Way Off the Road: Discovering the Peculiar Charms of Small Town America

by Bill Geist

“To say it very simply, freezer burn may very well have set in.” —neighbor on the frozen dead guy kept on ice in a backyard shed in Nederland, Colorado.   

 “Everybody loves a parade; we were just geographically challenged.” —David Harrenstein, organizer of a parade in tiny Whalan, Minnesota, where viewers are in motion and the “marchers” stand still.

“We haven’t lost anyone off these switchbacks in at least ten days” —Mailman Charlie Chamberlain, leading us on horseback 2,500 feet down the sheer walls of the Grand Canyon.
 
“Ours are the finest cow chips in the world today,” —Kirk Fisher, enthusiast, in Beaver, Oklahoma, world cow-chip capital and cow- chip exporter.

“We live out in the middle of the corn and bean fields, and there’s not a whole lot to get excited about, you know?” —Dan Moretz, on celebrating the day the sun sets in the middle of the railroad tracks in Hanlontown, Iowa.

“It’s like drilling for oil; sometimes you come up dry.” —Gay Balfour, who sucks problematic prairie dogs out of the ground with a sewer vacuum in Cortez, Colorado.    

“All you have to do is beat the flies to it,” —Michael “Roadkill” Coffman on the secrets of cooking with roadkill outside Lawrence, Kansas.  
 
“I ain’t gonna brake ´til I see God!” —driver named “Red Dog,” taking the track at a figure-eight school bus race in Bithlo, Florida.

“It’s a gift; you either got it or you don’t.” —Lee Wheelis, world watermelon-seed-spitting champion, Luling, Texas.
“I am the mayor, the board, the secretary-treasurer, the librarian, the bartender —that’s my most important title —the cook, the floor sweeper, the police chief, and I have the books for the cemetery, if someone wants to buy a plot.” —Elsie Eiler, the sole citizen of Monowi, Nebraska. Celebrated roving correspondent for CBS News Sunday Morning and bestselling author Bill Geist serves up a rollicking look at some small-town Americans and their offbeat ways of life.

“In rural Kansas, I asked our motel desk clerk for the name of the best restaurant in the area. After mulling it over, he ‘I'd have to say the Texaco, 'cuz the Shell don't have no microwave.’”

Throughout his career, Bill Geist’s most popular stories have been about slightly odd but loveable individuals. Coming on the heels of his 5,600-mile RV trip across our fair land is Way Off the Road , a hilarious and compelling mix of stories about the folks featured in Geist’s segments, along with observations on his twenty years of life on the road. Written in the deadpan style that has endeared him to millions, Geist shares tales of eccentric individuals, such as the ninety-three-year-old pilot-paperboy who delivers to his far-flung subscribers by plane; the Arizona mailman who delivers mail via horseback down the walls of the Grand Canyon; the Muleshoe, Texas, anchorwoman who delivers the news from her bedroom (occasionally wearing her bathrobe); and the struggling Colorado entrepreneur who finds success employing a sewer vacuum to rid Western ranchers of problematic prairie dogs. Geist also takes us to events such as the Mike the Headless Chicken Festival (celebrating an inspiring bird that survived decapitation, hired an agent, and went on the road for eighteen months) and Sundown Days in Hanlontown, Iowa, where the town marks the one day a year when the sun sets directly between the railroad tracks

Along the wacky and wonderful way, Geist shows us firsthand how life in fly-over America can be odd, strangely fascinating, hysterical, and anything but boring.

Genres: Nonfiction, Travel, Humor, Audiobook, Memoir, Adventure, Essays

256 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Sabine · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting to listen to the quite unusual people, places and things he encountered. Unfortunately it wasn't always without looking down on what he observed...

[Michael Haydel · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you've never seen or heard of Bill Geist, I strongly urge you to stop reading this, and click this link: http://bit.ly/h0oM1, and revel in what CBS considers some of his best contributions to their news programs over the past 30 years.

This is a guy who doesn't shy away from going up in the air on a newspaper delivery route with a 90+ year-old one-engine-prop-plane pilot (the oldest in the country), or on a mail route down into the Grand Canyon, on mules. Nor is he afraid of traveling to Beaver, Oklahoma to check out the source of the world's best cow chips. I could go on, but, that would ruin the fun.

Way Off the Road details some of the best that small-town America has to offer, and really captures what I myself absolutely love about these small-towns: people doing what they do, without a care in the world about what anyone else thinks.

Some people may want to travel the country and visit NYC, or LA, Chicago, your big cities.

Not me. I wanna travel to Nederland, CO, where they have the Frozen Dead Guy Festival, or to Huntsville, TX and visit the Church of the Holy BBQ (for the 2nd time actually - the 1st time I didn't appreciate it).

If you've ever been curious about that tiny town you always pass by on the highway, and just what goes on there, this is the book for you. It's a quick, light, and endearing read that really embodies both the essence of Geist, and the essence of what makes these lands great.

One line at the end of the next to last chapter of the book sums it up quite nicely:

"It's nice to see, in these days of self-important people doing 'relevant' things ('Fishing Not Drugs,' 'Pizza for Peace'), that some are still doing things simply for the hell of it."

Amen.

[Jay French · Rating 3 out of 5]

I remember reading Charles Kuralt’s books about people he met in different places, usually small towns, across America. I remember the TV stories as well. Kuralt’s focus was on the people and the pathos of their story. He’d dig in until he found that bit of humanity to tell the story. Given Bill Geist followed in Kuralt’s CBS News human-interest story footsteps, I was expecting the same with Geist’s book “Way Off the Road”, but I didn’t get it. Instead, Geist takes a different approach – he looks for ways to find the humor in people and really how they present themselves to others. As you read through this book, you start to expect a rimshot to punctuate a punchline a couple of times a paragraph. That’s how many zingers he writes in. While I like his humor, it got to be too much. I also had my small-town-bashing radar going while I read this. It seems a lot of these books that purport to look at small town America are written by the author, often from a coastal big city, as a way to laugh at their fellow citizens from fly-over land, not to laugh with them. Although small town folk tend to be quite thick skinned when it comes to this kind of behavior, I thought I’d look out for it here. And while I found a couple of examples of the “New Yorkers are smarter than this” snobbery, for the most part this appeared harmless. You might wonder why I was looking for this… Geist says a few times early on that he’s from Champaign, Illinois so he knows small towns. To me, he was obviously trying to build his small town street cred with these statements, and frankly, Champaign is a big town, albeit in the middle of cornfields. They have a mall. Calling out Champaign seemed to be a feint, since the author's notes say he lives in New York City. To the good, Geist writes like the small town newspaper columnists I grew up with, looking for the quirkiness in situations, not getting overly complex, and at times getting a little raunchy. My favorite story is one about a prairie dog vacuuming service. Overall, this was enjoyable, but much closer to Dave Barry than to Charles Kuralt.

[Sina & Ilona Glimmerfee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hier wird ein Amerika vorgestellt, dass anders ist, als das Amerika, dass wir durch Kino oder Reiserouten zu kennen glauben. Dieses Amerika fernab der Touristenstrecken, ist verrückt und unglaublich faszinierend. Orte, mit nur einem oder zwei Einwohnern. Eine Parade, die im Stehen abgehalten wird. Eine Kleinstadt, die die 'Tage des Toten Mannes im Eis' feiert. Ein Restaurant, dass von Aliens aufgesucht wird. Wer kennt, die Stadt Celebration in Florida, die dem Disney Konzern gehörte und sehr viel Ähnlichkeit mit Stepford hatte? Das alles und noch viel mehr, gibt es in diesem Buch zu entdecken.

Ich habe, gelacht, gestaunt und hatte oft den Effekt, dass musst du jetzt unbedingt jemandem erzählen. Für mich eine sehr interessante Art, wieder einmal über den Tellerrand zu sehen und ich bin mir jetzt ganz sicher, dass frei nach Asterix, nicht nur die Römer spinnen.

[Ben Batchelder · Rating 1 out of 5]

“Way off the Road” is one of the worst Americana-slash-travel books I’ve read. Given it is written by a network journalist, I shouldn’t be surprised. While pretending to be a normal schmoe, by “discovering the peculiar charms of small-town America” as the subtitle promises, Geist can’t disguise his snobbery or condescension and, in the end, betrays what an empty suit and soul he is.

He begins promisingly enough, by pointing that people do exist in the ‘fly-over’ American interior: “There is a world outside our own, out there and out of sight, between the coasts [...] where people live slower, closer to nature, farther apart spatially, yet somehow more attached.” That “our own” in the book’s first sentence should have given it away; for he is speaking to other bi-coastals like himself, about, and not to, the rubes in the middle who don’t even read glossy books like this one.

You see, Geist, poor thing, has been “twenty years [...] on the road for CBS,” and doesn’t “mind saying that in twenty years I have gained a measure of fame.” “I didn’t know when I started that this book was going to be about small towns. I began writing about my favorite experiences and, after I’d written eight, realized they’d all occurred in very small towns. Why, I’m not really sure.” This, despite the fact he grew up in a rural Illinois town – you see, he’s originally one of them! – where his parents ran a country newspaper and, before he moved to Chicago to start his brilliant career, his “father had warned me [it] was full of all manner of evil and badness: crime, filth, immorality, Democrats...” You see, his rube parents perfectly reflected the small-mindedness of rural yolks. Oh, the challenges that face a budding CBS reporter!

To not only ridicule the sensibilities of his subjects, and in the mildest tweaks to his Big City readers, he bravely declares in the Author’s Note “this book is 100 percent celebrity free.” Even though the author, you see, is a media celebrity, he doesn’t hob-nob with his equals (at least in print) and instead magnanimously mingles with the salt of the earth. Again and again, he tells tale of June bug people who recognize him from his television appearances (“‘It’s him!’ he shouted. ‘It’s the guy on TV!’”). As his cleverness knows no bounds, he told this “family that we like to get out and personally thank each viewer for watching the show.” (Oh, and the dear viewer probably believed him! Yuk-itty-yuk.)

He finishes his schizophrenic introduction with “These people, places, and events are news to me,” in his one stab at humility – with a sting of superiority.

While Geist also claims the book “contains no trace elements of ‘red’ or ‘blue’ states or other corrosive political toxins” (other than his father’s yahoo comment about Democrats), he can’t help but insert the safe stands that are the price of Big City sophistication, such as when quoting one yodel in Nevada: “‘We are the largest employers in this area and if you look at number two and three it’s the state prison [where an execution was scheduled that night] and Wal-Mart [which is gutting the quaint downtown].’” Oh, if only all out-of-town authors were so clever!

In Bithlo, Florida, he lets his prejudices out for a walk by chapter’s end: “As I go back to watching these old yellow relics of our educational system, driven by and cheered on by products of that system, a question comes to mind: Is our educational system working?”

Now to be fair to Geist, his book is meant to be humorous. And, as we all know, for humor to be hip these days, you just gotta step on a few toes, bury some lesser beings, and offend the defenseless. I am no fan of crony-capitalist US auto manufacturers, but you have to wonder if Geist ever grew out of his high school funny sheets, with riffs on car models such as “Sport Shittera,” “Chevrolet Turdelle,” “Chrysler Gran Excremente,” and “Ford Feceeze.” At least he gets his final swipe at Big Business America when he “put in for it on my CBS expense report: “$301. Whores and Windex.” Hardee-har-har. If you gotta know why, you gotta buy his roll in the Way. I may recall one chapter where he appears to admire or respect the locals.

All I can say is that I’m glad I turned off network television years ago, so I had never seen or heard of Bill Geist prior to this book, and don’t expect to miss him in the future.

[Jamie Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re going to write a travel book you can either write about people or places. It’s easier to do places, because exotic locations and majestic scenery lend themselves to descriptions that help the reader visualize the scenes. Writing about people is harder, and requires a light touch, because it is easy to slip into condescension and gawking. Paul Theroux and Robert Kaplan are masters of travel writing about people, but they are serious writers who place their conversations with the men and women they meet into a larger context regarding their time and place. Trying to write about places while at the same time being funny requires yet a different approach, and the author has to be careful not to make people look silly or simpleminded.

Bill Geist tries hard to be funny while also being both factually correct and treating those he meets with dignity, and while he is generally successful, I can understand why some think the book goes a bit too far in emphasizing the oddballs.

Some of the men and women he meets are just doing their jobs, and it is the circumstances of their location that makes things strange. People live at the bottom of the Grand Canyon, and need to get their mail, so delivering it on horseback is a colorful but reasonable way to do it. Others have found ingenious solutions to problems, such as the entrepreneur who uses an industrial vacuum to help farmers eliminate prairie dogs.

Many of the stories center on quaint attractions, such as cow chip tossing, watermelon seed spitting, and odd festivals and parades. They sound like fun events, and the people who put them on seem to understand that being wacky and fun loving is the key to drawing visitors. Behind the laughter and crowd pleasing shenanigans, however, is a harsher reality: many of these small towns are dying, and drawing in visitors for their attractions is only a stopgap that will not prevent the steady loss of jobs and shrinking populations. Their friendliness and hometown charm will not save them in the end.

This book is an easy read, and there are many things to smile about. Geist has a talent for drawing a picture with words that manages to provide clarity without too much verbosity. In the end it is about people just trying to get by, and if they they are doing that in strange and humorous ways, it is because those are the best means of getting their jobs done.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bill Geist is a correspondent for CBS news who travels the country to "discover the peculiar charms of small-town America". Some of the stories make you want to jump in the car and go see it for yourself and some of them make you scratch your head and go "Huh"? I love the ingenuity of the "Stand Still Parade" of Whalan, Minnesota. The town is only 2 blocks long so a parade would be out of town before it really got going. So the parade stands still and the spectators walk around it. Monowi, Nebraska has a population of 1, Elsie Eiler. She is the mayor, the board, the secretary-treasurer, librarian, bookeeper, etc. She owns the only business, a tavern, which also makes her the entire chamber of commerce. She reads the water meter, bills herself, and pays herself. According to Elsie she "always pays on time and has never threatened to cut her water off". In Syracuse, Indiana you can go to church in your boat. The minister gives his sermon from a pontoon boat and the collection is done by an usher in a small boat with a fishing net on the end of a long pole. These are just a few of the quirky stories Mr. Geist has covered in this book.
I highly recommend this book to anyone with a sense of fun.

[Mayda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Small towns are often thought of as charming and quaint. Bill Geist has the knack for finding the strange and the weird. This audio book is highly entertaining as well as informative. You will discover that it is possible to make a good living photographing cows – if you can highlight their good points. In one town, you may get a visit from the police for having illegal porch furniture. Always good to know the laws of your town. If you don’t like just standing to watch a parade, you may want to visit the town where the parade stands still while the viewers walk around the stationary parade. So before you plan your next vacation, you might want to listen to this book. It might entice you to put in a detour or two to visit the huge butter chicken or take part in the pie chip throwing contest or watermelon seed spitting contest. Or not.

[Dan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I agree with Jay in his comments. The stories are interesting but he does seem to downplay what life is actually like in small town America. Champaign is a city not a town. If the author really wants to judge towns against one another he should be comparing life in towns not towns versus cities.

[Don Kyser · Rating 4 out of 5]

Listened to the audio version. Very entertaining. Would have given 5 stars if Bill had read it. :)

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don’t know how Bill Geist does it, but he finds the most oddball happenings/people in small town America, and he writes about them with zingers aplenty.

[Penny Cipolone · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightful little book that introduces one to small town America and its enjoyment of the festive and the unusual. Something to cheer us all up in a rather dispiriting time.

[Jocelyn L. · Rating 3 out of 5]

“Way off the Road” by Bill Geist tells of the author’s experiences traveling to small towns across America. But these aren’t just any small towns; all of them have something unusual and bizarre that makes them stand out, whether it’s hosting cow dung chucking contests (Beaver, Oklahoma) or celebrating “Frozen Dead Guy” day (Nederland, Colorado). Some towns have only one or two residents, such as Monowi, Nebraska or Moonshine, Illinois, while others are may be larger, but are famous for something really peculiar. For example, Fruita, Colorado is the proud home of Mike the headless chicken. Although he’s now deceased, Mike once lived for 18 months without a head when a day at the chopping block when wrong. He was such an attraction during his life that the town still celebrates that as a big part of their heritage.
This book was very enjoyable to read. As a non-fiction book, it didn’t have a really intriguing story line that makes you not want to put it down. However, it was still a nice, interesting book that was fun to read. The author wrote it in first person, so it seems like he’s talking to you about his trip. He tries to bring humor into the story a lot, which is sometimes successful and sometimes not. My Dad read this book as well and said that he felt as if the author was being kind of snobby and looking down on the small town people. It didn’t usually come across to me that way, but I can see how it might seem that way. Some of the humor was kind of borderline funny/insulting. For example, when describing talking to a (rather large) lady in Wilson, North about a rule that bans porch furniture, he writes, “We were unable to make visual contact with any part of the chair to evaluate its decency or lack thereof”. While most readers may get a chuckle out of that, I highly doubt that the lady will when she reads it. However, to be fair, most of the humor wasn’t this mean.
Overall, I would rate this book a 3 out of 5. It kept my attention for the whole book, and it was an interesting topic to read about. I enjoyed some of the humor in the book, but not all of it. “Way off the Road” was a nice easy read that you can just sit back and enjoy. Although it was a non-fiction book, it was one that you would read more for entertainment than to learn about the culture of small towns. It served its purpose well, as it was a very entertaining read. I’ve read another book similar to this one that was about odd towns across America and some of the towns, such as Fruita, Colorado, were in both. However, I enjoyed “Way off the Road” more because it was told from the author’s point of view, so it seemed more like a story than just a list of places.

[Ladiibbug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Non-Fiction - Travel/Humor

CBS correspondent Bill Geist shares true stories of small town America's eccentric individuals:

* The 93 y/o pilot/paperboy/publisher who delivers his news to far-flung subscribers by plane;

* The Muleshoe, Texas anchorwoman who delivers the news from her bedroom (occasionally wearing her bathrobe);

* The struggling Colorado entrepreneur who finds business success employing a high powered sewer vacuum to rid Western ranchers of problematic prarie dogs.

LOL funny, heart-warming, refreshing as a cool breeze on a hot summer day. A truly memorable look at some of our more interesting, inspiring and unusual fellow citizens.

I don't watch CBS news, so I didn't know who Bill Geist was until his son, Willie, mentioned his dad's book on MSNBC's Tucker Carlson Show (now defunct). I'm a big Willie Geist fan -- now I can see where he gets his sense of humor. Willie does the human interest-type of news with the twist/eccentricity that makes it fun. I so miss watching Willie Geist, as now he's on MSNBC's Morning Joe, which is on 3 am to 6 am PST :-(.

I'll be seeking out more of Bill Geist's books!

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of the first books I read on my Kindle was this book. I did not see the cover at the time, but, now that I see it, I'd have to say that this book falls into the category of Cover-More-Clever-Than-the-Book.

[Will · Rating 1 out of 5]

Being a road trip enthusiast, I thought this would be a steal for 50 cents at a thrift store. Contrary to what I initially thought, this book follows some of Bill Geist’s trips, and I’m assuming that they were done as news stories for CBS. It’s written as if aimed towards Americans who live in suburban neighborhoods, a typical nuclear family, to influence their next road trip stops to Disney World or god knows where. I also did not find most of the jokes funny (although this gets a pass - I’m extremely oblivious to sarcasm). However, what irks me the most is the author’s note about how the book is “100% celebrity free” although it is technically written by a celebrity who is able to go to all these places because of his status as a news reporter. I will say this is an excellent time capsule for the pre-2008 recession that followed a year after publication. Some of the comments were iffy to me, but strangely enough it felt like I was a child again.

Would I recommend? Maybe. I would say give it a read if you either got it for free or at a greatly reduced price, but besides that, don’t. It’s interesting, sure, but the kind of interesting that’s only interesting if you’re insanely constipated on the toilet and your phone is not nearby.

For any fellow road trip enthusiasts/people who liked this book, feel free to check out https://www.roadsideamerica.com. Similar to this book, it features a lot of oddball attractions that you can read about, minus the bland commentary.

1.5/5 ★ DNF

[Craig Amason · Rating 3 out of 5]

What a fascinating book. It's like a "best of" collection of Geist's CBS Sunday Morning travel spots, although perhaps a little more in depth. He throws in a few lists of indicators of things/places to avoid that are quite funny (i.e., hotels, car rentals, etc.). His chapter on lodging with examples of some of the disasters he has experienced is one of the best of the book. Some of the people he encounters, mostly from very rural America, are as quirky as they can be, but usually charming too. Is he making fun of country folks? Perhaps. Is he belittling them or being cruel? I don't really think so.

Some of the chapters also contain wonderful stories of ingenuity and creativity, like the 93-year-old man who delivers the newspaper he prints to the people in his county . . . by airplane, that he flies! The story about the horseback mailman of the Grand Canyon is amazing and also pretty damn funny too. Somehow, Iowa seems to get a lot more attention than any other state, perhaps because there are some really unusual people and activities there, along with cows. Lots of cows. This is a fun book that made me want to get on the road, and off of it too.

[Stephanie Pieck · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author takes readers on a wide-ranging and hilarious road trip, introducing us along the way to some very unique people, places, and events. We learn about the art of professional cow photography in Wisconsin; observe figure-eight school bus racing in Florida; browse the aisles of a superstore that sells items from much of the world's unclaimed luggage in Alabama; meet the entire population (of one) in a town(?) in (very) rural Nebraska; and deliver newspapers with a 90-year-old California man who publishes it and then delivers it by air drop. I finished this book with only two wishes: (1) to start my own extended road trip to visit the forgotten people and places of America before they're completely gobbled up by the Internet, Amazon, and 24/7 constant cell phone linkages, and (2) to read more books by this author.

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've not seen Bill Geist on television but if he talks like he writes, I would be enjoying every sentence. That's how I reacted to Geist's fun and clever travel/humor book about some of America's small towns and their most unusual inhabitants and/or the events they create to snag tourists. A flying paperboy in California, a cow photographer in Wisconsin, a Colorado man who invented a huge vacuum to suck up prairie dogs, the Headless Chicken Festival in Fruita, CO, school bus racing events in Bithlo, FL, the standstill parade in Whalan, MN, and so many more. I noticed none of the subjects were in the Eastern US (except FL); it's probably too populated for Geist and his crew who also share their travel nightmare stories about wonky motels, rental car woes, and unpredictable restaurants for our entertainment. My husband kept the atlas close by so he could look up each town as he read the book. Take the fun tour of some of America's most unusual small towns and their unique citizens. I recommend it.

[Mark A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Find out about odd attractions and happenings in many small towns across the United States in Geist's book. Written with the quirky humor that made him a known national journalist, Geist takes readers to places to learn about a parade that stands still, a doctor that gave up medicine to surf his entire life, a church service that is performed on a boat, and many other unique human interest stories.
Personally, I find off the beaten path discoveries some of the best experiences when I road trip on vacation. I enjoyed learning about places that are different and sometimes really weird. As always, the author's voice is distinct whether it is a video package or the written word, and each story was well organized and written in an entertaining way. Four stars.

[Andrew Niemann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hate to admit it, but I never heard of the author before; I have definitely been missing out. I love roadside America and other such books, using them as resources to design road trips - sadly, while informative, they are often not very entertaining. That was not the case with this one - I found myself chuckling several times. And the descriptions already have wondering about the logistics of visiting a few of the places (and hoping they still exist). It put me in mind of 1991, when I convinced a friend to take me to the Toad Suck Festival in Conway, Arkansas. When she asked why I wanted to go, I responded, “C’mon, how can I not want to go to something with a name like that?!?!”

[Tom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mr. Geist seems to be a likable person. He is a humorist and a long-time observer of Americana for CBS TV. This small book of his contains a variety of his observations on the lives of people he has met on his travels through a scattering of small out of the way towns across our vast country. Some stories are touching, some are quirky and others reflect the way people evolve with the circumstances they face. For my money the author's monologues are more interesting than his written stories. For those who are occasional watchers of CBS Sunday Morning you may already be familiar with some of these stories.

[Ruth York · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Mahesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Way off the Road by Bill Geist is a hilariously written journey about this CBS journalist's travels through charming small town United States of America. For those of us urbanites who are sometimes completely oblivious of off the beaten path towns and villages of America, the chapters in the book will completely come as a surprise. Bill Geist truly ventures into the quirky as well as weird and describes them in such funny detail. For those of you in search of the essence of America, this one is truly a must read.

[सौरभ | ਸੌਰਭ | Saurabh · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't watch CBS and I had never heard of Bill Geist before I read this book.

However, I had a feeling that I'd like this book when I found it. It is a collection of oddball quirks in small town America. The story, however is not just about the quirks but also about the human element behind it. The hotel/restaurant/rental car "guides" are also funny! I believe the stories could have been supplemented with better quality images.

[Mattine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED this book. I come from a small town in SE Minnesota so this book was fascinating. The book starts off in a small town very near my hometown. In fact, Bill talks about people that I know so that was a very fun start to the book. The many different small towns and their eccentricities are very fun to read about. Enjoy!

[Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine. I am from a small town and appreciate their strangeness, so reading each vignette about the small towns the author has encountered was enjoyable. However, the author's tone didn't always work for me. He finds a lot of humor in each of the quirks of the small towns, but at times I found that humor off-putting. I do look forward to exploring more small towns myself!

[SplkdancerReviews · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Douglas Reedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the humor the writer placed in this fun book. There is no favoritism to any certain town or event. But there is also no limit to the sarcasm in which no one is safe. Fun for all who enjoy learning about small town America.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.