The past five months have flown by, and I thought that it was probably time for an update. This one might be a bit disjointed, but that’s how life goes sometimes.
As always happens, the summer ended and school began. This year saw several changes with Jay being the only constant. Ansel (11th grade) and Jay (10th grade) are both at Mount Tabor High School . Parker’s school would wait a couple of weeks. On August 15th, we bid Parker farewell as Kristie helped him move into his dorm at Western Carolina University. Jay and Ansel had school, so Kristie had to do the heavy lifting. Ignore the ugly crying. It’s her first born after all.
Jay met up with some friends from Mountain View Motorcycle Campground for another dual sport rally. He has really enjoyed unlocking the trails in the Roan Mountain area.
The week after Labor Day, Kristie took a few days and went to the cabin. On Friday, she went to the Unaka Bike Park for a spin around the trails. As soon as Jay got home from school, his phone rang, and Kristie announced that she had broken her leg! Luckily, Kristie had cell service and was able to call 911, which dispatched search and rescue as well as a firestorm of social media posts praying that the victim was OK. As you can imagine, EMS lives for this stuff. Kristie counted three four wheelers with various attachments to extract the incapacitated. Kristie finally convinced them that the bodyboard trailer was unnecessary and the safest thing was for her to ride down on the back of the four wheeler. Jay called some friends and arranged for someone to recover her bike and then headed to Johnson City to pick her up at the ER. The follow-up ortho visit confirmed the break and the instructions that she would have to stay off of it for several weeks. For those keeping track at home, it is the same leg, but different bone as before.
Other than a drive through, Jay had never seen Cullowhee. That would change for Parent’s Weekend. Since Kristie had limited mobility, we didn’t go to the game (it got severely rain delayed anyway), but Ansel and Jay enjoyed the tour of Western’s campus. We stayed at “The Cabin!“, which, despite the epic drive up the mountain, provided for a really nice getaway. And, of course, we enjoyed seeing Parker.
Parker has really enjoyed WCU and all that western NC has to offer. When not studying, he has been busy fly fishing and taking his friends to the Nantahala River where he has been taking his friends rafting.
Parker isn’t the only one fishing. Jay met his old high school friends David and Steven for a weekend getaway in SC and some inshore fishing. Steven’s cousin Greg, of Fish Skinny Charters, took us out. We enjoyed catching up and catching fish (something that doesn’t happen when Jay and David generally fish together).
When it comes to pets, Ansel’s negotiation skills are unmatched. This time, it involved a cat. While Parker was home one weekend, he took Ansel to the AARF where they met and fell in love with Patches . We had to do something with Parker’s empty bedroom. It didn’t take long for us all to warm up to her (except when she walks across your face while you are trying to sleep). She is really sweet. Moose still hasn’t decided what to think of her.
