-4X.

Aren't you the least bit curious too?! Now go...travel America right from the comfort of your laptop.

Xo,
Jolynn

Best of the Road - Update

We received the following email from Rand McNally. Thank you all for your love and support and most of all your VOTES! We are truly blessed to be surrounded by friends like you in this wonderful journey called life! Although we will not be on the Rally across the US, we invite you to keep following our adventures.


Dear Road Rally entrants,

Thank you for entering Rand McNally’s Best of the Road® contest. Unfortunately, while we are thrilled with the response we’ve received and are grateful to know you would want to help our search for the best small towns in America, we must regretfully advise you that you have not been chosen as a finalist for the rally.

Looking across the 74 entries we were touched by the stories told in word, video and photos. Per the rules, each entry was judged by creativity, quality, theme and public appeal. The decisions were challenging for us and well debated.

While we would love to offer everyone the opportunity to join the rally, in the end, we have only five finalist spots to award.

Please accept our sincere thanks for entering the contest and our best wishes on your travels in the future.

Sincerely,

Rand McNally


I will be posting the winning teams (5 finalists) when released so that you too can follow their adventures visiting the best small towns in America.

Cheers!

Xo,
Jolynn

VOTE! : Best of the Road

Hubby received an email from a close friend who knows us well regarding a travel challenge contest sponsored by Rand McNally and USA Today. It is somewhat of an "Amazing Race". The contestants are teams of 2 and submit a video and bio to be selected as finalists to start a journey at a Grand Opening Ceremony in NY and then the teams are given destinations and money to travel across the US and finishing in Los Angeles, CA. Knowing how much we love to travel and explore, we jumped at the chance and created our team over the weekend and will be adding a 1 minute video this week. It is called the "Best of the Road". While on this adventure, your required to blog, tweet and Facebook all that you've seen, tasted, and enjoyed along the way. Perfect for us, right? Can you believe it?! Once the contest is complete, the winner will be judged based on content creativity and public appeal. That's where you come in - please start voting for us now at on the "Best of the Road" site and then "like" us on Facebook. We would be honored and extremely grateful to get this opportunity as this might be our last "big trip" together for a while, no we are not expecting (yet) but it is most definitely in our future plans for this year. Below are some pics of our favorite places we've been together and are looking forward to sharing more moments like these.

Thank you again for your support!!

Xo, Jolynn