Jan. 1 to Jan. 14, 1999 by Joan

We celebrated the first day of 1999 by driving out to Grand River, Ohio for the weekend to visit Eric's cousin Rand and his wife Lisa.

Rand had made some big changes while we were away. When we left, he had just quit his carpentry career to start trouble-shooting circuit boards. While we were away, he got a new job trouble-shooting automation hardware systems.

He seems a wee more frazzled now, but he's still the same old Rand. He took us out for a hike through the icy snow during a vicious winter storm. He led us down an icy, wind swept jetty (icy lake Erie sloshed just below, on both sides) toward a beautiful lighthouse. It was a great hike, but one false step, and you'd die of hypothermia. Then it got so icy that Rand suggested that we would be safer if we got down on all fours and crawled the last several hundred yards to our goal.

That's when I saved face for both him and Eric by being the one to chicken out. I hate being the one to chicken out but I hate hypothermia, too. Rand and Eric quickly agreed that the lighthouse looked just fine from where we were. It was an excellent hike.

We split our last weeks in the U.S. between relatives in Washington D.C. and New York.

We caught a ride with Bob back to D.C., and spent the next several days partying with him, Eric's cousin Hugh and his wife Kelda, and my brother Vince. One night Eric's cousin Ted came through town, which was as good an excuse as any to have a party. We all gathered at Hugh and Kelda's and then in the wee hours, inspired by wine and beer, we decided we would all be the first to wish Eric's sister Janet a happy 40th birthday. She lives in Iowa and it was probably a little after midnight there when her phone rang. Several drunken cousins took turns sending their best wishes before she was allowed to go back to sleep.

On Jan. 9 we caught a ride with Bob once again (thanks, Bob!) to New York, and spent the rest of our time mooching off of and partying with our fearsome Web Mistress Fire Hair, Katy, and her husband Randy. In their apartment, we saw all the wreckage of our web site: it turns out that in between two or three other jobs, it takes Katy about an hour to post each chapter on this Web site, including the choosing and scanning of photos, which we send home to her by mail. What are we up to? Two hundred chapters ..? We promise to cut Katy in on the profits if we ever become rich and famous. In the meantime, if you're looking for a web mistress, email katy@ericandjoan.com.

After a wild night with the board game Family Feud, Katy took us out one night for a party in our honor. Actually, it was in honor of one of Katy's friends, Laura, who turns out to be one of our largest fans. Over Margaritas at Arriba, Arriba on W. 51st and 9th, we got to meet Laura, who is a copy editor, and apologize in person for all our bad spelling and grammar.

Amazingly, two other friends of Katy's who also read the Web site, were at Arriba the same night, and came by to say Hello. It's nice to know that some people we've never met are reading the site. (Though if you don't personally know us, or even if you do, I can see how you might be bored by all our Back in USA chapters. Don't worry, this is just a phase until we continue our travels).

We had an excellent time back home. It was hard to leave.

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