Back at it!

Here we are in November and finally back on the road where we belong. We sure have missed it.

We got both, Jordan and Colton married off this year and we took a trip to Vegas (Las Vegas, NV not Las Vegas, NM). And now we are in South Carolina.

The Vegas was a nightmare trip from the beginning. We had plans on taking a train out and had our tickets to go. Louie contacted Jesse (a friend of ours we were going out to see) to see how far the train station was from him. Come to find out there is no train station in Las Vegas, NV but we were going to be going to Las Vegas NM. When I booked it, it didn't give me a state and I just assumed there was only one Las Vegas. Who knew there was one in New Mexico. So I called to cancel that trip but she wanted me to go ahead and just add to what we already had. That would include another 12 hours on a train plus a 3 hours bus trip into Las Vegas, NV on top of the already 22 hour train ride out and 3 hour car ride to the train station in Chicago. We just decided to fly out and take a train ride (on our bucket list) another time. Well we got the last flight out of Indianapolis on a Friday night. Well our flight was delayed due to a broken handle on the cargo door. That took 4 1/2 hours to fix so we missed our connecting flight in Minneapolis. (Worse flight ever.) So when we got to the gate they were supposed to have new flights for us the next day. They put us on different flights arriving different times. I wasn't having any of that. We got that fixed then our seats weren't together (not on the first flight either). They gave us a hotel voucher and there was supposed to be a shuttle waiting on us. No shuttle so we stayed in the airport all night. We tried to get the first flight out the next morning on stand by but every flight that went out on Delta was over booked. So we just waited for our next flight. Luckily the rows we were in they didn't put the couples together either so we were able to move. We finally made it to Vegas 12 hours later then we had originally planned but we made it. Jesse and Rosell were there to pick us up. What a welcoming site they were. We got to our hotel and got settled in. Well our hotel was under construction so the pool was closed (we had plans of sitting by the pool all day in a cabana one day while we were there) and all the shops inside our hotel were closed as well. We got to see mostly everything in Vegas we wanted to see (the Bellagio Fountain during the day and at night, took a gondola ride at the Venetian, seen all the lights at night, went downtown, Louie got to get his picture taken with Elvis, and seen a show). On Sunday, we had a cookout at Jesse and Rosell's and Brad and Chante came down to see us from Utah. We had a wonderful time catching up and laughing. Our flight back was a much better experience and we made it home without and snags.

We headed out on our winter trip on November 5th. We stopped in Kentucky for a night and then in Tennessee for 2 nights. The campground we stopped at was close to a trail head for the AT so we wanted to take advantage of hopping onto it for about a mile and coming back. Well that will be an experience I will never forget. We got about a quarter of a mile in when what appeared but a BEAR!!!

I don't think I have ever been so scared for my life. But needless to say that was the end of our hike on the AT this time.

We found out how much we are out of shape when we had to climb these stairs at the beginning of the trailhead and it was pretty much straight up the whole short hike we took.

The hike was so stressful we had to go get something to eat. We drove into Gatlinburg and ate at Crockett's. We had eaten here before when we went last year. Louie decided he needed to get the skillet breakfast and it came out like this and all that food. He ate most of it. We also ran into one of Jordan's friends (Brady Wiles) while we were there. It really is a small world sometimes.

We were asked if the trees where still in color. We didn't miss all the colors but they were about done. The mountains are so beautiful in the fall and we were so glad we got to see them again this year. They never get old.

Now we are in South Carolina near Hilton Head Island. We are at a really nice campground (it's new). We are backed up to the lake on the property. Louie has fished everyday that we have been here. No luck the first day but last night we were able to catch some blue gill with dough. This morning he caught a few bass. He is loving that he can still fish in November.

This tiny house is parked permanently here at the campground. On the other side it has solar panels on the roof. It is cute but I'm not too sure if I could live in something quite that small.

Yesterday we drove over to Hilton Head Island. We seen the lighthouse and walked around a little. Drove over to South Beach and another beach. We weren't too impressed with one of the beaches because it had a huge pipe that ran down the whole beach and just wasn't attractive.

The island is still cleaning up from Hurricane Matthew. I guess they just recently opened it back up to the public. So we seen a lot of the damage that they are still trying to fix. However, we have decided that the island is way too big for us and way too busy. I can't even imagine what it is like during peek season. We like the smaller not so busy islands.

Today we went to Pinckney Island National Wildlife Refuge. We weren't sure if we would see much wildlife since it is November but we did end up seeing a few butterflies and birds. Oh, and I almost stepped on a snake. Let's just say it scared me a little bit (caught me off guard). My nerves are still a bit touchy still from the bear incident. But it was a nice little hike this morning (we hiked about 2 miles in). After that we stopped at the outlet mall to pick up a few things before we head out Saturday. Tomorrow we are running to Camping World over by Savannah to pick up a few things we need as well and maybe go out to eat for Veterans Day.

Happy Camping!!!!