When did your baby take his first steps? How long before he was walking well?

My 14 1/2 month old son surprised us tonight by walking about 2 feet on his own. He never really showed much interest in it before and really was content with crawling and cruising. I guess he was finally motivated. I'm just very excited about him taking the next "step" in his development-pardon the pun. How long is it usually between first tentative steps and walking well?