Quinn described hiking on a remote trail in Great Smoky Mountains National Park when they encountered a lone hiker coming down the trail toward them.

“We pulled our gators up over our faces as a precaution (against COVID) and he walked right up to me and said, ‘I don’t appreciate you pulling up that mask’. Then he pulled up his shirt and showed us the pistol strapped to his chest. It was an eye-opener.”

That wasn’t the only thing that prompted the couple to leave their homeland, as the evolving political climate in the U.S. played a part in influencing their decision to leave.