ABOUT HIM

Hi! I’m Josh.

For me, the dream of living on the water started when I was a kid and my family had a small trailer in a campground just outside of Rehobeth Beach, Delaware.

The time spent at the beach and the time spent fishing with my Dad and UD provided me with some of my fondest memories.  The trailer was nothing special and, at the beginning, the boats we on the older side and required constant repair, but I fell in love with salt water fishing and the time spent on the water.  It was a fantastic time in my life.  I got to spend the days on the Rehobeth and Indian River bays, and the evenings with whole family cooking dinners over a camp fire and just spending a lot of time together.

Once I graduated high school, I left Central Pennsylvania and started a new adventure in Newport News, Virginia and Virginia Beach.  I took an apprenticeship at Newport News Ship Building where I had the opportunity to be a part of building Virginia Class Submarines and Nimitz Class Aircraft Carriers.  The work was amazing and I was learning something new every day.  But, as an 18 year old living on my own in a town like Virginia Beach, I made some poor decisions.  After 2 years of being on my own, I decided to move home.  My family, of course, welcomed me home with open arms and I started over.

At the time, my Father owned a small construction company so I went to work for the family business.  It was not long before my middle brother, Matt, joined us and then, for a short time, my youngest brother, Kirk.  We all were able to build a fairly successful small construction company.  One of the larger companies, A. P. Williams, that we subcontracted to, wanted my Dad to come work for them full-time, and made him an offer he could not pass up.  At that point, Matt and I finished the outstanding work we had on the books and closed the company.  Matt went to college and I went to work for a sister company of A. P. Williams.  I worked my way up to a Foreman position very quickly.  Once I reached that level, there was no more room for me to advance.

The next step was to transfer over to A. P. Williams.  Paul Williams took me under his wing, and started training me to manage larger commercial construction projects.  At the same time, my Father and many others at A. P. trained me in commercial carpentry.  Fast forward 12 years and I have worked my way up to being a Project Manager, Safety Officer, Personnel Manager, and general office maintenance man.  I think I have done pretty well for myself for someone who’s formal education stopped after high school.

I have always subscribed to the thinking that I work very hard and the only way to justify all this hard work was to buy things that I thought I would enjoy.  I work hard so I can play harder, and I am very good at spending money.

Moving down the road of life, I started seeing many people that I worked with passing away too young and without being able to enjoy the later years of life when the work is finished and they could enjoy the fruits of all of their hard work.  I started to really wonder if the worst were to happen, could I say that I have no regrets?  I put these thoughts out of my head and continued to work well over 40 hours a week.  I have said many times, when it is finally time to retire, I would buy a boat and move aboard to cruise anywhere I wanted to, and fish as much as any person possibly could.  I spent hours looking a boats on the internet and wearing my wife out with constant talk of moving aboard and cruising off into the sunset, someday.

Then the stress of my work started to consume me.  Along with the stress, a former class mate and friend of mine quit his very stable (and I assume well-paying) job to hike the Appalachian Trail.  Very quickly, the thoughts and dreams of picking up and starting over on a boat rushed back.  Then, over the summer, another former class mate of mine passed away.  I started thinking even more.  I work and I buy and I work.  Is all the stuff; the house, the cars, the motorcycle, and all the smaller “stuff” worth all the stress?  Would I be happier doing things I wanted to do rather than surrounding myself with “stuff?”  How long do I really have on this earth to do those things?

I then began talking to my wife about really making this happen sooner rather than later.

To my complete surprise, she was having the same feelings.  With that revelation, our new adventure began!

ABOUT HER

My name is Alexis.  I was born, raised and have lived my entire life within a fifteen mile radius of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.  I went to college and got a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work.  How ironic – spend thousands of dollars to get a degree in how to be a decent human being.  My first job out of college was in drug and alcohol treatment, where I learned a lot about strength, honesty and consequences.  In 2011, I transitioned from the private sector to the public sector, doing pretty much the same work.  The pay increase was fantastic but I quickly learned a lot about bureaucracy, the “chain of command” and integrity.  I learned the difference between being passionate about work and collecting a paycheck.  Despite loving the work that I do, I no longer felt surrounded by people passionately doing the work.  And I no longer felt myself being challenged to excel, learn or offer suggestions for new ideas.  I’m far too much of an overachiever to just collect a paycheck, so I started exploring ways to maintain my day job and challenge myself.  I got on the Board of a nonprofit organization (that was supported by my employer) and threw myself into improvements, new ideas and change.  I established an identity as an independent contractor and excelled by delivering work weeks before established deadlines.  I bit off a ton (and some days struggled to chew it all) in order to keep my mind busy and the days passing by.  I knew that in October 2021, I would be vested in a pension system that will provide monthly payments of 80% of my salary for the rest of my life.  And for me, it seemed like a pretty reasonable decision to stick it out until my pension is secured, no matter how many side hustles I acquire to keep myself occupied until then.  Most days, it feels like my day job is interfering with my life, my motivation and my passion.  And that is one of the biggest reasons I cannot wait to sell everything, quit my day job and start LIVING!

ABOUT THEM

She was “LittleMsSunshine25: Optimistic, Outgoing and Loves To Ride” and he was “hamrdwnwdopn: fun guy looking for a fun girl.”  And we met on the internet – PlentyOfFish.com, to be exact.  We had both had enough playing games with people and just wanted someone to have fun with.  We talked for a while before meeting for the first time, on a Thursday night at Dockside Willie’s in Wormleysburg, PA for a few drinks.  We talked and drank and drank and talked for hours and it felt like we had know each other for WAY longer than a few hours.  Since that day, we quickly became the other’s best friend.  Fast forward three years and we got married in the back yard of our home on 6.5 acres in the mountains on June 1, 2013, surrounded by our friends and family.  We love the outdoors and spend all the time we can in the woods (hunting, hiking or geocaching), on the water (fishing or creature-watching) or on a motorcycle.

ABOUT THE DOG

In December 2012, I was arrested by the Manor Township Police Department and charged with running the streets, dragging my leash behind me.  I’m not sure where my old home was because no one reported missing me and I never got one of those cool “microchip” things other dogs have.  No one came to pick me up from the police department and I think the cops liked me, but, they told me I couldn’t stay there forever.  A really nice man and lady came to see me at the police station on December 21st, 2012, and told me they’d give me the best Christmas present I ever had – a new, warm, loving home.  They must have known what they were doing because they didn’t even have to post any money for bail!  They signed some paper called “a release of property,” helped me into their car and said they were taking me home.  They started calling me Ramrod.  The humans, you know, my mom and dad, took me to the doctor when I first got home.  The doctor said I was healthy and happy and the doctor even gave me a birthday, since I don’t remember when mine is.  The doctor says my September 15th, 2011 is a great day to call my birthday!  I really like my life.  Listen to this…my mom has these boxes delivered to our house every month.  I bark when the UPS man comes to our house but I love it when he leaves these boxes that say “Bark Box” on the outside.  Mom always gives me those boxes and there’s always new toys and snacks in them for me.  Mom and dad let me roam the house all day because I’m a good boy and don’t mess up anything.  I have three beds in our house, too, because I like to be near my mom.  I get pretty scared when I’m not with my mom so I try to stay close to her.  Sometimes she calls me “shadow,” so I guess she likes me really close.  I love it when my dad takes me outside when he works on things in the garage and mows grass.  I love to lay in the grass and chew on my Frisbee.  My most favorite thing in the entire world is Milkbone biscuits.