A critically acclaimed writer drives a Porsche across the United States， investigating how the automobile has shaped our lives and defined the American psyche. According to John Updike， every seventeen years the average American male drives the distance from the Earth to the moon. But the average American male doesn t get to do it in a sleek silver Boxster on loan from Porsche. Fulfilling his lifelong fantasy， James Morgan took the Boxster， a model so new it had yet to be driven in America， and hit the road， often following the same trail (sometimes at speeds over 130 miles per hour) that Lewis and Clark took on their early crossing of the country. The Distance to the Moon is about the American love affair with the car and the open road--what James Morgan calls "the epic entanglement that s defined this century and reshaped the face of America." Morgan takes us from Florida to Oregon， stopping at sites such as Carhenge (think Stonehenge， with cars， in Nebraska) and interviewing everyone from the old car ad men--who knew what it was Americans yearned for--to car collectors， automobile designers， psychologists， and city planners in an attempt to find out why we re obsessed with our automobiles. The Distance to the Moon is the story of one man whose dream came true--and how it changed him. It is for everyone who has ever shared Morgan s fantasy of jumping in a fast car and hitting the open road， never to return. James Morgan has been praised as a writer and craftsman who understands the American psyche. With him in the driver s seat， we enjoy every second of the ride.