DESTINATION TRAVELERS CAN “MARK THE SPOT” OF FAVORITE U.S. NATURE SITES

New Nature Valley® “Where’s Yours?” Web Site is an Interactive Resource for Travelers Seeking New Outdoor Getaways


MINNEAPOLIS (March 7, 2006) — Travel lovers have a new resource for finding that perfect spot in nature – each other. At www.wheresyours.com, visitors can post journal style entries and photos about their favorite U.S. outdoor vacation spots and view others’ postings. The online community from Nature Valley® also features expert posts from representatives of the Association of Volleyball Professionals, U.S. Ski team and National Park Foundation.

Considering that 48 percent of Americans spend at least one week researching a new getaway via multiple sources, from word-of-mouth to travel Web sites, “Where’s Yours?” offers a complete guide of outdoor destination reviews directly from the most passionate travel and outdoor enthusiasts and experts — simplifying the outdoor getaway selection.

“‘Where’s Yours?’ was developed for people who love being active in the outdoors,” said Clare Kanter, associate marketing manager, Nature Valley. “The site is a good resource to learn about a new place for a favorite activity or a new activity in a beloved place.”

Almost 50 percent of Americans have a favorite vacation site, yet they often seek out new locations for travel as well. And, when they do, more than 65 percent of Americans turn to family, friends and co-workers for travel recommendations, according to Synovate, Inc., a Chicago-based research firm.

“Where’s Yours?” posts reviews that appear as journal entries. Travelers can post their favorite U.S. nature spot by submitting a journal entry of up to 250 words, provide ratings across four categories (beauty, value, remoteness and intensity), suggest activities that can be enjoyed there, and post pictures. Since more than 75 percent of Americans consider both a location’s surroundings and activities when selecting their next outdoor getaway, they can easily find and review both on “Where’s Yours?”.

Logging on to the Web site and submitting a journal entry is simple. Just visit www.wheresyours.com to get started. Travelers can also customize their “Where’s Yours?” experience by signing up to receive weekly or monthly e-mail notifications when a new journal entry matches their activity interests or selected locations.

“The personalized component of the Web site makes finding a new outdoor travel destination even easier,” said Kanter. “We know that outdoor travelers favor destinations that offer activities such as hiking, camping, fishing and golfing, so we’ve made it easy to explore new destinations based on these favorite activities.”


“Where’s Yours?” Contest

Outdoor enthusiasts can also visit “Where’s Yours?” for a chance to win one of four grand prizes: a trip with three friends to any one of the many locations (within the United States) posted on www.wheresyours.com. To enter, contestants must submit an original essay (up to 250 words) describing their own personal spot in nature. A photo submission is optional. Contestants may enter as many times as they wish, and entries will be judged upon creativity, authenticity and descriptiveness. The contest runs through September 30, 2006. For official rules go to www.wheresyours.com. No purchase necessary and void where prohibited.


About Nature Valley

Nature Valley created the granola bar category in 1975 and brings great taste to active consumers looking for wholesome snacks. Nature Valley consists of five great-tasting granola bar lines: Crunchy Granola Bars, Chewy Trail Mix Bars, Yogurt Chewy Granola Bars, Sweet & Salty Nut Granola Bars, and Healthy Heart Chewy Granola Bars. Nature Valley is also the Official Natural Energy Bar for the PGA TOUR, U.S. Ski Team, AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour, American Skiing Company, Cross County Ski Areas Association, U.S. Snowboarding, Vail Resorts and the Warren Miller Film Tour. In addition, Nature Valley is a sponsor of The National Park Foundation.

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i Most people (48.4 percent) typically spend at least a week researching a new travel destination, according to the eNation Internet survey. Word of mouth referrals (65.9 percent) and travel Web sites (43.4 percent) were reported as the best sources for travel information.


ii eNation Internet survey commissioned by Nature Valley and conducted by Synovate in December 2005. Survey reached 1,000 men and women, ages 18-65.


iii Surroundings (73.4 percent), activities (60.3 percent) and amenities (55.4 percent) are all popular considerations when selecting a travel destination.

FINAL THREE WEEKS: Free Day of Travel on Eurail Selectpass Purchased Through End of March 2006 at Railpass.com

Newton, MA – March 8, 2006 –Railpass.com, the most comprehensive source for planning and buying international train tickets and rail passes, today announced that there are three weeks left for customers to purchase a Eurail Selectpass and get an extra day of travel for free. The extra day is valid on 6-, 8- or 10-day Adult, Youth and “Saver” Eurail Selectpasses, and can be used for unlimited train travel on non-consecutive days within a 2-month period – first day of travel must commence within six months after purchase.

The Eurail Selectpass must be purchased by March 31, 2006 to obtain the Free Day of Travel.

About the Eurail Selectpass:

The Eurail Selectpass allows travelers to select three, four or five adjoining European countries. The selected countries must be connected by rail or ferry. Passes are available for Adults aged 26 and over, additional discounts are available for Youth aged 25 and under, and on “Saver” passes where two or more people are traveling together at all times.

About Railpass.com:

Railpass.com is the largest single rail pass outlet in the U.S. and over 100,000 rail travelers have purchased train travel products from Railpass.com. Recommended by the best-selling guidebooks, Europe by Eurail and Britain by Britrail, Railpass.com's experienced agents have been helping fellow travelers for over 20 years. The Railpass.com call center (1-877-RAILPASS) and exclusive online help tools cut through the confusion of over 5,000 pass combinations and passes can be shipped out the same day. In addition to unmatched experience and service, Railpass.com offers the choice of free guide books, discount coupons, accommodations or shipping for all online orders over $200 US. Railpass.com is a division of Wandrian, Inc. For more information or to book rail tickets, go to: http://www.railpass.com


About Wandrian, Inc.

Wandrian, founded in 2000, is a leading global travel distributor and technology developer for rail products and services. Wandrian provides travel agents with a cost-effective, easy to use site for selling rail at www.railagent.com, while providing consumers with a one stop shop for planning rail travel and buying international rail passes and tickets at www.railpass.com. Wandrian’s technology powers international rail travel sites including www.italiarail.com and www.eurail.com and partners include many of the top international travel companies and railroads.

Small Arizona Museum Is Changing the Way Towns Think About Tourism

PRESCOTT, Ariz., Feb. 10, 2006 -- This March 16-18, people from around the country, as well as Mexico and Canada, will descend on the charming mountainside community of Prescott, Arizona, for several days of discussion about tourism. The federally funded "Civic Tourism" project, managed by Sharlot Hall Museum in Prescott, is challenging the way communities think about the travel and hospitality industry.

"Traditionally, we've mainly looked at tourism as economic development, which it certainly can be," says project director Dan Shilling. "But Civic Tourism suggests the industry can also help towns preserve their built and natural environment, as well as their history and culture - what many call a sense of place."

In that sense, Civic Tourism mirrors the popular theory of the Creative Economy, which says towns should invest in distinctive assets, like the arts and historic districts, to attract high-value employers. "We're saying the same for tourism," says Shilling. "Preserve your heritage and it will attract high-value visitors who stay and spend."

Tourism programs like ecotourism and heritage tourism have made the same argument for years. Civic Tourism, says Shilling, is the next logical step. "We need to broaden the dialog. If you're marketing a community's sense of place, it makes sense to extend the tourism conversation to those most invested in that place - residents."

The notion that tourism can be part of the solution to building healthy communities, instead of a force that spoils the things residents cherish, is catching on worldwide.
"Some people will probably always complain that tourism changes towns, that it's a problem; but we're seeing in places like Australia and Ireland that communities can manage that change for the better," Shilling says.

The March conference includes dozens of presenters from across the country, who will meet with tourism officials, city planners, preservationists, land use advocates, cultural practitioners, and others to discuss the new approach to tourism.

"I'm a thirty-year tourism professional," says Mark McDermott, former director of the Arizona Office of Tourism.
"What I and most of my colleagues have always done is market our communities to visitors, without giving much thought to enhancing the product for residents."

What Civic Tourism asks communities to do, says McDermott, is create a healthy place for residents first, rather than focus on attracting strangers. "It's a paradigm flip," he says, "one that's hard to grasp because historically the industry's benchmark for success has always been how many people visited the community. We suggest they focus on doing better, not just more."

The main "paradigm flip," says McDermott, is thinking about tourism as a tool to serve the community, rather than the other way around. "The result is a better place for people who live there, a more interesting product for tourists, and an improved relationship between residents and the hospitality sector."

Information about Civic Tourism is available at http://www.civictourism.org or 602-300-6694.

Truckload of Authors at Book Signing

Six authors in search of the literary highway will be at the Mid-America Trucking Show March 23-25, 2006. The authors run the gamut from former truckers to members of trucking families to trucking business books writers, all of whom are represented by Write up The Road Publishing.

Kenton, TN (PRWEB) March 9, 2006 -- Six authors will be available at the largest booksigning ever held at the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS), according to Toby Young, VP of Operations. MATS, the largest truck show in the world, will be staged at the Kentucky Fair & Exposition Center, Louisville, Kentucky, March 23-25, 2006, www.truckingshow.com

Sponsored at MATS by American Graphics Group, Booth # 6057, West Wing; authors include:
* Gary Bricken, author of Three Arm Truckin’ and Other tales of the Highway;
* Dave Madill, author of Reflections Thru My Windshield Part 1;
* Randy Stark, author of Simpatico Patio;
* Robin Stears, author of Me and You and a Truck Named Blue;
* Tim Brady, author of Driven 4 Profits and other trucking business books; co-author of Twilight’s Last Gleaming;
* Terri Jenkins-Brady, coauthor of Twilight’s Last Gleaming, Romancing the Road : A slice of trucking life with a romantic turn.

Authors are showcased by their publisher, Write Up The Road Publishing, and will be available in the booth to autograph copies of their books and talk to readers. An on-air Authors’ Roundtable discussion on Sirius Satellite Radio Truckers’ Network is scheduled for Thursday, March 23, 4-4:30 p.m. and an Author’s Press Conference is set for Friday, March 24, at 11:30 a.m. to noon, at the show booth. Present will be:

* Gary Bricken’s book, Three Arm Truckin’ and Other tales of the Highway is his first short story collection. Bricken, a trucker himself for many years, feels “Trucking is not a job; it is a lifestyle that once experienced is never forgotten. … If you see yourself in one of the stories that is coincidental of course, but if you don't see yourself in any of the tales that would be coincidental too. Read them, reflect on them on long night runs, and pass them along to friends and loved ones that they may better understand why we do what we do.”

* Dave Madill’s Reflections Thru My Windshield Part 1 is his first collection of poetry which shows the experiences of someone who’s seen more places and more miles than most people have ever dreamed about -- he’s walked the slums of our cities and the tops of mountains and everywhere in between. Madill is a long-haul Canadian trucker who’s been on the road for over 25 years. An outdoorsman with a love of nature and former serviceman, most of all he’s a father, grandfather and a husband. If a road goes there, Dave’s been there -- and he’s been many places where there were no roads.

* Randy Stark’s Simpatico Patio! is his first collection of Stand Up Poetry, the new, edgy modern poetry in America which attracts people who don’t ordinarily read poetry. Stark’s sojourns and settlings have taken him from Chicago to the American high desert to an architecturally-significant gas station in Venice, California: all of which add sidewalk reality to his writings. His fiction and essays have been published in many venues within the United States and Canada, and his poetry book is already enjoying international sales.

* Robin Stears’ second novel, Me and You and a Truck Named Blue is the story of a lady trucker and her love affair with the highway. The first book in Stears’ series, it explores the real life of a truck driver and her partner. “I watched some truck driving movies while I was researching this book,” said Robin Stears. “Truckers are either shown as do-gooders traveling around the country righting injustice everywhere, or maniacs who terrorize hapless motorists. Neither of those is true—truck drivers are simply hard-working people who are trying to make a living.”

* Tim Brady is author and coauthor of the best-selling trucking business books in America, including Driven 4 Profit$ ; Gearing Up 4 Profit$ , and Quick and Simple Recordkeeping for Owner/Operators. He’s also the Trucker’s Business Advisor for Sirius Satellite Radio Truckers’ Network and The Trucker’s Consultant. Brady believes every Owner/Operator on the highway can and should run his truck like a small business, utilizing basic accounting techniques and tax-savvy deductions. He’s also coauthor of two trucking novels.

* Terri Jenkins-Brady is coauthor of Twilight’s Last Gleaming, a thriller-suspense novel about truckers battling al-Qaeda terrorists on American soil. Based on real-life news stories and headlines, the book is the first in its Spangled Banner Series. She’s also coauthor of Romancing the Road : A slice of trucking life with a romantic turn. The sequel, Painting the Road : A slice of trucking life with an artistic bend, will be in print later this year.

Write Up The Road Publishing will also display one of the bestselling trucking joke books in America, You Know You’re Married To A Trucker When…, by Miles and Nadine Wheeler. More trucking business books and others will be displayed and available for order. Write Up The Road Publishing is the only independent book publisher in America with trucking as its focus: Books Written for Truckers, by Truckers. Write Up The Road books are distributed through Ingram to bookstores nationwide and overseas.

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Press Contact: Tim Brady
Company Name: WRITE UP THE ROAD
Phone: 731-749-8567
Website: www.writeuptheroad.com

Ten Years Getting People off the Road with Telecommuting Jobs -- But We're Not Celebrating

Mundelein, Illinois (PRWEB) March 6, 2006 -- For ten years, the Telecommuting Jobs job search site (Telecommuting Jobs) has been hard at work helping to build the Work at Home Workforce. Ten years providing hand-screened jobs for serious TeleCommuters. Ten years linking up thousands of employers with TeleCommuting talent they can trust away from the office.

Present full-time TeleCommuters alone now save approximately 4,439 million gallons of gas per year by not driving to work. But it's a drop in the bucket of billions of gallons of gasoline Americans burn each year (Data Source). Today's triple crises of runaway energy use -- funds funneled to terrorists from our gasoline dollars paid to foreign countries -- and global warming from auto pollution -- demand we can't wait another 10 years to put a lot more TeleCommuters to work.

We do need alternative sources of energy to counter these problems, but they take time to put to work. We don't have to wait for TeleCommuting to work -- it can happen now -- with the very next hire at most any company! TeleCommuting is something almost any information worker and employer can do right now. The technology to work away from the office and collaborate with bosses and fellow workers is up and running right now (see: Collaboration Tools).

How do we get more TeleCommuters hired? Push our public officials to offer incentives to businesses to hire more TeleCommuters. Public officials in Oregon and Virginia are already doing it (Data Source). And, with all that TeleCommuting can save, there's little excuse your public officials can't.

There are so many more TeleCommuting job benefits: less traffic, less highway casualties; fewer kids growing up without a parent at home; more job opportunities for workers with disabilities who have computer ability, but a hard time getting to an office;

There's a page on Telecommuting Jobs (PUSH for more TeleCommuting jobs) that will put together an email in minutes for you and send it to public officials to prompt them to offer tax incentives to business to hire more TeleCommuters. Together with the office space cost savings business realizes by hiring TeleCommuters, it can influence a lot more jobs for the growing number of people anxious to work at home.

Park a lot of cars. Park the terrorist funding machine. Park the pollutants. Push for more TeleCommuting jobs. Then we can celebrate.