BrooklynHilary: Agent #41
Hilary, a 35-year-old photographer formerly of New York City and now residing in Southern California, has escaped from the corporate rat race. Until January, she never possessed a driver's license, but now she's a road tripper, having already taken a cross-country trip to relocate to Southern California. Now she is not only an Automotive Traveler contributor, but also Agent #41 of the Ford Fiesta Movement.
Follow the Fiesta: Agents #16
 Brad Nelson, 33, and Emma Frankland 21, who love both their jobs as employees of the Craterian Theater in Medford, Oregon and great road trip adventures were chosen out of more than 4,000 possible participants by Ford as Fiesta Movement mission agents #16. They represent exactly the kind of potential buyers that the Ford Fiesta must appeal to for the launch next year to be successful. It doesn't hurt that both are well-versed in the power and potential of social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr to reach trendsetters who can generate positive buzz for Ford's sporty subcompact when it reaches dealer showrooms early in 2010.
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Written by Brad Nelson
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Wednesday, 08 July 2009 |
Brad and Emma continue to rack up the miles, 1,396 on this leg, as their adventure has now covered four of the lower 48 states.
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We set out early morning from Auburn, CA heading towards Vista, CA to visit Emma's grandparents. The Fiesta now with a bit more room as we left Phantom, my dog, behind in Auburn with my parents. It will be nice when SYNC is installed in the US version of the Fiesta, hopefully including GPS built in the car. For this trip we used a combination of GPS directions from 'Magellan' and the iPhone Traffic and managed to avoid Southern California traffic until we hit Oceanside. From that point it felt like it took 2 hours to travel 5 miles. Arriving safely at our destination in Vista, we showed off the Fiesta, ate dinner, played some cards, and turned in. All in all 518 miles traveled for the day.
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Continue reading 'Follow the Fiesta from Auburn, California to Flags...'
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Written by Brad Nelson
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Saturday, 04 July 2009 |
Profiled earlier on Automotive Traveler, Facebook Friends Brad Nelson and Emma Frankland start their month-long 11,000-mile, 48-state adventure with their 2009 Ford Fiesta named Vortex.
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We have begun our grand adventure. After mapping out a U.S. tour of the 48 states which shows approx 11,327 miles round trip leaving from Medford, Oregon, we began to make preparations. After a mad packing frenzy of stuffing the Ford Fiesta (that we've named Vortex) full of everything except maybe the kitchen sink, we were on our way. The first shorter stint in the car included Phantom, my lab mix, panting in our ears for the 336-mile trek to Auburn, California where she will visit with my parents while Emma and I roam the Lower 48, all 48.
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Continue reading 'Follow the Fiesta from Medford, Oregon to Auburn, ...'
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Written by Hilary McHone
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Monday, 22 June 2009 |
Former east coaster BrooklynHilary gets to experience the famous Pacific Coast Highway, otherwise known as California 1, in her Ford Fiesta as she continues to rack up the miles.
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I woke up Wednesday morning excited about my drive ahead. Most of the way I would drive on Route 1 along the Pacific Coast Highway. I'd never been on this stretch before, but knew from conversation and photos that it would be spectacular and beautiful! Had I not spent the night before in Vallejo, I wouldn't have picked this route. It takes quite a bit longer than the 5 (now that I'm back in LA, I'll call it "the 5," which apparently is a "thing") no matter what, but with stops for photos, it was sure to be an especially time-consuming trip.
I still don't know if it makes any sense or not, but I thought it might cut down on traffic and time if I drove down to Santa Cruz on the east side of San Francisco Bay and then did the coastal drive from there. I'm sure I missed some great scenery, but I decided that going to Big Sur was my main interest for the day.
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Continue reading 'Brooklyn Hilary on the Road: Going home--San Franc...'
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Written by Hilary McHone
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Tuesday, 16 June 2009 |
On her way back home our Fiesta Movement blogger Hilary McHone, aka BrooklynHilary, decided to wing it. Here's her online journal.
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Most of my trip heading north to Seattle was pretty well laid out. My voyage home was more open and, well, less organized! That turned out to be a good thing, though, as all my activities up until that point had worn me out and the distances I'd usually be ready and willing to drive in my Ford Fiesta seemed like marathons at this point! My first stop was back in Portland, where my new friend Vinh invited me to stay for another night. That night he was screening "The Muppets Take Manhattan" at a local bar, so I went, relaxed, and enjoyed the show.
A great thing about bars in Portland, I was told (and that night experienced) is that they're required to serve food--and it's often very good food. Although I am not a vegetarian, I was impressed to hear that bars are also required to serve some sort of vegetarian option. So I had a nice, fresh salad and some bratwurst bites for dinner and was wholly satisfied! I topped off my Portland experience the next morning with coffee at Stumptown, where I met up with another fellow Fiesta Agent, Steve Ouch and his wife, Cherry. Steve was one of the agents I'd picked out at the very start as being someone I'd like to meet. He is a children's book author--his recent book SteamPotVille is worth checking out! As expected, he is a great guy and I opted to wander around a bit with him and Vinh for a couple hours before heading out of town.
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Continue reading 'BrooklynHilary on the Road: Days 6-8 Portland, Ore...'
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Written by Hilary McHone
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Wednesday, 10 June 2009 |
Hilary learns Seattle is a perfect destination to explore in a Ford Fiesta.
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My drive from Portland to Seattle was fairly uneventful. There was quite a lot of traffic and still a bit of weather. But I knew I had lots to look forward to! Like in Portland, I was staying with someone who I had never met in person, but whom I've known online for a couple years! Jason and I had both been part of a Flickr group called 365 Days, in which we took self-portraits every day for a year. When you see someone's face every day, you start feeling like you know them. So when Jason invited me to stay with him, I jumped at the chance.
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Continue reading 'Brooklyn Hilary on the Road: Days 5-6 Seattle, Was...'
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