PROLOGUE

Click n' Return:

(SOMETIME DURING THE OVERNIGHT OF FRIDAY, JULY 11)

What time do you think it might be?

I couldn't possibly comment, for I am sleeping right now.

Am I sleeping well? Am I dreaming? I wonder what I am dreaming about. Perhaps the usual -- a younger Elizabeth Hurley absolutely begging me for a ride in my Nissan Skyline GT-R? (People! It's not always that! For instance, sometimes it's the "younger, and not as rail-like Nicole Kidman".)

Might I be instead dreaming of what might have happened had I not resigned from my place of employment in November 2005? Or if four people (two adults, two children) had eaten dinner in Medfield one particular night in January 2007, not merely the two adults? What if my dining companion / wheelman had failed to find parking late in the evening on St. Patrick's Day, 2000? Things sure would have been different now -- but would they have been better? Worse? Just imagine. The "Butterfly Effect", indeed.

Regardless of specifics, the most important thing is that I am sleeping well. I'm going to have a lot going on tomorrow -- Saturday, July 12th -- for I am hitting the road on Day One of the potentially/hopefully life-altering motorcycle trip across this great land of ours, a jaunt which will someday be known to all as "The California Gambit".

It may be a good idea, and it -- whatever "it" is -- may work out. On the other hand it may be one of the most stupid ideas ever, and who knows what'll happen. I certainly don't, and wouldn't presume to guess. I'll say this: for as much planning as went into it, and as much anticipation of the places to see and the people to meet and the opportunities to uncover and the successes to attain, I find myself somewhat unsure, and not a little bit sad. What else can I say?