Keeping Up With The Joneses
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
LEESBURG - Every weekend since March, the motor home has hit the road. One weekend it may be Florida. Or Oklahoma. Or southern Indiana.
Now the home away from home for Sandy and Vicki Jones and their three boys - Nicholas, 20, Blake, 14 and Zac, 12 - is parked in the driveway of their Leesburg home.
Attached to the back of the motor home is a blue trailer. Inside this trailer are the reasons why the Jones family has left home every weekend since March.
The Partridge Family lived for singing. The Jones family in Leesburg lives for racing motorbikes. They have been traveling around the country in a motor home and pulling the trailer with the motorbikes inside since 1992. They have been through one motor home; this is their second.
This is how much the Jones family is into motor biking: Sandy and Vicki have been racing officers since 1993. Each boy has a racing resum printed on white paper that tells you Nicholas rides a Kawasaki KX125, Blake a Kawasaki KX 100 and Zac a Kawasaki KX 80.
Because they are on the road so much, the housecleaning can get behind, so the family asks to talk inside their motor home.
Nicholas wears a black Purdue hat, white pin striped Coca-Cola shirt, maroon Air Walk shoes and jeans. Blake, who will be in 8th grade this fall, has blond hair and chews on an empty plastic Culligan water bottle. Zac, who will be in the 7th grade, wears shorts and a black DARE shirt with DARE in red letters. Nicholas sits on a counter, while Blake and Zac sit facing each other at the table.
Sandy and Vicki stand in the doorway.
The big races for the brothers are the AMA and NMA Nationals. Nicholas has competed in the NMA Nationals once. Blake will take his third trip to the nationals later this year. Zac is still looking for his first trip.
Vicki is the treasurer for motorbikers who live in District 15, which is Indiana. She also determines which bikers get awards at the end of the year - she keeps track of the racing points earned in District 15.
Sandy serves as the mechanic and driver. In his spare time he referees races in Indiana.
Nicholas and Blake have been racing since age 10 and Zac since age 7. They are asked who got them into the sport.
"My grandma," Nicholas says. "She bought my first bike when I was 10."
Of the three, only one, Blake, holds hope of turning pro. He can do this as soon as he turns 16.
"Blake is the aggressive one of the three," Vicki says. "Zachary? He's there."
And Nicholas? He will enter Grace College in the fall. Besides, this is a sport where most retire by age 30.
"I'm more of a bowler," Nicholas says. "I'd rather go professional bowling."
For now, they are motorbikers. Asked what it costs the family to do this every weekend, Blake pipes up, "Too much."
Gate fee is usually $5 to $8 per person, while race entry runs from $15 to $35 per contestant.
At least NBZ Racing (Nicholas, Blake, Zac) has sponsors, 11 of them, in fact. Each is listed on a business card, along with the boys' bike numbers and their home address, phone number, fax number and e-mail address. In this sport, Vicki tells you, you do not know where you would be without the sponsors. So important are they, she pleads to have the big local one mentioned, and it is Lake City Honda-Kawasaki.
The Joneses are in the process of making white T-shirts with the logos of each sponsor on the back.
Yes, the oldest two boys have had their fair share of injuries, but they are quick to tell you they have been injured in other sports, as well.
Nicholas has already blown out his knee and had to take a year off. This is why most are done by age 30. "Your knees are gone," Nicholas says. "Mine are already gone."
Adds Sandy: "Not just your knees, but you got 15 kids who are 16, 17 years old. When they get up in the morning, they don't feel near as tired as you do."
Blake has broken the most bones of the three brothers.
"Blake's worst one was when he broke his arm on Mother's Day," Vicki says. "That was my Mother's Day present in 1994."
Then again, Blake tells you he broke his wrist surfing down a slide, and Nicholas says he broke his wrist playing basketball.
"You got it in any sport," Vicki says.
"No pain, no gain," Nicholas says.
The boys, who practice once a week at Reads in North Webster, each have nicknames, which are listed on the resums Vicki has created for each of them. The resums also list things like motorcycle, experience, accomplishments and goals.
Nicholas is "Rooster." Family friends tagged him this because they felt he liked to strut and crow.
Zac is Wildman, and Blake is Pac-Man. How he got the name PacMan is up for debate. Vicki says it's because he started races at the back and gobbled up the competition to finish in the front. Zac says its because his Bell sticker rubbed off and looked like a PacMan.
Asked if they have any good stories to tell from their trips, Blake says, "You meet girls."
To Vicki, this makes sense. Where else, she asks, can you find that many boys in one place?
As for now, you can find all five Joneses in their motor home, where they've been every weekend since March.
In here they have everything they need, from an air conditioner to a microwave to an oven to a bathroom.
"It's been an experience, that's for sure," Nicholas says. "You strap five people in this motor home, there's some stuff that happens. I think it's brought us closer together as a family.
At least on the weekends, we're not out breaking laws.They know where we're at 24 hours a day."
No family member sees the racing ending anytime soon.
"If they supply the bike and parts, we'll take the grandkids," Vicki says. "We'll probably be doing this then, too."
to take a year off. This is why most are done by age 30. "Your knees are gone," Nicholas says. "Mine are already gone."
Adds Sandy: "Not just your knees, but you got 15 kids who are 16, 17 years old. When they get up in the morning, they don't feel near as tired as you do."
Blake has broken the most bones of the three brothers.
"Blake's worst one was when he broke his arm on Mother's Day," Vicki says. "That was my Mother's Day present in 1994."
Then again, Blake tells you he broke his wrist surfing down a slide, and Nicholas says he broke his wrist playing basketball.
"You got it in any sport," Vicki says.
"No pain, no gain," Nicholas says.
The boys, who practice once a week at Reads track in North Webster, each have nicknames, which are listed on the resums Vicki has created for each of them. The resum lists things like motorcycle, experience, accomplishments and goals.
Nicholas is "Rooster." Family friends tagged him this because they felt he liked to strut and crow.
Zac is Wildman, and Blake is Pac-Man. How he got the name Pac-Man is up for debate. Vicki says it's because he started races at the back and gobbled up the competition to finish in the front. Zac says its because his Bell sticker rubbed off and looked like a Pac-Man.
Asked if they have any good stories to tell from their trips, Blake says, "You meet girls."
To Vicki, this makes sense. Where else, she asks, can you find that many boys in one place?
As for now, you can find all five Joneses in their motor home, where they've slept every weekend since March.
In here they have everything they need, from an air conditioner to a microwave to an oven to a bathroom.
"It's been an experience, that's for sure," Nicholas says. "You strap five people in this motor home, there's some stuff that happens. I think it's brought us closer together as a family.
"At least on the weekends, we're not out breaking laws. They know where we're at 24 hours a day."
No family member sees the racing ending anytime soon.
"If they supply the bike and parts, we'll take the grandkids," Vicki says. "We'll probably be doing this then, too." [[In-content Ad]]
LEESBURG - Every weekend since March, the motor home has hit the road. One weekend it may be Florida. Or Oklahoma. Or southern Indiana.
Now the home away from home for Sandy and Vicki Jones and their three boys - Nicholas, 20, Blake, 14 and Zac, 12 - is parked in the driveway of their Leesburg home.
Attached to the back of the motor home is a blue trailer. Inside this trailer are the reasons why the Jones family has left home every weekend since March.
The Partridge Family lived for singing. The Jones family in Leesburg lives for racing motorbikes. They have been traveling around the country in a motor home and pulling the trailer with the motorbikes inside since 1992. They have been through one motor home; this is their second.
This is how much the Jones family is into motor biking: Sandy and Vicki have been racing officers since 1993. Each boy has a racing resum printed on white paper that tells you Nicholas rides a Kawasaki KX125, Blake a Kawasaki KX 100 and Zac a Kawasaki KX 80.
Because they are on the road so much, the housecleaning can get behind, so the family asks to talk inside their motor home.
Nicholas wears a black Purdue hat, white pin striped Coca-Cola shirt, maroon Air Walk shoes and jeans. Blake, who will be in 8th grade this fall, has blond hair and chews on an empty plastic Culligan water bottle. Zac, who will be in the 7th grade, wears shorts and a black DARE shirt with DARE in red letters. Nicholas sits on a counter, while Blake and Zac sit facing each other at the table.
Sandy and Vicki stand in the doorway.
The big races for the brothers are the AMA and NMA Nationals. Nicholas has competed in the NMA Nationals once. Blake will take his third trip to the nationals later this year. Zac is still looking for his first trip.
Vicki is the treasurer for motorbikers who live in District 15, which is Indiana. She also determines which bikers get awards at the end of the year - she keeps track of the racing points earned in District 15.
Sandy serves as the mechanic and driver. In his spare time he referees races in Indiana.
Nicholas and Blake have been racing since age 10 and Zac since age 7. They are asked who got them into the sport.
"My grandma," Nicholas says. "She bought my first bike when I was 10."
Of the three, only one, Blake, holds hope of turning pro. He can do this as soon as he turns 16.
"Blake is the aggressive one of the three," Vicki says. "Zachary? He's there."
And Nicholas? He will enter Grace College in the fall. Besides, this is a sport where most retire by age 30.
"I'm more of a bowler," Nicholas says. "I'd rather go professional bowling."
For now, they are motorbikers. Asked what it costs the family to do this every weekend, Blake pipes up, "Too much."
Gate fee is usually $5 to $8 per person, while race entry runs from $15 to $35 per contestant.
At least NBZ Racing (Nicholas, Blake, Zac) has sponsors, 11 of them, in fact. Each is listed on a business card, along with the boys' bike numbers and their home address, phone number, fax number and e-mail address. In this sport, Vicki tells you, you do not know where you would be without the sponsors. So important are they, she pleads to have the big local one mentioned, and it is Lake City Honda-Kawasaki.
The Joneses are in the process of making white T-shirts with the logos of each sponsor on the back.
Yes, the oldest two boys have had their fair share of injuries, but they are quick to tell you they have been injured in other sports, as well.
Nicholas has already blown out his knee and had to take a year off. This is why most are done by age 30. "Your knees are gone," Nicholas says. "Mine are already gone."
Adds Sandy: "Not just your knees, but you got 15 kids who are 16, 17 years old. When they get up in the morning, they don't feel near as tired as you do."
Blake has broken the most bones of the three brothers.
"Blake's worst one was when he broke his arm on Mother's Day," Vicki says. "That was my Mother's Day present in 1994."
Then again, Blake tells you he broke his wrist surfing down a slide, and Nicholas says he broke his wrist playing basketball.
"You got it in any sport," Vicki says.
"No pain, no gain," Nicholas says.
The boys, who practice once a week at Reads in North Webster, each have nicknames, which are listed on the resums Vicki has created for each of them. The resums also list things like motorcycle, experience, accomplishments and goals.
Nicholas is "Rooster." Family friends tagged him this because they felt he liked to strut and crow.
Zac is Wildman, and Blake is Pac-Man. How he got the name PacMan is up for debate. Vicki says it's because he started races at the back and gobbled up the competition to finish in the front. Zac says its because his Bell sticker rubbed off and looked like a PacMan.
Asked if they have any good stories to tell from their trips, Blake says, "You meet girls."
To Vicki, this makes sense. Where else, she asks, can you find that many boys in one place?
As for now, you can find all five Joneses in their motor home, where they've been every weekend since March.
In here they have everything they need, from an air conditioner to a microwave to an oven to a bathroom.
"It's been an experience, that's for sure," Nicholas says. "You strap five people in this motor home, there's some stuff that happens. I think it's brought us closer together as a family.
At least on the weekends, we're not out breaking laws.They know where we're at 24 hours a day."
No family member sees the racing ending anytime soon.
"If they supply the bike and parts, we'll take the grandkids," Vicki says. "We'll probably be doing this then, too."
to take a year off. This is why most are done by age 30. "Your knees are gone," Nicholas says. "Mine are already gone."
Adds Sandy: "Not just your knees, but you got 15 kids who are 16, 17 years old. When they get up in the morning, they don't feel near as tired as you do."
Blake has broken the most bones of the three brothers.
"Blake's worst one was when he broke his arm on Mother's Day," Vicki says. "That was my Mother's Day present in 1994."
Then again, Blake tells you he broke his wrist surfing down a slide, and Nicholas says he broke his wrist playing basketball.
"You got it in any sport," Vicki says.
"No pain, no gain," Nicholas says.
The boys, who practice once a week at Reads track in North Webster, each have nicknames, which are listed on the resums Vicki has created for each of them. The resum lists things like motorcycle, experience, accomplishments and goals.
Nicholas is "Rooster." Family friends tagged him this because they felt he liked to strut and crow.
Zac is Wildman, and Blake is Pac-Man. How he got the name Pac-Man is up for debate. Vicki says it's because he started races at the back and gobbled up the competition to finish in the front. Zac says its because his Bell sticker rubbed off and looked like a Pac-Man.
Asked if they have any good stories to tell from their trips, Blake says, "You meet girls."
To Vicki, this makes sense. Where else, she asks, can you find that many boys in one place?
As for now, you can find all five Joneses in their motor home, where they've slept every weekend since March.
In here they have everything they need, from an air conditioner to a microwave to an oven to a bathroom.
"It's been an experience, that's for sure," Nicholas says. "You strap five people in this motor home, there's some stuff that happens. I think it's brought us closer together as a family.
"At least on the weekends, we're not out breaking laws. They know where we're at 24 hours a day."
No family member sees the racing ending anytime soon.
"If they supply the bike and parts, we'll take the grandkids," Vicki says. "We'll probably be doing this then, too." [[In-content Ad]]