52 Books in 52 Weeks: Book 24

There's No Toilet Paper... on the Road Less Taken is a compilation of short stories edited by Doug Lansky. Among the contributors is Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods. These short stories are full of humor and misadventure that come when you leave home. It was a decent read. Some of the stories were so so, while some had me cracking up. It was the perfect book to read in the car on our recent road trip to Canada.

Some excerpts from the book:

The fact that I brought luggage to a nudist resort is, in itself, worthy of some discussion. But how I felt carrying three suitcases and a hanging garment bag through a maze of lounging naked people... is a topic Talmudic rabbis could debate for centuries.

Proper German has that "chainsaw cutting through a backed-up septic tank" sound to it, much like Nirvana without the long hair.

There's no such thing as cholesterol on the road. In a week in West Texas, I ate three chicken-fried steaks, one fillet mignon, a couple of burgers, a lamb chop dinner, and, of course, beef jerky. Not counting the bacon. And I'm not even counting my daily bacon-and-eggs breakfast. By the end of the trip, my body was so deprived of greenery, I was grazing on garnishes.

Disney World is the world's first working socialist state. Everything is timed, planned and orchestrated. The trains do run on time...

France has found a unique way of controlling its unwanted critter population. They have done this by giving animals like snails, pigeons and frogs fancy names, thus transforming back yard pets into expensive delicacies. These are then served to gullible tourists who will eat anything they can't pronounce.

{In third world countries} there is a precise and complicated etiquette of horn use. Honk your horn only under the following circumstances:

1. When anything blocks the road.
2. When anything doesn't.
3. When anything might.
4. At red lights.
5. At green lights. 
6. At all other times.