Joe's Roadtrip

Location: Lyubcha, Bulgaria

Today marks a year now since I crossed into the Canadian border and began the portion of my roadtrip that led me to Alaska.  It’s amazing how time flies, but I am grateful for all the fond memories from those 26,000 miles traveled back in the summer of 2010.

I figured I should take a moment to update this site, given that I now live in another country, and that my last post was about a fundraiser that wrapped up this past February.

Let’s start with the fundraiser – I had more success raising money for the Khanal Tok Primary School (Khanal Tok, Nepal) than I ever could have imagined. My original goal was to raise $11,000 so the school could purchase additional land, and by the time everything was over, we raised close to $14,000! I cannot say thank you enough to my friends, family, and strangers who, from different corners of the world, were willing to give to my project.

And thank you to the wonderful people at GiveForward.com for providing the means to make the fundraiser happen. Right now, GiveFoward focuses on medical fundraisers – so if you ever have a loved one facing stacks of bills from medical treatments, using GiveForward could be a great way to help them out.

I traveled back to Nepal in March to deliver the funds, and although it was a brief trip, I had a wonderful time with my friends in the village. Click here to view some pictures from that return trip where I was greeted with a lovely ceremony at the school.

This past Easter, I learned that the school had completed the purchase of the land. Once we hit the goal of the fundraiser I knew it would happen, but to hear those words from my friends in Nepal was especially meaningful. I won’t get back to Nepal until 2013 at the earliest, but I look forward to seeing all the changes that will have taken place since the success of the fundraiser.

I am now serving as a U.S. Peace Corps volunteer in Bulgaria. I have been assigned to the small mountain village of Lyubcha, and it is here I will work as a community development volunteer for the next two years. I have been here in Bulgaria now for four months, and it has been nothing short of wonderful. So needless to say there won’t be any roadtrips to speak of in the near term, but I’m glad people keep visiting this site. Browse around as much as you’d like, and maybe you’ll get some ideas of some places in Canada and the U.S. you can visit. I look forward to exploring more of North America upon my return home in 2013.

Всичко хубаво! (All the best)

Joe

Sunset in Lyubcha