We’ve been telling our stories on this website for over five years now. I still can’t believe how lucky I am to be the publisher of Last Great Road

Trip and share our off-road adventure stories, pictures and videos with everyone who follows all this craziness.

As we grow, we continue to look for ways to share our off-road adventures with more and more people who enjoy exploring the road less traveled. One way you will see us grow is throw a new partnership with our friend Shane Williams and TCT Magazine (formally FJC Magazine). As an Associate Editor for the magazine, I’ll be contributing stories and pictures in an effort to inspire their readers to create their own adventures.

Don’t worry, we will continue to provide the same great content you’ve come to expect from us right here.  But now you will be able to enjoy more of our last great road trip stories in the issues of TCT Magazine.

First of all I would like to thank the academy, my parents, my friends, all the readers, the guy who cuts my hair, the kid down the street who mows the lawn, our mailman, my favorite sister-in-law, Hula Betty and all the people who work so hard behind the scenes to make this web site possible….

Ok, so we are not curing cancer here and until someone does end bigotry and hatred in the world this might not be all that news worthy…  But over at Trip Base they picked the top blogs and sure enough Last Great Road Trip was a finalist…  here is the inside scope.  Here is the write up:

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The award is a mark of prestige which is only afforded to the blogs that score highly when our judges review them for selection. The award is a sign that a blog succeeds greatly at what it does and surpasses all expectations, thereby indicating it as a veritable bastion of quality and information.

Americas Awards Category
The Americas (both North and South) are physically large places and so too is the blogosphere that the best America blogs inhabit, so our judges had their work cut out for them in selecting the winners in this category. These blogs have been chosen for the overall combination of style and substance that interact in such a way so as to each create a unique blog that readers will want to return to time and time again. Judges looked for content that was both interesting and informative, but also noted if the blogger could back up written content with visual media such as maps of the Americas or of their respective travel routes and destinations, as well as videos and pictures to accompany their travel stories or information.
Award Recipients 2009

• 1st http://someone else
• 2nd http://someone else not us
• 3rd http://someone else not lastgreatroadtrip.com
• 4th http://other people’s blog not ours
• some more stuff that is not us and than
• Finalist http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com/

Sure we didn’t win…  but just being nominated is what is important right?  Just like taking your sister to the prom or kissing your grandma good night…  it’s just not the same as winner…  We’ll be working on our competitiveness issues in therapy next week.

Media Gets Behind Last Great Road Trip
By Last Great Road Trip
Dated: October 13, 2008

Last Great Road Trip receives commitment from 4WD Toyota Owner. The folks at 4WD Toyota Owner will carry the story of the Last Great Road Trip’s off-road adventure scheduled to follow the Baja 1000 course trail.

If an off-road adventure’s story is not told did it really happen? Based on the popularity of the Last Great Road Trip’s Arctic Circle Adventure story and pictures, 4WD Toyota Owner is committed to running a story on the up coming Baja off-road adventure.  This years team will include professional photographer Brad Day who will capture the trip on film to complement Paul Thompson’s stories of friendship, diversity and raves on the road.

Paul Thompson, the teams project manager and driver said, “We are please that 4WD Toyota Owner recognizes the importance of our celebration of diversity and promotion of tolerance which is weaved throughout the adventure.  Additionally, Although we post daily website reports (http://www.lastgreatroadtrip.com) of the adventure, a followup story in print media provides our fans with a unique way to connect to this adventure.”

Making all these off-road adventures possible, the Last Great Road Trip is supported by friends, family and sponsors along the way including:

Baja Designs – www.bajadesigns.com
Metal Tech – Protection… Evolved www.metaltech4×4.com
Metagyre, Inc – Project Management Experts www.metagyre.com
Taylor Made Graphics www.taylormadetshirts.com
Hula Betty Fans – www.WhereIsHulaBetty.com
Working Web Solutions Portland Web Design & Portland SEO Search Engine Optimization www.workingwebsolutions.com

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About: Last Great Road Trip is a series of off-road adventures taken by a team of explorers and shared with others over the Internet. The website, an experiment in social networking describes the adventures, friendships, rants and raves on the road of life. Explore hidden trails, back roads and the diverse cultures that enrich this shared experience while adding your own comments to the adventure.
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Last Great Road Trip finalizes its Baja off-road adventure team.

Last Great Road Trip Selects Brad Day, Hollywood film executive and adventure traveler as the team’s navigator and photographer for its Baja off-road adventure.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRLog (Press Release) – Sep 06, 2008 – Brad Day has been named team photographer and navigator for Last Great Road Trip’s Baja off-road adventure. Brad’s background in film and travel will ensure the team stays on course as they follow SCORE 2007 Baja 1,000 race course. As team photographer Brad will capture the imagery of Baja Mexico, its people and the roads much, much less traveled.

According to Paul Thompson, the team’s lead driver and project manager, Brad fills a significant role on the team. Paul said, “This is the first off-road adventure where orienting and navigation are critical. Brad’s attention to detail and planning will ensure we stay on course regardless of what the Baja throws at us. As a photographer, Brad’s images will enhance the off-road adventure website postings by adding a visual story telling component to our story.”

While this selection deviates from the father son teams that went to the Arctic Ocean and the peaks of Telluride, it does reunite two fraternity brothers and represents a new chapter in the relationships explored on the road of life. The new team will continue to post on the Off-Road Adventure website  and social media with stories, photos and video of their Baja Adventure.

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About Last Great Road Trip:
A series of off-road adventures taken by a team of explorers shared with others over the Internet. The website, an experiment in social media, describes the adventures, friendships, rants and raves on the road of life as they happen. Explore hidden trails, back roads and the diverse cultures that enrich this shared experience while adding your own comments to the adventure.
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Baja Designs Lights Up the Last Great Road Trip
By Last Great Road Trip
Dated: Jun 17, 2008

Last Great Road Trip receives support from Baja Designs. The folks at Baja Designs assist with the team’s need for off-road lights that will illuminate Last Great Road Trip’s drive down the Baja 1000 course trail.

Off-road adventures require a significant amount of support and planning, along with a little luck to be successful. A big part of planning goes into selecting the right equipment. The demands of driving off-road requires a clear view of the trail ahead regardless of the conditions. To achieve that clear view, means investing in a lighting system that can handle what ever mother nature throws your way including moonless nights, foul weather, pea soup fog and dust storms. In other words a lighting system capable of turning night into day.  Last Great Road Trip is please to announce it has selected Baja Designs’ LaPaz and Fuego lighting components to illuminate their way as they explore the Baja Peninsula.

According to Paul Thompson, the teams project manager and driver, Last Great Road Trip wanted to select a lighting system that could be counted on, no matter what. Paul said, “We looked for a lighting system with high quality electronics, crystal clear optics and a reputation for dependability. We found Baja Designs’ components met all our requirements, and their team has a real love for what they do and what we are attempting.”

At Baja Designs, Chris Chapman said, “When Paul contacted me and explained that his team planned to explore Baja following the 2007 SCORE Baja 1000 course coordinates I knew that we had just what they needed. Covering the 1300 miles of treacherous terrain would require driving deep into the night. Baja Designs Inc. president/owner Alan Roach and Baja Designs engineer Tex Mitchell have competed in the prestigious Baja 1000 over 20 times between the two of them. They are meticulous in their work and spend countless hours testing all of our products at night to get the optimal pattern and output. Being located in San Marcos, CA we are also able to test with some of the biggest names in off-road racing. After discussing the vehicle and the team’s needs with Paul we suggested a combination of our Soltek Lighting Systems Fuego 4” HID and LaPaz 8” HID products which would easily perform just as Paul needed.

Here at Baja Designs we love the people in Baja and their passion for off-road racing that is obvious even in the most remote corners where stickers, posters and photos cover walls in place of wallpaper. There is nothing more rewarding than swapping stories with the locals over a hot meal after a long day on the trail. We wish Paul a most enjoyable off-road adventure and are glad that he chose Baja Designs to light the way!”

Last Great Road Trip continues to shine a light on the need to dismantle bigotry and replace it with a celebration of our diversity. Thanks to the support of Baja Designs we will all see the way a little more clearly.

Making all these adventures possible, the Last Great Road Trip is supported by friends, family and sponsors along the way including:

Baja Designs – www.bajadesigns.com
Metal Tech – Protection… Evolved www.metaltech4×4.com
Metagyre, Inc – Project Management Experts www.metagyre.com
Taylor Made Graphics www.taylormadetshirts.com
Hula Betty Fans – WhereIsHulaBetty.com
Working Web Solutions Portland Web Design & Portland SEO Search Engine Optimization www.workingwebsolutions.com

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Last Great Road Trip is a series of off-road adventures taken by a team of explorers and shared with others over the Internet. The website, a social experiment in web 2.0 and a celebration of diversity, describes the off-road adventures, friendships, rants and raves on the road of life. Explore hidden trails, back roads and the diverse cultures that enrich this shared experience while adding your own comments to the adventure.
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TravelHacker, the thinly veiled corporate airline credit card blog, written by Christina Laun, choose Last Great Road Trip as one of the 100 best travel journal blogs on the web. And if you are counting, that is top 100 out of 1,620,000 “travel journal blog” entries, give or take a couple of hundred thousand.

The TravelHacker put us in the “Road Less Traveled”, a category covering travels to the far reaches of the globe or taking to the road for unusual reasons. Journals in the road less traveled category are for travelers like us who have taken some unusual trips all over the world. I like that!

It is nice to be picked for anything other than last for dodge ball so feel free to send the TravelHacker a comment about her choice of the 100 best travel journals.

Headline:
Experts at uShip Team Up with Last Great Road Trip

Summary:
uShip, the online shipping marketplace, signs up as the newest expert guests to contribute to Last Great Road Trip’s road side chat.

Body:
uShip, the online shipping marketplace, signs up as the newest expert guest writers on Last Great Road Trip website. uShip will contribute their shipping, logistics and travel expertise to the adventure road trip website through articles on such topics as earning funds for cross country adventures, hooking up with hitchhikers who pay their way or how to ship your rig to the Timbuktu starting point of your overland adventure.

Paul Thompson the team’s driver and project manager said, “uShip signed up because they believed in our off-road adventure to celebrate diversity and knew they could help our readers in creating their own off-road adventures. We are please to have uShip on board and look forward to reading their contributions.”

You can read uShip’s first contribution, written by Adam Greenspan and other experts on the off-road adventure website.

Making this all possible, the Last Great Road Trip is supported by friends, family and sponsors along the way including:
Baja Designs
Metal Tech 4×4 – Protection… Evolved
Metagyre, Inc – Project Management Experts
Taylor Made Graphics
Hula Betty Productions
Working Web Solutions Portland Web Design & Portland SEO Search Engine Optimization

About Last Great Road Trip:
A series of off-road adventures shared with others over the Internet. The website, a social experiment in web 2.0 and a celebration of diversity, describes the off-road adventures, friendships, rants and raves on the road of life. Explore hidden trails, back roads and diverse cultures that enrich this shared experience while adding your own comments to the adventure.

See PR Log for press release and read about shipping your vehicle on our website.