The Bad Girl's Guide to the Open Road

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

Cameron Tuttle is a freelance writer in San Francisco, California. Since writing this book, she rarely ventures outside.

Susannah Bettag is a woman with an on-the-edge humor that has made her a fav with magazines like Seventeen and Ms. She lives in San Francisco.