AAA Texas: Join Geocaching Hunt on Route 66

IRVING, Texas--May 1, 20057, 2005--During a cross country map research trip this month and in June, AAA Texas will be hiding caches for travelers to find at a variety of locations along Route 66 as part of a geocaching treasure hunt.

Geocaching, a combination of "geo" for geography and "caching" for hiding a cache, is a 5-year-old high tech scavenger hunt using handheld Global Positioning System (GPS) units. The units are used to hide and track "geocaches," containers filled with goodies and sometimes valuable objects. In the geocaching world, hunting and finding "virtual" caches -- scenic sites -- also count as prizes.

Geocache coordinates that AAA travel writer Dave Brackney and AAA staff photographer Todd Masinter get using GPS units while updating the AAA's glossy GreatestHits(TM) Route 66 Map, will be posted on the AAA's dedicated interactive web page which can be reached by going to www.aaa.com/aaagps. The web page will track the 22-day map expedition that begins today in Chicago.

"The AAA Texas geocaches on the 'Mother Road' could include Hertz rental car coupons, logo T-shirts, travel guides, children's games and automotive items," according to AAA Texas spokesperson Rose Rougeau. There also will be several virtual scenic site caches as well, she added.

The web page describes AAA's historic contribution to the creation of Route 66, biographies of Brackney and Masinter and historic images from AAA's Corporate Archives.

Brackney and Masinter will finish their trip at the Santa Monica, Calif., Pier, near the western end of Route 66, on June 7th. Once the trip gets under way, the web page will include a daily journal with entries and photos sent in electronically from the road. The public also can send in their own Route 66 memories to the pair at Route66@aaa.texas.com.

Hertz and Ford Motor Company are sponsors of the vehicles that AAA Texas representatives will traverse Route 66 in: a 2005 Ford Mustang coupe and Mustang GT convertible. The GPS units are from GPS manufacturer, Garmin(R).

Before the federal government took it over in 1927 and renamed it U.S. Route 66, the original transcontinental byway was called the National Old Trails Road. In 1914, the Auto Club of Southern California signposted the multi-state roadway, installing 4,000 directional signs between Los Angeles and Kansas City, Mo.

AAA Texas, an affiliate of AAA National, has been serving Texans since 1902. Today, more than a million AAA Texas members benefit from the organization's roadside assistance service, insurance and financial products, travel agency, automotive pricing, buying and financing, trip planning services, and traffic safety programs. Information about these products and services is available on AAA Texas' web site at www.aaa-texas.com.