Sounds to me like you were creeping up on a WILD.

I started out using the hypnogogic imagry when first really trying to WILD. I simply watched the images and let them go where they would, form what images they would and eventually I got pulled right into a dream.

Other people don't get HI yet still lucid dream quite wonderfully. So that proves HI is not essential to lucid dream. In my opinion it makes it a bit easieer though.

This is the tutorial I started using.... HERE. It's in the tutorials section of Dream Views. I recommend it if you get vivid hypnogogic imagry.