January 13, 2004, Virginia Beach, Va. – TimeShareSaver.com (www.TimeShareSaver.com), an online forum for selling, buying and renting of timeshare properties and a division of Trader Publishing Company, today announced most-searched states on TimeShareSaver.com in 2003 were Florida and Hawaii.

Recent data show top ten most-searched states on TimeShareSaver.com in 2003 were Florida, Hawaii, California, South Carolina, Colorado, Virginia, North Carolina, Arizona, Tennessee and Nevada consecutively.

While TimeShareSaver.com features a national listings database as well as listings worldwide including Caribbean and Mexico, this information corresponds with markets that are historically destinations of interest to timeshare users according to Interval International’s Future Timeshare Buyers: 2002 Market Profile. Further, according to comScore Media Metrix, in December 2003, 17% of total Internet audience was researching real estate.

Who knew?

A huge colony roosts under this bridge in downtown Austin, and when they egress of a summer night to go out and hunt for food, it is a sight to behold. I have taken visitors of all ages to see spectacle and even teenagers (you know how hard they are to impress, or admit it) sat spellbound. It’s just creepy enough. For driving directions and map, go here: http://www.batcon.org/discover/congress_map_outoftowners.html .

Popular? It’s estimated that over 100,000 people come to see bats fly out every year, generating a healthy hunk of change for city of Austin.

The spectacle has all elements of a good watch – mystery, a bit of creeps, expec-TA-shun, and results that don’t disappoint. Tension builds as dusk falls and all eyes turn to bridge, waiting. Then you see one bat and crowd cheers, then another, then a million. Silently they head out into night and to think of where all those bats are heading – well, I often saw them dive-bombing my swimming pool at night.

Of course City had to do some educating when public became, um, upset about all 1.5 million Mexican free-tailed bats that migrate from Mexico to call bridge their home from mid-March to early November. I’d call that “wintering in Texas,” but, okay, it’s a migration.

Do we love bats? Well, we don’t like to touch them – no joke, don’t ever mess with a bat. But we must appreciate fact that those bats heading out across Austin can each eat 600 mosquitoes in an hour and won’t poison environment. They also pollinate plants. (Other favorites include many crop pests such as cutworms, cucumber beetles, and corn borer moths.) 600 mosquitoes x 1.5 million bats x 8 night hours? You do math! For a quickie on bat lore, go here: http://www.nps.gov/wica/bats.htm .

Might you get rabies? According to National Park Service, only 10 humans have contracted rabies from bats in more than 30 years. Most people who do die of rabies contract it from our much better friend, dog. In Austin-area, bat rich as it is, there have been no recorded human cases of bat-transmitted rabies.

It sort of adds to excitement of adventure, but when you’re sitting there looking up, how would you catch one? If one falls to ground, it is probably injured or sick, and your animal-lore in general will tell you to leave any wild animal alone. In this case, just get away. And if you like to grub around under bridge, assuming you could, well, haven’t you heard about guano? Ick!