2001 was a dramatic year, for us, for the U.S., and for the world. In our case, we made it through another winter in Kyiv and then started a medical diagnostic process that had Marianne "med-evac'd" to the nmearest decent facility - in Helsinki, Finland. When we eventually walked out of the clinic with a clean bill of health, we changed our lives drastically because we were reminded of our mortality and of the dreams we haven't fulfilled yet.

We quit our jobs, bought a nice car, and planned to wander around Europe for as long as we could afford it. Of course, just as we were leaving, the events of September 11 happened and through the shock we were reminded yet again that we are not in complete control of our lives. Nevertheless, we stuck to our plans and started our Road Trip precisly on October 1. It was wonderful.