Driving Towards F.I.R.E.

Traveling Healthcare Professionals On a Mission For Financial Independence Living and Working from our 5th Wheel RV!

Driving Towards F.I.R.E.
  • Our Story
  • Before RV Life
  • The RV Lifestyle
  • Careers
  • Our FIRE Movement & Debt Free Goals
  • Investing In Retirement
  • Nomadik Fitness: Fitness on the Road
  • Fulltime RV Life with Dogs
  • Campground Reviews
  • Places We’ve Experienced
  • Financial Clarity Coaching Blog
  • Our Story
  • Before RV Life
  • The RV Lifestyle
  • Careers
  • Our FIRE Movement & Debt Free Goals
  • Investing In Retirement
  • Nomadik Fitness: Fitness on the Road
  • Fulltime RV Life with Dogs
  • Campground Reviews
  • Places We’ve Experienced
  • Financial Clarity Coaching Blog
  • Investing In Retirement,  Our FIRE Movement & Debt Free Goals

    ETFs and Mutual Funds; Investing in Retirement Part 2 – Mutual Funds

    March 5, 2020 / 0 Comments

    Mutual Funds are actively managed unlike ETFs which are passively managed by money managers. They allocate specific percentages to produce income for investors.

    read more
    bshoemaker

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drivingtowardsfire

šŸ‘©šŸ»ā€āš•ļøšŸ‘ØšŸ»ā€šŸ’»šŸ‘¼šŸ»šŸ• šŸ• šŸ• Nomads
🚼Raising a Newborn on the Road
šŸšŽRV’ing Our Debt Free & FI Journey
šŸ’µDEBT Paid: $181,580.19 (27 Months)
šŸ”œDEBT Left: $61,734.01

Brett & Meredith | $Coach-CRNA
Day 854 of RV Life... Celebrating baby Eleanor’ Day 854 of RV Life...

Celebrating baby Eleanor’s 1st week and we are reminded what a week it was.  Definitely memorable in absolutely every way possible.

Being a fulltime nomadic RV’er comes with so many pros it 1000% exceeds the cons, but let us tell you, after 28 months of fulltiming, the cons will test your patience.  Especially with over 10 inches of snow and 7 straight days of below freezing temperatures.  Winter in a RV is challenging enough, but you toss in that many consecutive days of below freezing, there’s only so much preparation you can do.  And we thought we were safe in Texas, but apparently Mother Nature had other plans.

All parts memorable, some parts forgettable...

Here’s some things that occurred in Texas’s worst snowstorm in a century that will be a memory we’d be happy to forget:

āš ļø Frozen Water Spigot and no running water for 5 days...with a newborn.
āš ļø Roads completely impassable.  The drive home from the hospital took us over an hour, which normally takes us 20 minutes.  Thank God for 4 wheel drive.
āš ļø Frozen Sewer lines.  Fortunately our campground has a shower house we could shower at and fill a large bucket with water to bring back to the RV.
āš ļøBoil water notice.  This usually wouldn’t be a big deal, but we did run out of propane.  We were forced to use our electric griddle (which took forever) to boil our drinking water.
āš ļø Due to the roads, we couldn’t pick up Meredith’s pain meds after delivering Eleanor.  She went without for 4 days until the roads improved and places opened back up.
āš ļø Sewer pipe connected to a grey water tank split and burst.  Ugh, we attempted to make all the necessary arrangements before we went to the hospital, but...$748 later this was our most expensive issue.  Fortunately we found some mobile RV repair guys that came quick to resolve this for us.  We weren’t alone with this issue.  6 others in the campground had similar issues.
āš ļø Ran out of propane.  We refilled both tanks prior to leaving for the hospital, but by Day 4 of leaving the thermostat at 60 and the heater continuously running, it was gone quickly.

Undeniably, it was quite a week.
It’s been one week... People have said soak up It’s been one week...

People have said soak up each and every minute because they go by so fast.  This must be true because it feels like we blinked and it was already a week since baby Eleanor joined our nomadic lifestyle.

A good friend commented recently...

ā€œYou won’t even remember how you used to spend your free timeā€. Yep.  Our free time consisted of dog walks and going to the gym, which hopefully we’ll resume again soon once Meredith has healed and recovered.  But as for the other free time?  No clue what we used to do.

Yesterday was our first in-person Pediatrician appointment and getting there on time was certainly a challenge!  Although we were also in the middle of getting the RV drain pipe fixed too.  We made it and the doc gave Eleanor a great report!  Yay for her and us as new parents! 

Making a schedule for a baby...

Is no small feat.  Setting a schedule that works for us and baby is our current challenge.  We setup shifts every 2-3 hours so that one of us gets some rest, but in many instances, Eleanor will decide how the schedule will be on any given day.

Onward to Week 2 āœŒšŸ»
Can you believe it’s been a whole year since thi Can you believe it’s been a whole year since this dude showed up on our doorstep as a stray here in Texas?!?

Blue found us roaming the campground on 2/22/2020 dirty, thirsty, and Heartworm positive shortly after returning from walking our pups at a nearby state park.  We made so many attempts to find his family over the course of the next couple of weeks, but were unsuccessful.

Then COVID happened...

Unsure what to do after calling all the local vets, animal clinics, and posting in several lost dog Facebook pages, we decided to bring him with us to our cabin in Tennessee when both Meredith and I lost our contract jobs due to the Pandemic.  He loved Tennessee! 

Over the next 60 days...

His personality came out and made his place inside our existing pack.  He and Duke our GSD became a formidable duo sharing the common ground of their heritage. 

After 8 months of treatment...

He was no longer heartworm positive, neutered, and officially a member of our family.

In 12 months, this guy has landed a new family with doggy friends, received much needed medical treatment, and now is a protector of his newest human member of our pack, Eleanor!  He’s given us so much love already and we’re all glad he’s apart of our family!

Happy-former-stray-turned-domesticated-gotcha-day, BLUE!
Let me tell you about how unbelievably amazing thi Let me tell you about how unbelievably amazing this new momma is...

This weather created so much chaos and so many change of plans, it was hard to keep up.  Our heads are still spinning from this busy and stressful week.  We knew that Eleanor would make her arrival on either Sunday or Monday and she decided to be a goal getter and show up on a Monday.  I (Brett) was also born on a Monday!  We have no doubts she’ll be as motivated as both Meredith and I. 

What a week to be brand new parents...

Not at all how we pictured it, but if life has taught us anything, you better expect the unexpected.  Especially as fulltime nomads and RV’ers.  We’ve done exactly what we always do when things get tough...we turn to each other and work as a team. 

Even if one of us is in significant pain...

The hospital was concerned about us traveling back to the RV after Eleanor was born and after all necessary tests and exams to ensure all is ok with mom and baby, we were able to go home late afternoon Tuesday 2/16.  This was to help us get home before the second wave of this Texas snowstorm hit on Wednesday. 

We made it home safe, but...

All the pharmacies closed early that day leaving us unable to pick up Meredith’s pain meds.  Everything shut down and the roads became completely unsafe to drive, leaving her to manage without her meds this entire week.  She’s unbelievably strong, but each day post delivery the pain increases.  I simply don’t know how she manages.  Today the temps are supposed to be in the high 30s so we hope to finally pick up her meds from the pharmacy. 

What a week it has been.  Despite the chaos, we found peace knowing that Eleanor arrived safely and healthy.
Things escalated this past week... But we’re el Things escalated this past week...

But we’re elated to have our beautiful baby GIRL, who made her arrival on Monday 2/15, Weighing in at 7lbs 4oz and 20.5 inches long. 

Momma and baby are doing well, resting and recovering.  Meredith did AWESOME! 

We wanted to say Thanks to so many of you that messaged checking in on us about the weather here in Texas.  We’re are ok, frozen and without running water in the RV, but we have electricity and 2 space heaters that are working hard to give us some warmth.  Our pups are with the kennel keeping them toasty and warm until the roads improve.  Certainly a challenging week, but we’ve stayed diligent to keep baby warm and fed. 

Keeping it short for now...

Say hello to Eleanor (Nora) Rosalie!
In this day and age it takes an extensive uphill c In this day and age it takes an extensive uphill climb to express our ideas...

Equally, the fear of rejection can lead our ideas to a quick descent.  Maybe it isn’t the fear of rejection at all?  Maybe it’s the fear of being silenced or censored?  Maybe it’s the fear that when a line is drawn in the sand, you have to choose a side?

We’ve been pretty open here on the ā€˜Gram...

But we still reserve some of our ideas between us.  It isn’t necessarily a fear of any of the above, it’s simply that some ideas are best shared and expressed with those closest to us.  Original ideas are hard to come by, especially inside of social media.  So much of what we see follows an algorithm, lines of code that execute based on topics, themes, subjects, words, & people we engage with.  Especially those pesky ads that appear after you whisper the words ā€œFord Broncoā€ šŸ˜‰.

Admittedly, some ideas are so epic you just have to share, regardless of the outcome.  What’s even more epic is seeing your idea blossom into something more than you ever imagined.  It’s like an adrenaline rush after riding that 70 mph rollercoaster.  Most of you know our story by now, at least some of the bigger pieces.  I mean, when we first thought ā€œyeah let’s live in a RV to pay off debtā€ sounded both epic and crazy.  I remember thinking, ā€œpeople are going to tell us we’re nutsā€.

Truth be told...

Some did, but only when we told them it’s our first time to RV, or this is the first time pulling such a huge RV.  Rightfully so, maybe we should have signed up for a free week trial and practiced first?  Lol.  But beyond that, most people, including our families were really receptive to the idea.  Many of which completely supported it. Once you have the support, sharing an idea comes easily.

Regrets...

We all have them, right?  Honestly, I have at least 3 I can think of at this moment.  While we will never regret our decision to originally follow life’s status quo, omitting our idea to live tiny in our RV would have been our greatest regret.  Our ā€œlet’s go RV’ing to pay off debtā€ idea has changed every fabric of our life.

An idea we’ll celebrate for the rest of our days.
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