This post is light on photos for reasons that will become clear later. After returning from Montana, we settled into the remainder of the school year. Now that Ansel can drive, her first order of business was getting a job. She hit up her favorite restaurant, and they were happy to bring her on board as Sushi Sho’s first expo. She does a little of everything including prep, running orders, hostessing, and handling the Door Dash orders. Hopefully, she will make enough money to cover her sushi bill!
Ansel and Jay attended the prom (not together).
For Mother’s Day, we made our annual trip to the bowling alley. Fittingly, Kristie was the grand champion!
As I mentioned, Ansel does a little of everything at Sushi Sho. That includes HR assistant. Parker came home for the summer, and Ansel was kind enough to get him a job as a server. They’ve enjoyed working together, and we’ve enjoyed staying up to hear the latest stories when they arrive home.
Warning to the reader: This post is about to make an extreme shift to motorcycle content.
It’s been a really hot summer, and the entire Southeast has suffered from a drought. At the end of June, Jay went up to the Roan Mountain area to join his friends at Mountain View Motorcycle Campground for their annual Beta Bash rally. The rally started with breakfast at Smoky Mountain Bakers, and then a group of six hit the trails. They decided to mix things up a bit and rode to Brown Mountain OHV Trail System. Along the way, they stopped at Linville Gorge (first picture). From there, it was on to Brown Mountain. It was a great day. Their route included the main trail (1) up to trail 8, back around to 1, and then 9.
About three-quarters of the way down trail 9, Jay stopped to assess a rocky section that he was about to descend. He looked down and saw flames coming from underneath his gas tank. He jumped off of the bike, thankfully unharmed. By the time his riding friends realized that something was wrong and rode back to check on him, there was not much left. They put the remaining flames out, and a ride was arranged to take Jay back to the campground. The scene closely resembled the aerial shot of Captain America’s bike burning at the end of Easy Rider. Luckily, it didn’t start a forest fire, which, given the dry conditions, could have easily happened. The worst thing was that Jay’s cellphone was in his tank bag at the time and was lost. Much of his content had not been backed up; hence, the loss of many pictures.
Kristie drove up and consoled Jay for the rest of the weekend. Beta has been really supportive and is helping Jay get a new bike, but while it is being ordered, Jay is without two wheels. Compounding the issue is that he does have free time and the ability to drive Kristie crazy by being home while she is trying to work. With that in mind, it was determined that he should go ahead and add an adventure bike to the fleet (this is something that he had been considering for a while). Parker drove him to Brushy Mountain Powersports, and Jay rode home on his new Yamaha Tenere.
He has enjoyed taking it on day trips around the area. He even rode it up to Roan Mountain and explored some areas that he had never been to before. One day trip that he took was to Boone’s Cave Park. Parker has enjoyed taking it for a spin too. Unfortunately, other than a photo op, Kristie won’t go near it.
Jay made a return visit to the Indiana University campus for the Best Buddies Leadership Conference. He had a great time meeting new people, including randomly meeting someone who lives in Conway. He got to meet several celebrities, including Joshua Felder, Miss Delaware Teen USA Kayla Kosmalski, Billy Blanks, Jr, and many amazing attendees at the conference. He also enjoyed seeing familiar faces from being there in 2024. Despite getting stuck at the airport for seven hours on the return flight home, it was an amazing experience. If you are looking for an organization to get involved with, I highly recommend Best Buddies.
As previously mentioned, Parker (and Ansel) has been working his butt off all summer. One of his goals was to buy a new motorcycle. When Jay got his Tenere, Parker was even more committed to this goal. Following his theory that there is no replacement for displacement, Parker found and bought a 2002 Honda VTX 1800. We are proud of him for setting his sights, working hard, and making his goal a reality. While Parker and Jay were in line at the DMV, Jay got a message from Gwyn Motorsports that his new Beta 390 X-Pro had arrived. Big shout out to Beta and Progressive (Jay loves the Dr. Rick commercials) for getting him back in the dirt.
The final leg of our summer included a trip up to Delaware. Upon arrival, we headed to the beach for dinner at Blue Moon and a trip to Funland. We were there to take one last ride on the Haunted Mansion before it closes for renovations. The next day started with pretzels at Spence’s Bazaar, some errands, and a visit from Stella and Landon, and Jay and Kristie’s newest great-nephew, Liam. Ansel decided to join Paul and the kids at the DE State Fair while Kristie, Jay, Parker, and Mom Mom dined at JP’s War.
