This was a fun book about some small towns in America and their particular quirks.

A fun read of some truly unique places in the U.S.--some bizarre, some educational and some outright odd.

This book contains a written summary of many pieces Bill Geist has done for CBS's Sunday Morning show. So if you watch this show all the time, you probably don't need to read the book. I haven't been watching it for awhile, so I had missed most of these reports, and that is why it was worth reading for me. Also it was short and sweet.

Stories from stops in small towns around the United States. I want to visit a few of the places after reading about them. Well-written, with some interesting characters and places, written in a manner that doesn't put down their quirks.

This is a fun book written by a TV correspondent. His voice was a bit annoying at first, but I got used to it. Geist delivers a taste of small town Americana. I love hearing about this kind of stuff--Frozen Guy Days in a town in Colorado, Thump Queen and other Watermelon contests in Luling, Texas (the story closest to me!), etc. Not for everyone, but fun for me.

Bill Geist introduces to many people and situations we had no idea existed in the United States:

~The people of Nederland, Colorado who take care of a frozen dead man
~The community of Whalan, Missouri who have a parade that stands still
~The Mailman who delivers mail on horseback down the Grand Canyon.

This is a non-fiction book that is funny and makes me want to see all these sights.

Funny stories (one per chapter) of the mirad adventures Bill had as a journalist across the small towns of America. Told with his customary tongue in cheek humor and with amusing asides... it's a delightful reminder that life in the "fly-over states" looks VERY different than the big cites, but everyone makes their own fun in different ways.

Way Off The Road is a series of short ancedotes by Bil Geist about his travels all over the country to tiny communities and odd places. It's an interesting travel logue with some fun characters, interesting places and a few funny moments. It's not a cohesive book and jumps around a lot. The top-10 lists scattered throughout were annoying and rarely funny - they felt forced as did much of the humor. If you like travel stories, are planning a road-trip to small towns or just want a bit of light reading, this is the book for you. If your looking for anything more than superficial, surface reporting, anything deeper about these communities and people, this isn't the book for you. It's the sweet glaze on the top of the cake, not the rich yummy treasure trove of stories I was hoping for.

Enjoyed this visit to many quirky small towns across the country. For the most part, what makes a place interesting is the people who live there. Makes me wonder if some of the small places still exist and want to visit them. Sadly, none are nearby.

I had forgotten I had started this book a couple months ago. (Holidays, visits from your kids, a big-long-awaited vacation will do that.) It was a fun little read. I imagine many of the places he visited are now defunct. But then again, maybe not. As such, the tourist places Bill Geist wrote about in this book might or might not exist anymore. However, I found his humor entertaining. And, having grown up in a small town myself, and living in another one now, I could "see" some of my own hometown characters in the people Geist met. I could imagine many of them as my neighbors. Entertaining little book.