The World by Road drives into Brownsville

Steve Shoppman and Steve Bouey say that when they started traveling two years ago they were just a couple of average guys with a couple of average jobs. But when they stepped back onto American soil in Brownsville on Tuesday, they'd partied with a Turkish mobster, gotten lost in rural Angola, gone to a Mongolian wedding, and most importantly, formed new perceptions of the world and their place in it.

Bouey and Shoppman lead the Around the World Expedition, a journey through more than 65 countries across six continents. They documented their experiences through writing and film and worked with non-profit organizations to further their humanitarian causes along the way.

According to Bouey, the films could be grouped into three categories: the experience of traveling, adventure sports and aid organizations.

Because they were driving, they had the ability to travel as slowly as they wanted and visit areas off the beaten path. Along the way, Shoppman and Bouey added various friends and strangers to their expedition. Some stayed for two or three months, others for seven or eight. On Tuesday, four adventurers they had met through a Web site, Craigslist, crossed into the United States with them.

Shoppman and Bouey say the years on the road have changed them, but not because their experiences have been traumatic.

"We asked ourselves - why aren't we going out there in search of something in particular?" Shoppman said. "But we weren't trying to prove a point. We were having a point proved to us."

That point, Bouey says, proved itself over and over again.

"People are people," Bouey said. "Even when we met child soldiers in the middle of the Congo, we just talked to them. The minute you can get someone to smile you've broken a barrier."

Though Bouey and Shoppman said they were threatened with illness and isolation - both had dengue fever and malaria - they were robbed only once.

"When we see the news, all we see is fighting in the Middle East, violence in Mexico," Shoppman said. "But we've been traveling in Mexico for a month and it was peaceful. We traveled through the Middle East where people practice true Islam, not fundamentalist Islam, and it is so peaceful. No one would ever steal from you there because they know it's wrong. "

The group will continue to travel through the United States and Canada to Alaska, then back to New York City. Then they'll begin putting together their film and write a book about their experiences.

To visit their Web site and see videos of their adventures, go to www.theworldbyroad.com.