Austin accepted a job for the Department of Corrections to work at, Redgranite Correctional. At the time, he was living about 100 miles away in New Franken, WI. Because of this, he needed to stay at a hotel while he was looking for housing. Kaelyn was working at the hotel in town and checked Austin in for his long stay in March of 2013. They would often talk in passing. Austin would come down by Kaelyn do his laundry and would help her fold the hotel laundry. When Austin found housing, he continued to come help. With Kaelyn's work finished early, she would have time to sit down to have dinner with Austin. This progressed to Austin taking Kaelyn to her first race and led to their first date in Door County.