FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE    

November 14, 2002                            

CONTACT: Patricia M. Lonsbary
Vice President & General Manager

“Did Someone Say Road Trip?”

The most frequent passenger aboard Private Motor Coach, Inc. always rides for free

He has left his mark over 32 of states.  From the eastern shore to beyond the Mississippi River into Iowa, and from as far north as Ontario, Canada to as far south as Dallas, Texas, he has covered the miles aboard a luxury house-on-wheels.

His birth certificate shows his name is Waldsee’s Exeter, but everyone just calls him “Rusty.” You might say that he is a unique breed  - “The Queen’s Dog,” Welsh folklore references to the breed as a dwarf dog and friend to the Leprechauns…a red and white Cardigan Welsh Corgi. 

Rusty was a puppy with noticeably big ears when he joined our family five-years-ago. His first ride in an aging Crown Vic took him from Hudson, Ohio to the North Hills of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on the lap of our daughter Suzie.  Little did Rusty know this was just the beginning of many road trips. Sure, there were daily rides in the family cars, but it wasn’t until 1999 that Rusty experienced a real luxury ride.  

Ed Lonsbary dreamed of a life on the road and a new option for travel.  He acted on this dream when he created a business plan for the company he founded:  Private Motor Coach, Inc.  ( www.privatemotorcoach.com )

Private Motor Coach, Inc. is a unique travel company offering luxury travel aboard an MCI 40-foot by 8-foot bus.  This in not a seated coach.  Inside there is a living room, kitchen, bathroom with shower, queen-size bedroom, plenty of storage, and even a washer and dryer. Ed is the owner/operator.  He takes only two to ten people aboard for vacations and sometimes business trips.  Ed is the driver and escort, taking people anywhere there is a road to travel in the Americas.

Ed’s typical human passengers prefer sitting on the couch or lounging on the bed.  Rusty, however, likes riding with his head resting on the three-inch step leading into the living room with his long body stretched on the carpeted floor between the driver and passenger seats.

One word describes Rusty’s first motor coach trip:  Hot.  He accompanied the Lonsbary Family (Ed, wife Patty, Christopher, and Suzie) to Iowa for the Family Motor Coaching Association summer rally.  For several days the temperatures soared and humidity rose.  Even air conditioning couldn’t bring the temperature to bearable levels.  Only the night air or a ride with the windows down in the Acura tow car brought relief.  The entire family rejoiced when we left the Iowa heat and pulled into a state park along the Mississippi River.  Rusty doesn’t bother with a swimsuit, so he immediately jumped into the muddy Mississippi for its cooling relief.

Since that first trip, Rusty traveled aboard Private Motor Coach to Canada where he cheered the elderly at Oxford Manor Retirement Home.  He has gone to Niagara Falls; accompanied a group of fisherman to New York for a Lake Erie excursion; visited the First Monday Event in Canton, Texas; and helped escort Mrs. Virginia Williams, mother of the current mayor of Washington, DC, on a day tour of the nation’s capital.  Rusty has become a welcome companion and Private Motor Coach mascot.

Rusty’s most recent trip started August 5, 2002 covering 6,377 miles.  The first leg of the trip deadheaded (without paying passengers) Rusty with Ed from Whitehouse, Texas to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.  There, they welcomed aboard Rick, Wiley, Tom, and Ron and off they went on “The Great Elvis Presley-Memphis Heritage Tour and Pilgrimage.”

With Ed and Rusty as escorts, these four long-time friends visited Antietam Battlefield and other Civil War battlefields including Chattanooga, Shiloh and Chicamauga. They traveled along Skyline Drive, the Blue Ridge Parkway with scenic overlooks, then the Natchez Trace to Tupelo, Mississippi.  They stopped at the Grande Ole Opry in Nashville, a minor league baseball game, and then traveled onward to Memphis for Elvis Week Events and a Graceland tour to memorialize the “King” Elvis Presley. 

Rusty joined the group for the battlefield walking tours. He appears in their scenic mountain photos. And, he gladly accepted samples of some delicious barbecue throughout the South, a tasty change from his typical meals. This roundtrip returned the travelers to Bethesda, Maryland.

Just when it seemed time to turn south, an unplanned occurrence sent the coach and Rusty to Greensburg, Pennsylvania to visit Patty’s family for a week.  Logic followed that since the coach was already so far north, why not keep rolling north.  So Ed and Rusty continued onward to Ingersoll, Ontario to see the Lonsbary family, with a short day stop at Edinboro University to help Christopher settle into his college apartment. 

The return from Canada to Texas took five days.  The entire round-trip, August through September, put many miles under Rusty’s paws bringing him back home to his second most favorite spot – the family couch.

There will be other trips on which Rusty will likely stowaway.  For sure, he is headed to Alaska for five weeks starting in June 2003.  Unlike his first luxury coach trip to the hot fields of Iowa, Rusty will need his fur coat for those Alaskan nights.

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