The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road [Vinyl Bound]

Cameron Tuttle (Author), Susannah Bettag (Illustrator)

Book Description

Series: Bad Girl's | Publication Date: March 1, 1999

From the author of the very funny and successful Paranoids Pocket Guide, comes the ultimate self-help book for women. It's a guide to the open road that's strictly AAAthat's attitude, adventure, and ass-kicking good times. Filled with indispensable information such as how to get out of a speeding ticket without crying and 14 ways to open a beer bottle on your car, The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road also gives the practical lowdown on what to do when your engine overheats, you get a flat, or you need a safe and legal place to spend the night in your car. The fabulous pocket format and indestructible cover make it perfect for flinging in the glove compartment (or stashing in your cubicle if you can't leave right away). For every woman who's about to break unless she gets a break, this hilarious book is the antidote to the doldrumswhether work-, man-, or self-induced. The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road: because sometimes a girl's just gotta go.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Who hasn't fantasized about ditching work and pulling a Thelma and Louise? Well, don't even think about taking a road trip without a copy of Cameron Tuttle's Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road. Tuttle, who's crisscrossed the country several times, has written a hilarious, in-your-face, travelogue/self-help book (glove-compartment-size with a nifty hot-pink cover) that's sure to get adventure-seeking gals everywhere in their cars. The Bad Girl's Guide is jam-packed with practical and not-so-practical information on where to go (the Elvis Is Alive Museum, Lizzie Borden's House), which Road Sisters to bring along (preferably ones with trust funds), essential tunes (Donna Summer's "Bad Girls," natch), as well as indispensable tips, such as 14 ways to open a beer bottle on your car and 11 uses for a condom (pony-tail holder, snakebite tourniquet). The format, with various sidebars and boxes, is a bit cluttered and the nuts and bolts info a bit sketchy, but Tuttle covers a lot of ground in 192 pages--and she answers that all-important question: what car did Thelma and Louise drive? A '66 Thunderbird convertible. --Jill Fergus

Review

Cameron Tuttle's degree in English literature from fancy-pants Brown University makes her eminently qualified to write "The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road."

"It gives me great delight to have been paid to write a book about how to pee beside the road without splashing or flashing," says Tuttle, cruising south of Market in her root beer-colored Isuzu Trooper. She's munching beef jerky, often her breakfast of choice on the road.

Her amusing little guide has hit a nerve with nice girls longing for a little Thelma and Louise action. It has sold more than 30,000 copies since it was published in May and just went into its third printing.

"My father thought I'd wasted my education studying English poetry," she says. "I'm getting my revenge writing a pink vinyl book."

Packed inside that hot pink cover is a saucy pastiche of tips and shtick. It's about the pleasures and perils of being a "road sister," freed from the restraints of daily routine and societal expectation-even if just for the weekend. -- San Francisco Chronicle

Then toss Cameron Tuttle's The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road into your glove box, and put the pedal to the metal. I call shotgun. -- Vanity Fair

With its pinky vinyl cover and its tongue-firmly-in-cheek drawing of a "bad girl"-hair flying in an open convertible-Cameron Tuttle's book surely live sup to its name )and so do the daft illustrations by partner-in-crime Susannah Bettag). If you're looking for low-budget, high-adventure cheap thrills, then the irrepressible Tuttle may just be you're kind of guide. "A road trip can be anything you want it to be," she writes. "You decide how to act, where to go, when to stop, and what to do when you stop." What's the best way to prepare for a road trip? By doing nothing of course, what should you expect? Expect nothing. She dispenses advice on what to bring (the phone number of a friend or relative with deep pockets) and what not to bring a (a photo of your boyfriend). And she even suggests places to look for on the road (the site of the first official Elvis sighting or where to see the world's largest cow). Gleefully naughty, girlishly cheeky, sublimely silly, "The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road" is cheesy humor at its hilarious best. Hit the road at your own risk. -- Chicago Tribune

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Product Details

• Vinyl Bound: 192 pages
• Publisher: Chronicle Books (March 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0811821706
• ISBN-13: 978-0811821704
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #7 in Books > Travel > Reference & Tips > Tips

More About the Author

Cameron Tuttle is known for her wit, humor, and books with pink covers. The author of the bestselling Bad Girl's Guides, she is now working on the third novel in a Young Adult series that began with "Paisley Hanover Acts Out," published in 2009.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars this book speaks to me!, July 23, 2000

By 

"veronikalou" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road (Vinyl Bound)

As a veteran of numerous road trips, I was very excited to read this book and see if I've done anything "wrong". I realized you pretty much can't go wrong if you always allow for things not to go quite how you imagined, and just have fun. Cameron Tuttle's advice is always hilarious, but quite helpful, and provoked a lot of "hmmm...I never thought of trying that" comments from me.

As I read this book, it brought back memories of all the places my girlfriends and I have been in that quest to escape first, college life, and now "the real world". It made me realize I was ever so pleased that I used half a roll of film on the Mitchell Corn Palace, and that I have pictures of my best friend and I by the sod buffalo and indian at the site of the last standing Pony Express station in Kansas. So what if the pictures of us in Memphis on Beale St. turned out too dark- I know I had the best hard cider and super hot southern style tamales when I was there. And heck, who cares if you have heat stroke and your car is overheating as you head further south in the Mojave desert... Well, maybe I cared a little, but hey, I did it and lived to tell the tale!

This book is great for reliving memories of road trips past, and for pushing you forward to the road trips to come. Even though I just had a wonderful vacation in Cancun with one of my best friends, it's just not the same as hitting the hot blacktop in the summer, looking forward to all the beef jerky and chocolate milk you'll have along the way. Never knowing if you'll be sleeping in the car, pitching a tent in a scary field, or finding a $19 a night motel in Nebraska is one of the best parts of a road trip!

The hot pink cover appeals to the girliness in me, and the sticker in the back is a perfect match for my "I saw Elvis making crop circles" bumper sticker...by the way, a good companion book for Elvis fans is Bill Yenne's "Field Guide to Elvis Shrines" -makes for the perfect trip to find the King...

I would recommend trying everything Cameron Tuttle writes about, with the exception of the "sex with a stranger" advice, and picking up hitchikers (unless the hitchiker is a 15 year old boy on the Navajo reservation in AZ, it's 105 degrees out, and there's 3 of us in the car with him...). I'm too wary of what can happen to be that much of a "bad girl", but I realize this book is written with a lot tongue-in-cheek, and there are badder girls than me, so it definitely has it's place in the book.

I will probably buy copies to give to my fellow road-tripping girlfriends, to inspire them to hit the road with me soon. After all, it's time to hit the road when your salary is less than your age!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is such a happy book!, October 2, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road (Vinyl Bound)

I love this book. It is so great to leaf through when you're feeling frustrated at school/work/home... It's really funny in a cute-sy kind of way. The intense girly-ness of this book can be a turnoff but it's also part of its charm. (Consider: the book itself is fuschia) But I dug it. It would make a great gift, but it's worth getting yourself.

10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Helpful - Handy and Hilarious!, August 28, 2002

By 

Caroline P. Hampton (Columbus, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road (Vinyl Bound)

"The Bad Girl's Guide To The Open Road" by Cameron Tuttle is a must have for any courageous and travel minded gal in her 20's and 30's. This humorous and very helpful guide will teach you how to change a tire, things to do with a nerf ball and all the wonderful and creative ways to be safe on the open road. It's pure delight in the unexpected is what makes this pocket size treasure such a treat. With a well designed and interesting flow, this book will advise you all the way across America. It will also give you ideas for the completely unexpected and things you NEVER think will happen - BUT just might.

For any girl with a bit of adventure in her heart and a full tank of gas! Really delightful!