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In the south of Germany, in Bavaria, there is an enchanting little town called Hilpolstein. Steve Bouey made some friends there a few years back while doing a triathlon called the Quell Challenge. When he left there they invited him back and demanded that Hilpolstein be placed on the route of The World by Road.

Luggi, Diana, and Felix’s demand’s were met and we could not have had a better time here. It was hands down one of the highlights of the expedition. I have a feeling that all of us will visit this town and our new found friends (or old friends) many more times in our life. In fact, Bouey has even talked about moving here, to be quite honest he was actually tearing up when we left:)!

We had a chance to speak to the students at Felix’s school, we were in the newspaper, and Luggi even took us up in the fireman’s ladder at the Firehaus where he is a volunteer. By the time we left, after being in the newspaper and a few late nights at the local pub, we knew a lot of the people in the town and they were standing in the streets waving and smiling as we left for our journey south to Switzerland.

TWBR hearts Hilpolstein, thanks so much Luggi, Diana and Felix.

It has taken forever to get more photos up and we all apologize. We have also been far behind on the blogs…and we apologize. We are also behind schedule…and we apologize. We are also extremely low on funds, and until we are able to raise enough money for South America, we will fall further behind, but you all can help with that a few different ways by clicking here.

Africa has been tough as you all well know from reading the blogs, but we made it through and, at least for me, it was a truly amazing experience. I am in the states now and have been working vigorously to get caught up on photos, video and more. While the guys have been having the crazy adventures, I have had to play office boy for a little while trying to organize shipping of the trucks and scrape together the funds we need to continue on.

But going through the photos and getting them online is a rejuvenating experience down memory lane. Europe was an incredible experience and that is where we left off in catching up with photos. So here is album number one on the catch up…BERLIN! It is a wonderful city and worth a visit in anyone’s lifetime.

On our way to Sofia, we stopped for a few days in Polvdiv… a lively town full of history and culture. We had the chance to check out some Roman ruins and get a little bit of work done before pushing on to the country’s capital.

Bulgaria was our first entry point into the EU and we were surprised to find it packed with random excitement. We met a guy working at the border,who invited us back to his house to celebrate St. Nikolas day with his family. The night turned into a event filled with food, entertainment and some brief lessons in Bulgarian history. It was refreshing to know that even though we had entered Europe, the random encounters we have had throughout the expedition were far from over.

We made it through Asia! Istanbul is where east meets west, where the continents of Europe and Asia collide… or breakaway depending on your point of view I guess. We spent a handful of days in Istanbul checking out the sights and trying to get some work done on the trucks but sadly it was also where we said goodbye to Karie who had been with us for over a month and to Greg whom we had met in Georgia. Fortunately, Steve and I would not be alone for long as our friend Mark was flying into Istanbul to join up with us for the rest of the expedition.