About the Joergers (in Kate’s words):
Steve and I met in 2011 through a photography meet up group in the Atlanta area. The night we first met, there were about 20-25 photographers and 4 or 5 models crammed into about 1,000 square feet. Photographers generally take turns “shooting” the models in the various scenes that are set up. Steve and I were both behind the camera that evening.
Steve had just returned from a long stint overseas for work and apparently forgot to take along a razor. His beard was GINORMOUS. I remember saying to him, “You know, you’d be pretty good looking if you shaved.” Two weeks later at the next meet up event, he shows up completely clean shaven. From there, we talked every day for hours. This was quite a big accomplishment for Steve, as generally he is a man of few words. Finally, after a few days on the phone, we set up a date.
He showed up to our first date on a motorcycle. I was pretty sure he was “the one” at that point! That first date we found out that our parents had gone to high school together in what we both considered a small city in Florida near Cape Canaveral. (Side note, in 2014, while rummaging through my mother’s belongings, we found the half-page newspaper wedding announcement for Steve’s parents stashed away in my mom’s yearbook. It was really neat to have hard proof of the connection.) Steve grew up in central Florida, and I had spent a lot of time in the same area as a child visiting family. My parents had come to Atlanta a few years after they married so my dad could attend college at Georgia Tech. Steve had moved to Atlanta for a job in his 20s. It seemed our meeting had been either a product of chance or somehow divinely determined.
We have a lot in common: interests in space, travel (and space travel??), photography, dogs, cooking, hiking, and reading. We are each other’s best friend. So super corny, but it’s true. There is no one each of us would rather be around. I’ve heard this fact will prove useful as we are crammed into a smaller space.
After working in each of our respective careers a couple decades, we reached a point where neither of us were truly happy with the traditional roles we were in. Work seemed to be just that- work. We had been discussing the next phase of our life for more than a year. We decided in 2020 (pre-COVID) that we would work until Steve hit 50. Save up as much as we possibly could, get some things to fall into place (properties, rig, truck, etc), then hit the road.
During 2020, all the pieces began to fall into place. In July 2020, we found a couple properties to hold as a vacation place for now and possibly a home base later. At the beginning of September, we found the right truck for the size rig we had been looking at. In October, we went to stalk our future fifth wheel and the dealer mentioned they had just taken in on trade the same floor plan but a couple years old (literally that morning). That afternoon, we placed a deposit and 3 weeks later we had our 5er. While there was still a lot to figure out, we had time to do so. Steve turning 50 was still 3 years off. That gave us a full 3 years to get accustomed to our new Reflection, make some costly upgrades (if we wanted to), and sock away some cash so we were comfortable without having to work on the road. Or so we thought.
The company where Steve worked for more than a decade announced that his department was being outsourced in the spring of 2021. We were going to lose access to not only more than half our household income, but also our insurance benefits and safety nets. We had just refinanced the house to get a lower payment and had several ways to divest larger assets to have living money (if needed). But to me, it just seemed like a huge loss and impediment to the plan.
Steve, however, thought much differently about this than I did. His thoughts focused around whether this was the sign we had been waiting for! Maybe this was the kick in the pants we needed to get serious about living a different life. A life of purpose and freedom. Freedom to focus on travel and our other interests. The discussions around our eventual departure from the traditional workforce began to gain more steam. Maybe this was a good segue… but I had (and still have) serious reservations.
We are very fortunate and diligent with our finances. We both had good paying careers in solid industries- Steve’s in IT and mine in Financial Services. We live below our means, never taking on credit card debt and paying other asset backed loans well in advance of the terms. While this is the case, navigating a MUCH smaller annual budget than we are accustomed to and earning some cash to stay on the road longer will be two of the challenges we face.
We invite you to join our travels and watch us navigate through the intricacies of living a life on the road!