Tag: Best of the Road

SAAB AWARDS 9-4X TO WINNER OF ‘BEST OF THE ROAD’ RALLY

I just wanted to add this release to finish off our Best of the Road coverage. I really enjoyed the Wynns’ work and am so happy for them taking out this prize. They’re going to love that 9-4x.

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Rand McNally sponsors — “Best of the Road” — rally to 30 cities, with media partner, USA TODAY

ROYAL OAK, MICH., July 19, 2011 – Saab automobiles traveled across the U.S. in the Rand McNally “Best of the Road” rally presented with media partner, USA TODAY. Five two-person teams spent three weeks experiencing the best small towns in the United States in a mix of Saab vehicles as the final phase of Rand McNally’s search to find “Best of the Road” and the best small towns in the United States along with media partner, USA TODAY. The winning team was awarded a Saab 9-4X crossover at the finale event in California on July 15.

Jason and Nikki Wynn of Dallas, Texas were elated upon being selected to participate as one of five teams in the 30 city tour, but their excitement escalated when hearing they had won the rally and were being awarded a Saab 9-4X crossover. “We have always been longtime fans of Saab and feel honored and fortunate to have been given such a cool award,” said Jason Wynn.

The teams were judged on the number of towns visited along their route, the quality and originality of their journal and the quality of their category descriptions.

“The 9-4X is the perfect vehicle for the Wynns to continue their traveling adventures,” said Tim Colbeck, President and COO, Saab Cars North America. “We know their Saab will continue to provide them the ‘best of the road’ in safety, performance and thoughtful design.”

Driving a unique route from metro New York to Los Angeles in a mix of Saab 9-3s, 9-5s and the new 9-4X crossover, each of the teams visited towns which were selected online in one of the five “best” categories: most fun, most patriotic, most beautiful, friendliest and best for food.

Along the way from coast to coast, each team posted an online travel journal, combining blogs, Facebook posts, Twitter feeds, texts and videos, with the best journal earning a grand prize of a new Saab 9-4X crossover and $10,000.

Towns were nominated at the Best of the Road Web site and a panel of travel experts along with public reviews and comments narrowed the selections down to six in each category, including: Baker City, OR; Franklin, TN; Walla Walla, WA; Rapid City, SD; Park City, UT, and Lafayette, LA.

The 10 “rallyists” earned their way into the Saabs by submitting a one-minute video on why they deserved to participate. They teams were judged on the number of towns visited along their route, the quality and originality of their journal and the quality of their category descriptions.

Congratulations to The Wynns for 'wynning' Best of the Road

I’d like to pass on some Inside Saab congratulations to “Gone with the Wynns” for winning the Best of the Road event that we’ve been covering over the last three weeks.

The Best of the Road was a trip across the USA. Five teams participated, driving their Saabs and looking for the best food, the most patriotic town, the most beautiful town, the friendliest town and the most fun town in America. The Wynns were covering the friendliest town and they did it with style, great videos, great photography and a wonderful sense of humour.

Here’s a little video they posted just prior to the announcement…..

Thank you towns! from Gone With the Wynns on Vimeo.

All five teams had the trip of a lifetime, but only one could take the prize. The Wynns were judged to have provided the best content and gathered the biggest following and for that, they won $10,000 cash as well as a Saab 9-4x.

Congratulations, Wynns!

And well done to the other four teams. Thanks for entertaining us and showing us the United States through your eyes. It’s been a blast.

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Best of the Road nears the End of the Road

The Best of the Road teams are now coming close to the end of their journey as they converge on Los Angeles. On Friday, their collective journey will end and one lucky pairing will win $10,000 plus a Saab 9-4x for their work!

Nice work if you can get it, huh?

I hope you’ve been tracking their respective journeys as they’ve covered some amazing places and had some pretty good experiences along the way. I travel a lot by air now, not so much by road, so it’s been good to see people neck-deep in a great road trip. It makes me want to get out and do a bit more driving (and no need to guess as to what particular car I’d be driving!)

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I mentioned in our last update that the Fun Finders had the good fortune to hook up with Dimmit Saab in Florida to receive a Saab 9-3 Convertible for the 4th July parade. They didn’t end up driving it, though. They would up being guests of honour in the parade, riding in the back of the Convertible.

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And in case you’re wondering how many miles these teams are covering during this trip, here’s the Fun Finders’ map, showing the route taken by them to cover the small towns with the best food.

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I’ve really been enjoying the work of the Gone with the Wynns team. They’ve had a heap of fun in their Saab 9-5…..

…… and you can tell from their road-trip slideshow that whilst they can have a fun time, they also know when to take a look around and appreciate the beauty that the road can bring.

Driving is an opportunity to see the country in a way that no other form of travel offers. It is an exploration rather than a destination.

Take a look at their slideshow at this link – please!

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Captain and Clark had a note pop up on their SID unit telling them it was time for an oil change, so they had to make a side trip to Sid Dillon Saab in Lincoln, Nebraska, and have the job done. The dealership was quite excited by the visit, too, as this was the first 9-4x they’d seen on the road whilst they were waiting for their own to be delivered.

Change it up! from Chris Staudinger on Vimeo.

Captain and Clark recently visited Rapid City and from there, took a look over both the iconic Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument that’s still under construction.

This is the stuff that road trips are made of, if you ask me.

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Traveling Jules and Joan have been in Park City, Utah, at what looks to be a sensational year-round facility.

They’ve been a little down on the Saaby content, but are very good at travelling, traveling-with-family and road-trip tips.

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The McNavigators left my friend Mike’s hometown in Franklin, TN, and proceeded a loooooooong way northwest to Sandpoint, Idaho.

While there were there, they took their Saab 9-5 up Mt Schweitzer, from which they can see neighboring states Montana and Washington, as well as Canada to the north.

They’re now in Baker City, Oregon, visiting the World Beer Cup(?)

I hope they take some time off before getting back behind the wheel (which I’m sure they will).

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The winners of the Best of the Road rally will be announced late on Friday, California time. We’ll publish the outcome as soon as we know it.

If you want to support your favourite team in their bid to win the $10K and the Saab 9-4x, then make sure you follow them on Facebook or Twitter – the links are all here – as your support will help them win.

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Best Of The Road update…..

The five groups touring the Best of the Road around the USA in their Saabs have been having a LOT of fun and it’s been great to watch them making their way west for the big finish in LA.

Jules and Joan (twitter) have made their way from a town called Santa Claus in Indiana to Glenwood Springs in Colorado. No need to explain too much about what happened in Santa Claus (a lot of ho-ho-ho-ing, methinks) but it looks like they had a great time.

Glenwood Springs has been all about the outdoors with whitewater rafting, paragliding, caves and ATV rides, mixed in with some vaudeville theatre and 4th July fireworks, too.

With a few long drives between cities, Jules and Joan have been calling in on some smaller towns along the way, such as this stop on the way to Park City, Utah.

And this pic taken at Red Rocks in Colorado….

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The Fun Finders (Twitter) are eating their way across the country (that’s their job – looking for the best food) and are mixing in plenty of good times and sightseeing along the way.

They’ve recently travelled from Burnsville MN on a massive drive taking them through six states to end up in Gulfport, Florida. They were there for the 4th July celebrations and took part in the parade in a Saab 9-3 Convertible, in red to match their team colors (OK, they’re in white in this shot, but trust me). The Convertible was provided by Dimmitt Saab.

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The McNavigators (twitter) spent some quality time in one of the towns I’d like most to visit in the US: Franklin, TN. I have a good friend who lives there and whenever I’ve seen images of Mike’s 900 convertible in the local surrounds it has really made me look forward to spending some time there.

The McNavigator’s entries have only reinforced my thoughts. They must have loved the place, too, as they’ve done six separate blog entries and five short videos from there.

They’ve since been to Sandpoint, ID and are currently in Baker City, OR, but I haven’t seen much on the blog about those places yet, just a few entries on Facebook. It looks like Franklin had them totally consumed.

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Gone with the Wynns (twitter) seem similarly transfixed with Nacogdoches, TX, having written a LOT about their time there. I’ve really been enjoying their videos and photos (check out the road photo from their stop in Woodward, OK – amazing shot…… actually, their 4th July pics from this link are just as amazing).

They are now on their way to Walla Walla in Washington and from the number of entries on their Facebook page from WW residents, I think the town is preparing to give them a very BIG reception.

One of these teams is going to win the Saab 9-4x from their work on this trip. The Wynns look like formidable competitors in that particular race, with quality work and a big following.

And speaking of work, what a nice office……

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Equally busy are Captain and Clark (twitter), who have just had their Saab 9-4x in for service at Sid Dillon Saab in Nebraska.

Oil change, tire rotation, & great service for our Saab 9-4x. Thanks Sid Dillon Saab!

C&C have what is probably the most serious of the five tasks at hand – visiting the most patriotic towns in America. They’ve recently spent a lot of time amongst veterans at Ft Leonard Wood and Clarksville and there are some very moving stories being told from these visits.

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Be sure to follow each of the teams as they wind up their adventures. I’ve included their Facebook and Twitter links in the text above. You can also view the Best of the Road website and follow their latest updates there, too.

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Saabosphere – Saab links we liked this week

The Saab-webosphere is ticking over with news about the EIB approving our deal to sell and leaseback property. So why no press release from Saab yet? Well, there’s more than just the EIB involved in the approvals process and we have to wait on all parties before the deal is officially announced. We will do so in due course providing all goes well.

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SaabLog-in has some great Saab-Spyker photos from the Goodwood Festival of Speed. The pics include the first Spyker concept vehicle from 1996 (let’s just say evolution is a wonderful thing IMHO).

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My first Saab experience was with a Saab 9000 from the mid 1980s. I was really pleased when I got in touch again with the owner of that car, an old friend of mine named Nathan. I was even more pleased to find out that he’s still a Saab nut after all these years and I’m going to catch up with him when I’m next in Australia and check out his very hot Saab 9000 Aero.

But back to the mid-1980s…..

If you had a Saab of that vintage then you’re going to enjoy this retrospective on the 1986 Saab 9000 from Hemmings. It’s hard to imagine the 9000 as approaching any sort of vintage status, but I guess it is. Like the best of us 🙂

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If your Saab-ish passions run a little deeper (i.e. older), then this look at a family and their Saab experiences might be more up your alley.

The guy at the center of the story, Tom Shehan, is pretty typical of the average long-term Saab nut. Either that, or he’s the guy that all Saab nuts would like to be: with a 96 in the garage and a Sonett under restoration.

If you read just one story from this Saabosphere post – make it this one.

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Our friends on the Best of the Road tour around the US certainly seem to be visiting some interesting places. Any town with a giant Superman statue is cool place….

The Saabs have been seeing some action, too…..

Make sure you check into the Best of the Road website and check in on where the teams are visiting.

Right now Captain and Clark are (fittingly) in Clarksville TN, Jules and Joan have just visited Santa Claus (the town, not the person), the Wynns have just left Nagodoches, the Fun Finders have been visiting Rand and McNally’s HQ and the McNavigators have been to Marco Island, FL.

Nice work if you can get, eh?

Have you spotted the Best of the Road crew yet?

Last night I tweeted a special message to a good friend of mine in Tennessee. Mike used to write with me on my old website, Saabs United, and one of the Best of the Road teams was calling into his town – Franklin, TN.

The McNavigators had mentioned the following on Twitter:

We are all checked into our new home for 2 nights @countryinns and we’re minutes away from hitting the town. Get ready Franklin TN

Knowing that that’s Mike’s hometown now, I re-tweeted and marked it to his attention. Sure enough, Mike spotted the McNavigators’ Saab 9-5 in downtown Franklin and snapped a quick cellphone picture to prove it:

@Inside_saab #Saab 9-5 driven by the @McNavigators spotted in downtown #FranklinTN!! W00t!

The McNavigators also mentioned that they were running a little late for their day’s program as they had to stop and take a few Saab enthusiasts for a tour around their 9-5:

Running late to town hall, had to give two @Saab enthusiasts a tour of the 9 5! They are sold!

The lesson here……

The Best of the Road crews are out and about, touring the US. If you see them, go up and say “Hi”, maybe even get a photo with them. I’m sure they’d love to meet up with you and we’d love to share your meeting here on site so if you get a photo, make sure you send it in.

Here are the towns they’re visiting. Keep up with them on either the Best of the Road website or their Twitter accounts and you’ll get a good real-time feed of where they’re heading (that “Best of the Road” link features a real-time map).

Note: the locations below are not in the order in which they’ll be visited.

Captain and Clark
Category: Most patriotic
Locations: Clarksville TN, Emporia KS, Fort Leonard Wood MO, Peachtree City GA, Rapid City SD, Williamsburg VA

The Fun Finders
Category: Best for food.
Locations: Addison WV, Burnsville MN, Costa Mesa CA, Gulfport FL, Lafayette LA, Visalia CA

TravelingJules and TravelingJoan
Category: Most Fun.
Locations: Glenwood Springs CO, Myrtle Beach SC, Santa Claus IN, Sioux City IA, Vacaville CA, Yellow Springs OH

Gone with the Wynns
Category: Friendliest town.
Locations: Lake Havasu AZ, Mount Airy NC, Nacogdoches TX, Valdosta GA, Walla Walla WA, Woodward OK

The McNavigators
Category: Most beautiful
Locations: Baker City OR, Coral Gables FL, Franklin TN, Marco Island FL, Pacifica CA, Sandpoint ID

Update – Best Of The Road

Five lucky groups are driving around the United States checking out the best the country has to offer – food, fun, friendliness, beauty and patriotism. It’s called Best Of The Road and the reason we’re interested about it here on Inside Saab is because the groups are covering all these miles in some comfy ventilated seats provided by Saab Cars North America.

Two Saab 9-3s, two Saab 9-5s and one Saab 9-4x are the vehicles in use for the trip.

Here’s an update from each of the teams……

Captain and Clark (most patriotic route) are in the Saab 9-4x and have spent the last few days in and around Williamsburg. Check out their entries and you’ll see they’ve enjoyed their time there. Check out this video and you’ll see they’re enjoying the Saab 9-4x as well 🙂

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The Fun Finders are eating their way across the USA (Best Food route) and whilst there hasn’t been a lot of Saaby content, they sure look like they’re digging into their mission (it seems Burnsville MN has a lot of eateries.)

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Gone With The Wynns (the Friendly route) have been to Valdosta GA for their first stop and it seems they’re getting a well-honed sense of occasion with regard to this event:

It is all so overwhelming yet on the flip side we have an immense sense of privilege. We have felt so welcomed everywhere and people just keep saying “wow, you have the best job in the world, wish I could do that!”

I mean, who wouldn’t want to do a three-week expenses paid road trip across the US in a new Saab 9-5? Fortunate indeed. And they’re doing a great job of reporting their travels, too.

They’re travelling the friendly route, and it seems like they’re getting good value from it….

Nikki just kissed a lama, maybe this town is too friendly.

….and they’re getting decent mileage from the V6 Turbo Aero as well (combined avg on sticker is 20):

we are averaging 23.3 mpg in our saab 9-5 aero.

Follow them on Twitter for plenty of timely updates.

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The McNavigators are driving the beautiful route in their Saab 9-5, which they seem pretty happy with:

….and they must have a lighter foot than the Wynns……

from Jersey City to Coral Gabels we averaged 29 mpg, very impressed!

That’s Coral Gabels, FL, where they’ve been living it up pretty nicely:

Had dinner and watched fire dancing on the beach after getting the key to the city of Marco Island.

If you were considering an entry into Best of the Road but decided against it, I’d suggest you start making your videos for 2012 right now 🙂

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TravelingJules and TravelingJoan are driving the Fun route and made a quick stop at the offices of BOTR media partner, USA today. A tour of the facility ensued, but I know you’re more interested in the motoring glamour shots…

The ladies then headed down to Myrtle Beach, SC, with 60 miles of beach, lots to eat, lots to do (shag dancing!) and a couple more photo opportunities, too…..

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Keep up with all the teams at the Rand McNally website.

You can also see contact points for all teams here.

Participants and their Saabs in Best Of The Road

The Best of the Road event is now on. Run by Rand McNally with media partner USA Today, five groups of two are driving Saabs across the United States looking for the best small towns in America.

The groups will tweet and blog their way across the country, collecting followers along the way. A winner will be chosen at the end of the event and that winner will win a Saab 9-4x.

Here’s a bit more detail on who they are, where they’re going and most importantly, what they’re driving.

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Captain and Clark

Category: Most patriotic

Locations: Clarksville TN, Emporia KS, Fort Leonard Wood MO, Peachtree City GA, Rapid City SD, Williamsburg VA

Car: Saab 9-4x

Find them: Twitter, Facebook, Web

Recent banter: “She is beautiful! We don’t ever want to give her back!” – talking about the Saab 9-4x on Twitter.

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The Fun Finders

Category: Best for food.

Locations: Addison WV, Burnsville MN, Costa Mesa CA, Gulfport FL, Lafayette LA, Visalia CA

Car: Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Find them: Twitter, Web, Facebook

Recent Banter: “….one of the first things Jim said was “my seat is getting hot.” We found the proper button before he burned his bottom.” – Gotta love those Saab seat heaters!

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TravelingJules and TravelingJoan

Category: Most Fun.

Locations: Glenwood Springs CO, Myrtle Beach SC, Santa Claus IN, Sioux City IA, Vacaville CA, Yellow Springs OH

Car: Saab 9-3 SportCombi

Find them: Web, Facebook, Twitter

Recent Banter:

New York City from travelingjulesandtravelingjoan on Vimeo.

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Gone with the Wynns

Category: Friendliest town.

Locations: Lake Havasu AZ, Mount Airy NC, Nacogdoches TX, Valdosta GA, Walla Walla WA, Woodward OK

Car: Saab 9-5 sedan

Find them: Web, Facebook, Twitter

Recent Banter: We got the awesome 9-5 Areo to sport over the next 3 weeks thanks to SAAB and we are on the road to the Friendliest Towns in America! – via Facebook.

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The McNavigators

Category: Most beautiful

Locations: Baker City OR, Coral Gables FL, Franklin TN, Marco Island FL, Pacifica CA, Sandpoint ID

Car: Saab 9-5 sedan

Find Them: Web, Facebook, Twitter

Recent banter: “LOVING our Saab! 10 hours of driving and I am still comfortable! :)” – via Twitter.

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Saab to feature in "Best of the Road" adventures

Best of the Road is an event being run by cartographers Rand McNally with the help of their official media partner, the newspaper USA Today.

The event involves five teams driving various Saab vehicles to 30 destinations around the US. The destinations are broken into five categories, with 6 cities in each category, as follows:

  • Most Beautiful – Baker City OR, Coral Gables FL, Franklin TN, Marco Island FL, Pacifica CA, Sandpoint ID
  • Most Patriotic – Clarksville TN, Emporia KS, Fort Leonard Wood MO, Peachtree City GA, Rapid City SD, Williamsburg VA
  • Most Fun – Glenwood Springs CO, Myrtle Beach SC, Santa Claus IN, Sioux City IA, Vacaville CA, Yellow Springs OH
  • Friendliest – Lake Havasu AZ, Mount Airy NC, Nacogdoches TX, Valdosta GA, Walla Walla WA, Woodward OK
  • Best for Food – Addison WV, Burnsville MN, Costa Mesa CA, Gulfport FL, Lafayette LA, Visalia CA

So what’s this all about? From the Best of the Road website:

What is the Best of the Road® 2011 Rally?

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 ,000.

You’ll be able to support your favourite team by following their adventures on Facebook, their own websites, and on Twitter.

  • Captain and Clark (exploring the “Most Patriotic”) – website – Twitter
  • Gone with the Wynns (exploring the “Friendliest”) – website – Twitter
  • McNavigators (exploring the “Most Beautiful”) – website – Twitter
  • The Fun Finders (exploring the “Best for Food”)- website – Twitter
  • TravelingJules and TravelingJoan (exploring the “Most Fun”) – website – Twitter

We’ll be following the competitors and the adventures of the Saab range, too, as they carry the contestants around the United States on this adventure.

There are five teams, and of course there will be five Saabs involved in the adventures.

  • 1 x Saab 9-4x SUV
  • 2 x Saab 9-5 sedans
  • 1 x Saab 9-3 SportSedan
  • 1 x Saab 93 SportCombi

If they’re coming to your town, it’d be great to get and out, show them your support and let them know just how blessed they are to be doing this trip in a Saab. Maybe see if you can get photo of them and send it in.

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