Adventures to Imagine Introduction Imagine living life at full tilt, your spirits soaring through the fast lane at speeds well off the radar screen. Shifting gears in the breeze, you catch a swirling vista of wonder and curiosity racing past the windshield. Childhood fascination spills out of the glove compartment, as you leave a discarded set of rusty, jaded attitudes trailing in the exhaust. Forging your days into high-octane adventures requires a knack most of us can develop in the nick of time. Seeking out new terrains of experience, we can push the envelope and ensure our souls do not grow gray before our hair does. I vividly recall my first wildlife safari -- collecting backyard fireflies in a bottle. Even now I can taste the exhilarating freedom of the morning my dad removed my training wheels from my bike, let go of the seat, and watched me solo around an empty parking lot, soon destined to explore the more remote, exotic fringes of my neighborhood. In a quantum leap of faith, I parachuted out of a single engine plane to commemorate my college graduation.

Ever since, whether swimming with sharks in Bora Bora, lodging with retired headhunters in Borneo, or stretching to reach Earth''s zenith by climbing a radar mast at the North Pole, I have treasured a simple truth: Enthusiasm is a currency far more valuable than gold. I suppose that''s why I''ve always been more concerned with crafting a life rather than making a living. Fortunately, jump-starting a career in exhilaration does not necessitate changing your whole latitude. Beckoning just down the street and in our own backyard, the North American continent is a colossal, unfenced adventureland that offers an astonishing variety of wildlife, landscapes, and recreational exploits. Here I have answered the call of the wild by mushing my own dog team through a wintry fairy-tale forest, been sucked into a cat and mouse dodgeball game with farmbelt tornados, wormed my way through skinny subterranean chambers lit only by my headlamp, and felt the barnacles and affectionate curiosity of monstrous gray whales emerging from the warmth of a desert lagoon. Many of these snapshots required a certain willingness to throw comfort, convenience, and sometimes even caution to the wind. It''s easy to forget how we''ve evolved in just a few short generations; a pioneer culture that had to endure covered wagon hardships in search of distant homelands is now an automobile culture that endures traffic jams in search of parking spots nearest the local shopping mall entrance. In this air-bagged society of risk aversion, it often seems easier to experience our thrills vicariously.

Television, video games, and the Internet might offer a safe refuge from the daily humdrum, but they artificially shelter us in a numbing virtual reality where real life seems to hold little virtue. Surfing is more likely to involve a couch-anchored tap of the index finger than a wet encounter with nature''s awesome forces, and we''ve moved to climbing corporate ladders rather than mountain precipices. I strongly believe the desire for youthful vitality, the quest for cutting-edge novelty, and the urge for hypercaffeinated thrills is deeply ingrained in the American character. When letting go of life''s handrails, we confront our fears and find all our senses starting to operate on heightened alert. We''re compelled to explore the undiscovered edges of our own limits, guaranteeing that life is never treated like merely a dress rehearsal. This is an escapist scrapbook of those magical fantasies I''ve cooked up over the years. It includes some soothing activities for tanning your soul as well as an all-American red carpet invitation to white knuckle, blue-in-the-face thrills. Whether a meditative Walter Mitty type or a gung ho Indiana Jones, you''ll find these pages will quench your thirst for adventure.

But, be forewarned of adrenaline''s addictions; you might wake up in a cold sweat lusting for just a small fix of what''s brewing over the horizon -- a refreshing gulp of more adventures to imagine.