The Road Rally is Part 2 of Rand McNally and USA TODAY's search for the best small towns in America. Now that all of your votes, thorough reviews, and captivating photos narrowed the search down to 30 finalist towns, we're sending the five finalist teams to investigate in person.
Our expert panel of judges chose the five most qualified teams from dozens of entrants to experience the finalist towns first-hand. Each team will cross the country from New York to Los Angeles visiting the six towns in their assigned category along the way. They'll chronicle their adventures by blogging, tweeting, uploading video, and posting photos along the way.
The towns will do their best showing off their claims-to-fame from the local cuisine to trademark attractions. Towns are encouraged to provide tours, bring the team to city hall, or even throw parades in their honor.
When the teams arrive in LA three weeks later, one pair will win $10,000 for submitting the best content on their cross-country adventure.
The following week the winning town in each category will be announced at the annual DMAI conference and crowned the Most Beautiful, Most Patriotic, Friendliest, Most Fun, or Best for Food in America!
A. For over 156 years, Rand McNally has been showing the world what's best on the highways and byways of America. For the last 10 years, Rand McNally has been celebrating locations that are lesser-known or off the beaten path, are unique or have special character and capture the region's essence. These destinations have been featured as part of Best of the Road® in travel guides and in the Rand McNally Road Atlas.
In 2011, Rand McNally and USA TODAY teamed up to take this program to the web, allowing consumers to voice their opinion on what points of interest or small towns they think should be featured as the "Best of the Road®" in the United States. The 2011 program will seek out the Best Small Towns in America in each of the following categories:
We're also looking for the best points of interest (POIs) in over 20 categories such as "Best Beach" or "Best Fishing Spot". The top towns and points of interest will be recognized on www.bestoftheroad.com, written about by USA TODAY and featured in the 2013 Rand McNally Road Atlas.
A. Follow these easy steps:
And, If your town is selected as one of the finalists in a category, go "all-out" when the rally participants visit. Throw them a party. Take them on a tour. Have a parade. Show them the love and demonstrate why your town is the Most Fun, Most Patriotic, Best for Scenery, Best for Food or Friendliest.
A. Because we're looking for the best small towns in America we've limited the list to any areas defined as "Places" (Towns, Cities, Villages, CDPs, Municipalities, etc.) by the 2010 US Census and having a population of less than 150,000. (We love big cities, but this summer we're searching for the best small towns.) If your town isn't listed on the site, look for the link to suggest your town. If it fits our criteria we'll get it on the site as quickly as we can.
A. This summer, five teams of travelers will help us find the very best small towns in America in the Best of the Road® Rally. A panel of travel experts from Rand McNally and USA TODAY will select the top 5 small towns in each category – then the Road Rally begins!
Road Rally teams will leave New York City on June 23rd and visit each of the small town finalists. Each team will cover one of the five categories. At each town, the rally teams will dig deep and leave no stone unturned as they work to determine which small town is the best of their category.
When the rally teams arrive in Los Angeles, CA on July 15 they will announce which towns are really the best small towns in America.
The panel of travel experts from Rand McNally and USA TODAY will then determine which Road Rally team will win first place and the grand prize of $10,000.
On or about May 2, you can visit www.bestoftheroad.com and enter to be a rally participant. A panel of travel experts from Rand McNally and USA TODAY will select five teams to participate in the Best of the Road® Rally. Full rally rules can be found here.
Rand McNally and USA TODAY will pay for most expenses associated with rally participation. This includes expenses like rental cars, hotels, gasoline and some other miscellaneous expenses. Although it's not an all expense paid trip, it's a cross-country road trip that could very well be the trip of a lifetime.
No. The rally is not a race. Rally participants will be required to follow all local, state and national laws as well as our rules. Rally participants will be competing for points – not speed. In fact, we're installing Rand McNally TruckPC units in each of the rally cars so we can track car location, speed and progress along the route.
The winning Road Rally team will also receive a $10,000 grand prize.