Top Town Finalists Named in Rand McNally's Best of the Road®

More than 30,000 Americans Weighed In To Name Town Finalists in the Best of the Road; Rally Teams to Review Top Towns Beginning on June 15

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Rand McNally

May 25, 2012, 01:00 ET

SKOKIE, Ill., May 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- America has spoken and the results are in! After a month-long call for nominations and votes, Rand McNally and USA TODAY announced town finalists in the search for the Best of the Road. Over 30,000 Americans from coast to coast weighed in to name their favorite town as the Most Beautiful, Most Patriotic, Friendliest, Most Fun or Best for Food.

The top towns in five categories have been narrowed down from nearly 700 submissions and will be reviewed personally by the Best of the Road Rally teams via blog posts, videos and photos. Departing from Washington DC on June 15, five rally teams will be assigned one category in which to review key towns on their way to the finish in Seattle, WA. Their experiences and reviews will determine which towns are declared the Best of the Road.

TOWN FINALISTS IN THE BEST OF THE ROAD

The top 30 finalist towns were determined by a combination of public appeal and analysis of reviews and photos by the judges. Towns have rallied on www.bestoftheroad.com, Twitter, and Facebook to promote their communities, businesses and attractions. Passionate responses accounted for a high volume of votes which edged towns to the head of their class in the five categories.

Teams participating in the Best of the Road Rally will visit four finalist towns in an assigned category as well as two additional towns determined by the competition's judges. Weighing blog posts, videos and photos created in each town by the rally teams, Best of the Road judges will announce the winning towns at the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI) Annual Convention on July 16. The top towns will be highlighted on www.bestoftheroad.com and in the 2014 Rand McNally Road Atlas, as well as on USA TODAY's Travel site.

Finalists and judge's picks include the following towns in five categories:

Most Beautiful

Jim Thorpe, PA
Danville, KY
Bardstown, KY
Tybee Island, GA
Sedona, AZ
Baker City, OR

Most Patriotic

Watertown, NY
Deland, FL
Enterprise, AL
Duluth, GA
Gainesville, TX
Mandan, ND

Friendliest

Murray, KY
Joplin, MO*
Frisco, TX*
College Station, TX
Cloudcroft, NM
San Luis Obispo, CA

Most Fun

Corning, NY
Geneva-on-the-Lake, OH
Santa Claus, IN
Delray Beach, FL
Denton, TX
Buena Park, CA

Best for Food

Lewiston, NY
Charlottesville, VA
Bloomington, IN
Burnsville, MN
Santa Fe, NM
Walla Walla, WA

*Indicates Best of the Road judges' picks

Best of the Road Rally team selections will be announced prior to kick-off on June 15. They will embark on the ultimate cross-country adventure from Washington DC and compete to win the title of the Best of the Road Rally and $10,000.

For more information and to follow each Best of the Road Rally team's progress, visit www.bestoftheroad.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 2014 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. The 88^th edition of America's #1 Road Atlas by Rand McNally will be available shortly and it includes digital TAGs which connect smartphone users to special mobile web pages. 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).