AUSA FLW Chapter Vice President Bri Sisti shares the inside scoop on this year’s Jeep Fest, plus life on the farm and three things that might surprise you about Bri. From muddy trails to barnyard tails, join us for a fun conversation full of laughter…plus find out why you will NOT find Emu on Bri’s farm.
The Fort NOT Lost in the Woods Podcast is a production of O’Quinn Media. For information on guest or sponsorship opportunities, email tracy@oquinnmarketing.com.
This episode has been brought to you by Nexthome Team Ellis, Security Bank of Pulaski County, TK’s Pizza of St. Robert, and Sugarcreek Farms.
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**Interview Introduction**
Jacy: Thank you for joining me for another episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. Today’s guest is no stranger, she’s been here before and uh I can’t wait to find out what’s going on with her donkeys and all of her her menagerie at home. We have Bree Sistie in the studio with us. How are you doing, Bree?
Bree: I’m great, thanks. How are you, Jacy?
Jacy: Good, you look beautiful today.
Bree: Thank you.
Jacy: I wouldn’t even know from looking at you that you don’t have air conditioning right now. You don’t look like it.
Bree: It’s this Nordic face bomb. It’s my best kept secret.
Jacy: It is? Okay. Not anymore.
Bree: Yes.
Jacy: Well, we’re going to talk about a lot of things. Um one of the things we’re going to talk about is the uh AUSA, I hope I say this right. So it’s the AUSA Jeep Fest 2026? Is that the right way to say it?
Bree: That’s correct.
Jacy: It’s the third annual, right?
Bree: It is.
Jacy: I can’t believe it’s already the third annual. So I want to talk about all that because I think it’s really cool that you guys started this event and it has just grown and done so well.
But before we get to all of that, I know you’ve been on the podcast before, but a quick rundown, Bree, where are you from and how did you end up here?
Bree: So, I am originally um from Pennsylvania, born in North Jersey. So, forgive me that on the days that the hair gets a little higher to Jesus, but um raised in Pennsylvania and wound up here by way of being a military spouse and decided to make Pulaski County home.
Jacy: I’m not sure if I knew that or I definitely didn’t remember that you were from Pennsylvania. So, tell me about the best uh Philly cheesesteak ’cause I just had this conversation with somebody the other day. The very best Philly cheesesteak, how is it made?
Bree: Well, first of all, it comes from Pat’s. If you’re in line at Geno’s, you’re at the wrong spot. Come across the street.
Jacy: I always wanted to go to both. That’s on my bucket list.
Bree: Um, I don’t like cheese whiz, so mine does not have cheese whiz on it. Um, but I grew up where my mom would make them at home all the time, so I got real spoiled. Having them out in different places, it’s just not quite right.
Jacy: What’s what do you put on yours? If you were going to make the perfect one, what would it have on it?
Bree: Peppers, onions, cheese. That’s it.
Jacy: That’s it? No sauce, no mayo, no, nothing?
Bree: Nope, purest, but it’s got to be an Amoroso roll.
Jacy: Oh, okay. That’s also.
Bree: Key little tidbit on those.
Jacy: Oh man, that’s so on my bucket list to go have a real Philly.
Bree: You have to.
Jacy: Do you get back home very often?
Bree: I don’t as much as I want to. Uh as you know, I’ve got that farm and it makes it a little difficult sometimes to just pack up and head on out.
Jacy: Yeah, well, what kind of critters do you have out there now?
Bree: So, I wound up not getting Emu. I knew that we had talked about it before.
Jacy: I thought of you the other day. Yeah, I’ll have to tell you a story off the air about about Emu actually. But anyway, I heard this crazy story and I was like, I’ve got to tell Bree this story. You decided not to.
Bree: Decided against that. Um still have chickens, goats, mini donkeys.
Jacy: I was really looking forward to the Emu stories actually.
Bree: You know that if I had Emu right now, one, I would have sped up my pace per mile because we both know one of those big old birds would be chasing me.
Jacy: That’s what I heard. One of the stories I heard was that they kick so hard, like they will break your leg right in half.
Bree: I have seen pictures of just like skin separation from it.
Jacy: Oh my gosh.
Bree: And I’m not about that.
Jacy: I’d like to keep my skin together.
Bree: Yeah.
Jacy: Okay, sorry. I totally interrupted you. You have tell me about your you tell me about your critters again. I got stuck on the Emu.
Bree: So I still have my chickens, I still have my goats, I still have my mini donkeys, and then my regular full-sized donkey that all of us have grown to love over the years. So Adam’s still hanging out.
Jacy: Adam? I love it. I always pick serious names for my animals too. And people are like, why do you have a fish named Jeff? I’m like, don’t worry about it. Me and Jeff know why.
So what is it about about animals that’s just, you know, in the winter we’re going or I don’t know, maybe you’re not. I’m going, why do I have these horses? And why do I have these dogs? And why do I have? But every winter, then I still just love them so much. Get more of them and just I don’t know why I do these things to myself, you know?
Bree: Yes.
Jacy: One of the things that you love doing besides caring for your animals is rolling around in your Jeep, right? You still still have a Jeep?
Bree: Yeah, I do.
Jacy: So what do you like about the Jeep? And the reason we’re talking about the Jeep, by the way, don’t I’m sure they’re like, that is a really random question. We’re going to be talking about the third annual Jeep Fest coming up, but tell me about your Jeep. What why do you like your Jeep so much?
Bree: So I have a cool story for you now about this Jeep.
Jacy: Oh, okay.
Bree: So in years past, I had my tan colored Jeep, loved it. I got hit actually by someone in our winter weather and totaled my Jeep.
Jacy: Oh.
Bree: And was kind of terrified because my roll cage snapped and everything and the whole thing crinkled up like an accordion and I thought, oh my gosh, no, never again. And after a couple months of being miserable about it, I had happened to mention one day um looking at Facebook memories, this Jeep that I wanted since I was much younger and didn’t really consider safety and, you know, being an adult. And I said, oh my gosh, this is what I wanted when I was younger. Just so happens that someone I know had something similar and um so my sweet boyfriend went out and bought this Jeep.
Jacy: Oh my God.
Bree: And brought it home and he said it’s it’s pretty close, isn’t it? And I said, oh my gosh, it is. Now that thing drives like a three-legged elephant, so you will not find me on the interstate.
Jacy: What is it? Tell me about it.
Bree: It’s just an old black Wrangler that’s lifted, has some modifications. Um she’s not made for speed, but she’s made for the farm. And it’s just perfect. We use it all the time, pulling the boat to go put in there at Boiling Springs. It’s just really nice to be able to get the wind in your hair, not be on a motorcycle. I think you and I have talked before about this. I had a motorcycle when I was younger. I about drove my mother crazy with it. The night of high school graduation, I was not even allowed to park in the driveway because they were so put off that I had taken my motorcycle for graduation.
Jacy: Oh, that’s so funny.
Bree: So, um just it’s just nice to be me.
Jacy: Tomboy, you’re a tomboy.
Bree: I am.
Jacy: That must be why I connected with you immediately. I’m like, I really like this girl. That’s probably.
Bree: I am. If I can have my feet in the grass, my hands in the dirt, I’m happy.
Jacy: Same thing. There’s something healing about it. I don’t know what it is, but there’s definitely something healing about it. So you’re involved with the Jeeps. Are you also involved with AUSA then?
Bree: I am. So, I am on the board with our local Fort Leonard Wood chapter. I’m actually their vice president. And we started putting together this Jeep Fest three years ago.
Kind of as a fun, let’s get people together with similar interest, also reaching out to our young professionals. A lot of times we’ve got folks here that are involved in Jeeping. It’s a good way to just kind of get everybody together, check out different rigs, and then kind of going back to our core mission here with AUSA and looking to see how are we supporting our military families, how are we supporting our community? What’s the purpose behind this event other than just a social event?
And so what we did is we created this Jam-A-Jeep idea. And we started with collecting donations and this went back into our schools, out to our kiddos, out to some of our foster families, helping.
Jacy: Oh, I love that.
Bree: Yeah. So we are continuing that again. Same concept of this back to school idea of hygiene items, making sure kiddos have socks, they’ve got underwear, they’ve got the Kleenex that they need to have. All of those things so that they’re set up well to get back to school and working with again, our local nonprofits that do some work as far as our foster kiddos, some of our families that just need some aid in that regard, making sure that the right supplies are getting out to the right hands that need it.
Jacy: So how are you collecting those supplies?
Bree: Well, we are partnering with Ed Morris again and they are bringing out some Jeeps for us so that we can continue our Jam-A-Jeep.
Jacy: That’s so fun. So they so people can bring those to the actual Jeep Fest.
Bree: Yes. And it is free admission. You don’t have to have a Jeep to be there. It’s open for the community. You can show up. You can add things into our Jeep, wander through. Last year we had some people that brought vintage Jeeps, trailered in, which was really neat to kind of take a look at some older things. We’ve got vendors there, we’ve got food vendors. So, lots to see and do.
Jacy: All right, well, tell us the who, what, when, and where of it then.
Bree: Sure. So we will be out at the Saint Robert Community Center on J.H. Williamson, August 16th from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM.
Jacy: And you have a Facebook event people can follow, right?
Bree: We do. We do. We’re super excited this year in partnering with our Mid-Mo Jeep crew that’s local here to the area. In the past, we’ve worked with the Jeep crew to come up with different routes in doing rides afterwards.
Jacy: Oh, okay.
Bree: They’re stock friendly so that, you know, people who maybe want to go off-road a little bit, but they’re not quite sure of how off-road can my Jeep go or I don’t want to do something that breaks it.
Jacy: Get ready to find out.
Bree: Right. We’ve worked with them in the past on coming up with some routes and things like that and we’ve partnered with them this year as well. So.
Jacy: How many people came out last year?
Bree: Oh, uh, goodness. I don’t have that number right in front of me, but we had a jam-packed community center.
Jacy: I thought I remembered that it had grown, you know, each year.
Bree: It has. It’s grown each year. It’s been really cool to see some of the different out-of-the-box style vendors and the creativity.
Jacy: Okay, now I got to have an example.
Bree: So I will tell you, we get real stuck in kind of the military world of like, this is who we go to for these plaques and we and they do a great job and everything. But working through the this is what we’re doing each time. This year in reaching out to a veteran, he said, I’m so excited to help with this and I’m making these, but I’m making them specific to Jeep things.
And so a little, I guess sneak peek we’ll say, of awards because we certainly do have competitive awards with it is he started building these really cool awards from different things like old pistons and parts from old Jeeps that are soldered together and kind of created these really unique pieces. One thing that really touched me on it is he said, I’m disabled and so a lot of times I don’t get to help with things and I don’t get to do anything.
And I feel like I can actually pour my time and energy into this and that it matters.
Jacy: Aw.
Bree: And so having something like that. Yeah, it’s been so, so cool to really tap into things that aren’t our regular routes if you will. And finding where people have these different talents, finding different hobbies, different businesses too. Like we have that remote control cars company, you know, that had been out on the outer road. Well, they moved and a lot of people don’t realize that they moved and thought that they had just closed. They’re coming out again to set up another track so the kiddos can run remote control things through. And so just kind of opening up those doors for them to be able to also advertise where they’re at, what they do, give people a little taste of it.
Jacy: Yeah, that is awesome. Well, we’re going to be right back with Bree. We’re going to talk more about the Jeep Fest and then also, I asked Bree my standard list three things people might be surprised to learn about you and I was surprised by all of these. So we’ll be right back with Bree Sistie in just a moment.
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**Interview Continued**
Jacy: Welcome back to the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast. My guest today is Bree Sistie, and Bree is with AUSA, also uh helping plan the AUSA Jeep Fest 202026 that’s coming up on August 16th. Do you know what else is August 16th?
Bree: Is it your birthday?
Jacy: Nope.
Bree: Tell me.
Jacy: It’s the day Elvis died. Oh. Okay, so I can’t believe I didn’t guess that. I am I am a huge Elvis fan and I can nothing can happen on the 16th without me going, that’s the day Elvis died. Like I will bring down an entire room mood if somebody’s like, guess what happened, you know, so and so’s baby’s being born. I’m like, that’s the day Elvis died. Oh sorry, I know, sorry about that. I just every time I see the 16th.
All right, 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM, and uh again, where’s the best way for them to or the best place, I should say, for them to find all the information about Jeep Fest?
Bree: So, we’ve got an event out on Facebook. We also have an event bright link. I believe you’re able to post those up here with the podcast. So feel free, hop on there. There’s information if you do have a Jeep that you want to enter into the competition. There’s information out there if you just want to check out a free event, come support some of our local vendors.
Jacy: Awesome. All right, so other than critters, uh and real estate, and Jeeps, um I am now learning that you are a scuba diver. This is one of the three things that you said people might be surprised to learn about you. I had no, if I did know that, I forgot. I am totally shocked. So how often because you had mentioned in landlocked Missouri.
Bree: Yes.
Jacy: Where do you get to go scuba diving or do you very often?
Bree: So I don’t here. Um I had originally learned to scuba dive living in Hawaii.
Jacy: Oh, wow.
Bree: And was very spoiled because I lived just a couple blocks from the beach.
Jacy: Oh.
Bree: And I could walk right out, go right into the water, dive there. We’ve got some amazing dive shops for boat dives, some amazing spots, you know, different beaches and whatnot there. Absolutely loved it. Have gotten to dive in some other countries and then moved to Missouri and I have always taken the stance of I absolutely love living here and I am two hours from the airport so I can go wherever I want.
Jacy: It’s a good point.
Bree: And I found that I’ve only utilized that piece for diving purposes a couple times since living here. This is actually, let’s see, gosh, I’ve been here for a decade now. So in 10 years, I’ve only gone diving now a couple times since living here.
Jacy: Where did you go when you went?
Bree: I have gone to uh St. Lucia to Jamaica and I actually got to go back to Hawaii this past year, which was really cool.
Jacy: Oh, nice. So you’re a warm water diver. You’re not out here in the lake looking for old cars.
Bree: No. No, no.
Jacy: That’s not your thing, right?
Bree: I want the sun shining on me.
Jacy: I don’t blame you at all on that. Also, one of the other three things was you graduated from the Delaware County Police Academy. What? I did not know that.
Bree: Yes.
Jacy: You you would be the perfect police officer chick. What’s her name on um Law and Order? You know who I’m talking about. Help me out here.
Bree: I know who you mean.
Jacy: Can’t move forward. Everyone listening right now is screaming it at the radio or computer or phone or whatever. It’s Mariska. Mariska Hargitay. Yes. Yeah. So you would be like the perfect female cop. I can just see you being like one of the Charlie’s Angels or something. So you went through the police academy. Did you ever actually.
Bree: So I in my younger twenties, that’s what I wanted to do, went through, graduated, all that good stuff. Through some, I guess over the years, uh marital peace of somebody needs to be home for dinner and they’re reminded that the somebody needs to be home for dinner should be the wife. So that that didn’t work out too well. Um on either aspect. And so here we are.
Jacy: No husband, no law enforcement degree. Her her job, I guess I should say. Oh, that’s so funny. Well, it probably worked out just the way it was supposed to.
Bree: Indeed.
Jacy: Yeah, exactly. And you also ran the Marine Corps Marathon. How long is that?
Bree: So it’s marathon, so it’s 26.2 miles.
Jacy: So is when you the word marathon, is that what it means?
Bree: Yes.
Jacy: I didn’t know that. So marathon means 26.2. So.
Bree: One of our dear friends who was running that with us had accidentally signed up for the 50K.
Jacy: Oh my.
Bree: Yes.
Jacy: A little bit longer. What do you mean accidentally?
Bree: I think reading skills got overlooked for a minute. The wrong option got selected.
Jacy: I didn’t know marathon meant 26 point whatever you just said, so.
Bree: Yes, 26.2 miles.
Jacy: Wow. I didn’t know there were different names for different lengths of misery and torture.
Bree: Yes, ma’am.
Jacy: Are you still a runner?
Bree: I dabble in it. I have found that I don’t enjoy the hills of the Ozark Mountains very much. Um running in Hawaii, of course, it was flat.
Jacy: Oh, I bet that was amazing.
Bree: So yes, I would run every day somewhere between five and 10 miles a day and did not think of it as torture. Um that was just how you start the morning, go out for a lovely run, look at the beach, listen to the water. Call it done.
Jacy: Is it humid there?
Bree: It varies. And a lot of times too, we’ll look at whether or not the trade winds are blowing because that makes a big difference.
Jacy: Oh, okay. I asked you what your favorite thing about the Pulaski County and surrounding area is. You said, I absolutely love getting to enjoy the woods, waterways, and way of life here without the population density of other regions. And I thought that was such a perfect way to put it because isn’t that just the best thing?
Bree: It is.
Jacy: It’s just we’re not, I mean, some days it feels a little crowded. But we’re not overcrowded in comparison to other places and it’s just so beautiful. So before you leave today, give that wheel a spin and don’t be a wimp about it.
Jacy: What memory instantly makes you smile?
Bree: Oh.
Jacy: I mean, that you can share.
Bree: I will tell you, so you know that I’m a tomboy.
Jacy: Mhm.
Bree: My dad used to work on race cars when I was a little kid. So he had a a day job. This was like his fun hobby. So he would work on race cars, go to the track. It’s also probably why I can’t really hear too well sometimes anymore because I don’t think I had ear pro at all. But he took this old lawnmower and turned it into this go-kart for me.
Jacy: Oh my gosh. That sounds like something my dad would do.
Bree: And I was under five years old.
Jacy: Oh no.
Bree: There are photos, so I know for sure this definitely happened. Um and so we had this little go-kart and we were still living in North Jersey at the time. Our property backed up to the New York State game lands. So we were, you know, out in the woods, we lived close to Hidden Valley, Vernon Valley ski resort, had all the hills and everything and I thought it was the coolest thing that I could hop on this go-kart and go zipping through the yard driving like dad.
Jacy: That sounds amazing. That, oh, I love that. That makes me so happy. You know what I did one time? It just reminded me of this. So I was big into horses. I did have go-karts and and dirt bikes and things like that, but I was everything had to do with a horse and I wanted my horse to learn to pull a buggy. I did not have a buggy or a buggy horse for that matter, but I had a semi-wild acting Arabian mare that sometimes wanted to show me she was the boss of me and I thought it would be a good idea if I just took my little red Radio Flyer wagon, put her saddle on her and I took a rope and I I tied it to this stirrup and then I took another rope and I tied it to the wagon and I tied it to this stirrup.
Bree: Jacy, I’m so nervous for you right now.
Jacy: I know.
Bree: They are built for speed.
Jacy: I know. And then and then I I I somehow thought this was going to work. And so then I got some really long reins and I tied them to her bridle and I sat down and I went, ha! And she bolted and I flew out of the wagon, thankfully, and the wagon, of course, the first thing it does is hit her right in the butt. She goes berserk and is running all around. We had 300 and some acres and she ran around all of it with that wagon flopping and flying and pieces of my saddle flying off and that by the time she finally stopped running and I found her, the wagon was in a million pieces, the saddle was in a million pieces. And guess who just went without because I didn’t want to tell anybody what I did.
Bree: Oh, I can imagine your mother would have had a slightly disapproving look for that.
Jacy: I know, my dad would have been like, oh, that’s cool, but my mom, yeah, so I didn’t have a wagon or a saddle for a while until I was finally like, you know, I’m kind of outgrowing my saddle, which I hadn’t had for a while because it was in a million pieces. So I don’t know, that’s tomboys, you know, we just do some crazy stuff. But I’m like you, it makes me smile now that I think about it. Yeah, I don’t know how I survived though. All right, Bree Sistie, thank you so much. Again, the AUSA Jeep Fest 2026 is coming up on August 16th, the day Elvis died. It’s from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM and you can find out everything about it on Facebook. We’ll also share it in the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast Facebook group, which is public now by the way. I used to have it private and I made it public. So, it’ll be in there as well. So, that’s an easy way to find it if you’re in that group. So, thank you so much for doing this. I appreciate it.
Bree: Thank you so much for having me.
**Outro**
This episode of the Fort Not Lost in the Woods podcast is sponsored by Security Bank of Pulaski County, Next Home Team Ellis, TK’s Pizza in Saint Robert, and Sugar Creek Farms, your home for farm fresh pork products. The views and opinions expressed by guests on this podcast are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Okuin Media, its hosts, affiliates, or sponsors. Content is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. Thank you for listening.