John Katsilometes relates a travel log that takes one frequent flier to such tourist destinations as Cedar Rapids and Sioux Falls

Friday, March 24, 2006 | 7:18 a.m.

Her latest e-mail arrived from Laredo, Texas, informing me that Allegiant Air had expanded its service from Las Vegas to there.

Other missives have been shipped from Portsmouth, N.H., and Rapid City, S.D.

Those e-mails have been sent by Tyri Squyres, who is the PR rep for Allegiant, the Las Vegas-based airline that offers cheap air fares to offbeat outposts.

How offbeat? In the past year, on behalf of the airline, Squyres has visited 34 small to midsize townships - many of them twice. Following is the Squyres Runway Rundown:

Billings, Mont.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa; Duluth, Minn.; Fargo, N.D.; Green Bay, Wis.; Madison, Wis.; Idaho Falls, Idaho; Killeen, Texas; Lansing, Mich.; Lincoln, Neb.; McAllen, Texas; Laredo, Texas; Palm Springs, Calif.; Tri-Cities, Wash.; Rapid City, S.D.; Santa Maria, Calif.; Shreveport, La.; Sioux Falls, S.D.; South Bend, Ind.; Springfield, Mo.; Toledo, Ohio; Topeka, Kan.; Allentown, Pa.; Hudson Valley, N.Y.; Portsmouth, N.H.; Rockford, Ill.; Peoria, Ill.; Worcester, Mass.; Youngstown, Ohio; St. Louis, Mo./Belleville, Ill.; Wichita Falls, Tex.; Orlando, Fla. and Missoula, Mont.

Aside from reading like the national touring schedule for Sha Na Na, that list of cities reflects Allegiant's expansion - particularly its expansion to destinations other major carriers simply fly over. The company was founded in 1997; its current executive lineup is Chief Executive Officer Maury Gallagher, Managing Partners Ponder Harrison and Andrew Levy, and Chief Financial Officer Linda Marvin.

As for Squyres, a longtime friend I met eight years ago when she was a PR rep for the Rio (we had many discussions about Danny Gans' $100 ticket prices in those days), the landing has been smooth. "If I collected souvenir spoons," she says, "I would have quite a collection.''

NoteMart

Tall order: So I pull the height of Eddie Mekka from the usually fail-safe Web site www.imdb.com (the Internet Movie Database), which lists him at "5-3." And this week, when I reported that the former Carmine Ragusa would take over for Dick Latessa as Wilbur Turnblad in the Luxor production of "Hairspray," I casually mentioned he was 5 feet, 3 inches tall.

Then I get an e-mail from one Eddie Mekka, who says he is not 5-foot-3 but 5-foot-6. So the long and short of this (ahem), is I'm trusting Mekka and going with his own statistics ...

Super conductor: The UNLV College of Fine Arts reports that the school's symphony orchestra conductor George Stelluto has been presented with the Regents' Creative Acitivty Award. The state Board of Regents established the award in 1993 to recognize "significant accomplishments, as well as national and international stature, to the University and Community College System of Nevada." Selluto receives a medal and $5,000 ...

Case of the Benz: The District at Green Valley Ranch and Fletcher Jones Mercedes Benz are presenting the second Mercedes Benz Car Show from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The show will feature the latest Mercedes models (cars, not people); call 364-2700 ...

Big news: The online classified Web site www.craigslist.org has a Las Vegas ad asking for "TALL women, 6-5 minimum no maximum, 275 lbs. minimum no maximum" that pays $100,000 per year. Six positions (but none on the UNLV football team's offensive line) are available ...

Another excessive Mercedes Benz reference: Plate on a white Mercedes Benz sedan, GR8XSSS.

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