Catching Up

Hello from somewhere on the road,

We are still traveling and still enjoying the life given to us. Our hopes are that we will start blogging again and quit being sooo lazy. Lol! 

We still haven't written our book or done any videos or much else that we should have. BUT we have become grandparents, purchased a large camper and truck, embarked on many career opportunities, taken 1000's of photos and seen all but 5 states. So why not share our experiences with others?

We will share some stories, photos and of course some wonderful memories that have made us who we are. We hope to help others who are considering a life on the road and encourage others through our travels and faith. So get ready for some unforgettable tales from Backpacking Believers, if we can quit being sooo lazy.

Blessings,

Chris and Jennifer

Congaree National Park

Mosquito Meter in Congaree National Park. The park officials
told us that although funny it is also very serious.  

Congaree National Park near Hopkins, SC

 Now, we are heading back to Nebraska to visit more with family and go on another Christmas vacation. So we always look ahead to see if there is anything we want to see that is not tooooo far out of the way. Well a days drive is never too far. We mapped it and found some good barbecue and a couple of National Parks.

Flooded boardwalk in Congaree National Park

First stop, Congaree National Park. I must admit I had never heard of Congaree and I sure didn't know South Carolina had a national park. They do have one and it is worth visiting if you like natural wet lands and swamps like we do. We were both raised around areas like this with gators and mosquitos and birds galore. Most of the trails were closed due to flooding and even the boardwalk was not immune to nature's wrath. The interpretive center is top notch and well worth the visit. We were also glad to see the Mosquito Meter was at all clear.

3 Meat Plate at Maurice's BBQ
MmmMmm Good!

 Next stop, Barbecue! Anyone who knows us knows that I (Chris) am a meat eater. Of course I try to balance this, but not at a barbecue place. Jennifer kept telling me of a great place in South Carolina to eat some good barbecue. Well we found some at Maurices BBQ Piggie Park in Columbia, SC. It was perfect BBQ. The brisket was juicy and tender and the hash was out of this world good. If in Columbia I would recommend getting some of this BBQ.

So after getting our bellies full of some good grub we were off to our next destination, The Great Smokey Mountains National Park and Pigeon Forge, TN. I was going to include that in this post, but after some consideration I decided it deserved its own post. So goodbye for now and may all your journeys be as blessed as ours. Happy Traveling. 

  

  

Across the South

 

The Sands Boardwalk
Point Royal, SC

 Greetings to all,

Ok, I know the last blog wasn't up to par with what we normally blog. Don't worry, I will not cut anyone short on this section of our journey. This will be a longer blog than normal. Now off to South Carolina from Branson, MO. We headed to South Carolina to visit more family and friends.  We headed south through Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Georgia before getting to South Carolina. Why? Diamonds, baths and the Natchez Trace.

Bathhouse Row
Hot Springs, AR

The Grand Promenade 
Hot Springs, AR

       First stop, Hot Springs National Park, Hot Springs, Arkansas. We have been to Hot Springs before, but it has been over 17 years ago. So, we decided why not make another trip. Hot Springs NP seems different than other National Parks I have been to. It seems to be out of place, almost like it should be on the National Mall in D.C. instead of in the Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas. This was only a stop on our way to another place though. Our main goal for coming this way was to, Dig for Diamonds!

Crater of Diamonds State Park
Murfreesboro, AR

      Can you really dig for diamonds? Yes you can, at Crater of Diamonds State Park in Murfreesboro, Arkansas. We have wanted to come here for many years, but have never made the trip. Kind of hard to believe since I lived in Arkansas for over 20 years. Well, we made it......, but we did not get to dig for diamonds. That's right, we came but we did not dig. See it started raining on us when we left Branson, MO and it didn't stop for 5 days. So, this part of the trip got really soggy and literally put a damper on our plans.

Vicksburg National
Military Park
Vicksburg, MS

Natchez Trace
Parkway

       Another bucket list item we have tried to complete for some time is to drive the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is a NPS property that extends 440 miles from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN. It is great for biking and even hiking. There are no commercial vehicles allowed so it is a peaceful drive with many, many stops along the way. UNLESS.....it is nonstop raining. We didn't really get to enjoy this as much as we wanted, but we did get to drive 200 miles of the Parkway.         

     Ok so I mentioned we were headed to South Carolina to visit family and friends. I am sure you noticed the picture at the top of this blog. This is one place we visited while there. It was a really nice place to spend a sunset. While there we spent time with Jennifer's brother and family, and Katlyn and Zac, and Zac's family. We were so happy to finally see some sunshine after all of the rain that followed us. We got to spend some quality time with family and we hunted shark teeth, walked on the beach and enjoyed some really nice bike riding. Well I will finish here with a group of pictures, and a promise of more chapters of our travels to come. Happy Travels

Hunting Island, SC

Family Tradition

     Look who we found in Branson, Missouri, well we actually met them there for our annual family vacation, This has been a tradition for our family for many years now. We decided not  to participate in the hustle and bustle of Christmas gift giving when our daughter was a young  child. It was then we made the decision to make memories every Christmas season for as long as we can. So this is our vacation for Christmas 2018 in Branson, MO. 

Just a selfie on Table Rock Lake. Such a beautiful day in a beautiful place.

We started our vacation with a trip to Table Rock Lake. Here is Jennifer looking for
arrowheads. They still wash up to this day. Of course she could just be looking for rocks.
She has been known to pick up a rock here and there.

Of course you can't go to Branson without a trip to Silver Dollar City. This place is
awesome all year long, but it is absolutely amazing during the holidays. With over
6.5 million lights and the best food you can find anywhere, Silver Dollar City has
been called the most illuminated theme park on earth. This picture was taken in
Midtown. They also have a new Roller Coaster called Time Traveller. The world's
tallest, steepest, fastest spinning roller coaster. It is pretty awesome!

Here is the entrance to Midtown

This is inside Bass Pro Shops Wonders of Wildlife Museum in Springfield, MO.
If you have not been to the headquarters of Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, it is definitely
a must see at some point in life. It has a top notch aquarium and amazing displays of live and
mounted animals. I know this is not the most adventurous blog we have written, but this is
also a family tradition. Therefore, it is also more private than most, so I will end it here.
Lord Bless and Safe Travels

Time to Get Movin! Again

Good Morning,

     Or whatever time it is where you are. It is time to be back on the road and have some fun and relaxation. We have a busy 2 or 3 months planned so maybe we will have time to blog, who knows. Well we have left Colorado and headed to Nebraska and then down to Missouri and Arkansas. Not much relaxation yet, but I know we will have some one of these days. So lets get started!

     Ok so first I will talk about our mode of transportation. We have had a Subaru Outback for a couple of years, but we were still having to tent camp or rent lodging since we travel mostly in the colder months. So we bought us a teardrop camper that would not limit us on destinations. This is the Outback edition. Funny huh? We wondered if we should change our blog to Outbacking Believers. LOL!

These stickers represent many of the places we have driven to and from. The stickers at the top are
from National Parks we have visited. There are 58 national parks and 418 NPS properties. Top of
my bucket list is to visit all of them. As we journey we will add more stickers, so here we go, lets
add more stickers.

November 16th, 2018
Ready to head out on our 2018-2019 winter road trip. 

Buffalo Bill Cultural Center in Oakley, KS

The Geographical Center of the Lower 48 states.
What this means is if you made a map of the lower 48 of equal thickness across.
This is the point where the map would perfectly balance on a point.
Pretty neat Huh?

The Homestead National Monument of America
This place commemorates the Homestead Act. This Act allowed people to claim up to
160 acres for their family as long as they resided on it for 5 years and improved it.
Would't that be nice now? 

I have always loved travelling across the Midwest. The wide open prairies and beautiful sunrises and sunsets always seem to amaze you no matter how many times you see them. The people are some of the nicest you will meet, and the wildlife is always in abundance. I have heard some people say how boring it is to drive across Kansas and Nebraska. Well, I wonder if they ever stop and look at the beauty that is around them, because there is beauty everywhere. Imagine setting your cruise control 5mph under the speed limit. Stopping at all of those little brown signs along the way and actually enjoying the trip more than the destination. This is travelling.

Lord Bless your travels,
Grounded Haug