"IS THIS ROAD TO--" The trip was not premeditated--it was not of malice aforethought; it was the outcome of an idle suggestion made one hot summer afternoon, and decided upon in the moment.

Within the same half-hour a telegram was sent the Professor inviting him for a ride to Buffalo.

Beyond that point there was no thought,--merely a nebulous notion that might take form if everything went well.
Hampered by no announcements, with no record to make or break, the trip was for pleasure,--a mid-summer jaunt.

We did intend to make the run to Buffalo as fast as roads would permit,--but for exhilaration only, and not with any thought of making a record that would stand against record-making machines, driven by record-breaking men.
It is much better to start for nowhere and get there than to start for somewhere and fall by the wayside.

Just keep going, and the machine will carry you beyond your expectations.
The Professor knew nothing about machinery and less about an automobile, but where ignorance is bliss it is double-distilled folly to know anything about the eccentricities of an automobile.
To enjoy automobiling, one must know either all or nothing about the machine,--a little knowledge is a dangerous thing; on the part of the guest it leads to all sorts of apprehensions, on the part of the chauffeur to all sorts of experiments.