"We've gotten phone calls from radio stations, TV stations and newspapers from all over the country," said Noelle Bates, one of Archibald's co-workers. "Philadelphia. Chicago. Albuquerque. You name it, we've gotten a call from them. It's shocking. The most surprising thing to us is the wide appeal of the story. It's so Utah County-specific. We can't figure it out. I mean, it's a billboard in Lindon."

The story has appeared in more than 150 newspapers — including five overseas. The largest paper in Italy ran the Archibald story on Page One.

"Before I found that out, I was wondering, 'Why are so many Italians e-mailing us?' " Bates says.

In all, Archibald has been featured on 101 TV news spots around the country. He's been the subject of stories on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. "It's kind of weird to see a story about Lance next to a story about Jennifer Aniston," Bates says.

Archibald even logged an appearance last week on the CBS "Early Show," where he was interviewed by Hannah Storm.

"It's an overwhelming number of submissions," says Bates, who must now sift through them. "We never could have predicted this type of response."

Naturally, the question is: How has all of this unsolicited publicity affected Archibald? The Deseret Morning News sought to ascertain the answer to this question, but, alas, Lance has left the building. And the continent, too.

He's in Africa. Really. He left Thursday. And he hasn't returned messages left for him on his cell phone.

No, he's not trying to escape the hordes of women who would like to go out with him. He's with his family on vacation, a trip that's been planned for some time.

"Africa will probably be good for him," Bates says with a laugh. "The first few days, he was shocked and bombarded. It was very surreal, more so for him than anybody. He's more comfortable with it now."

Bates could use a vacation, too. She has been working 18-hour days since the story broke. "It's the craziest week I've had here," she says.

So what is the widespread appeal of the billboard? Bates asked a TV producer that very question this week. "The producer said that there's not a lot of uplifting, funny news out there," Bates says. "There's so much news about the war in Iraq, gas prices, kidnappings and corporate scandals. This is a relief from all that."

Bates estimates that 10 to 15 percent of the responses to the Web site she's seen are from outside the United States, while about 25 percent are from Utah.

She'll pass the whittled-down submissions to Archibald. "He can't understand why this many girls want to go out with him," she said.

Age is one of the first things Bates examines on the applications.

"The ones from 18-year-old girls probably aren't a good fit for him," she says. "I also look at the ones who wrote a good essay and for proximity. Mostly, though, it's a gut feeling."

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Contributing: J.G. Askar

E-mail: jeffc@desnews.com