Barbara has always mixed a love of travel with education and learning.

Concerned with issues facing her local school district, Barbara ran a successful campaign for school director. In that capacity, she concentrated on educational issues, particularly the inclusion of technology in the classroom. Even then, one of her goals was encouraging parent participation in the learning experience and reinforcing lessons in daily life.

After an elected term as school director, she opened a travel agency and served as president, while managing the division on France, specificallyParis. Her focus while conducting small group tours was enriching clients’ experience with knowledge of the area not usually found in travel guides.

In addition to travel details, Barbara produced the travel agency’s promotional materials, gaining expertise in writing copy plus skills in layout and design.

The idea for this travel series germinated for a long time.

Over twenty years before her school board and the travel agency experiences, Barbara dreamed of writing a manual to clue interstate travelers in on stories along the route and explain random things along the way. Several things prevented that early effort to take shape. It wasn’t until 2005 that, driving (once again) along the PA Turnpike, Barbara’s idea resurface. She thought, “People might like to know why there are miles of dead trees along the highway. Or they might want to know why cement stairs lead down to the turnpike. Or that Flight # 93 crashed about 5 miles north of Mile Post 120 on 9/11/01.”

Once a workable structure and framework for the book was achieved, Barbara concentrated on uncovering little-known facts to amuse travelers along the I-95 corridor. As more tidbits surfaced, the more she was sure there was value to this information. No other travel guide makes the most of a traveler’s interstate journey; it’s the last frontier in travel guides.