Where’s Nico?

Okay, let’s stick with Talking Heads songs for our title again this week. After all, they were one of the most fun bands ever, so I may try to ride this out a bit further. But if you see a future post entitled “Psycho Killer”, then maybe it’s time to worry, qu’est-ce que c’est?

It was another fun week on the road! The answer to the question “Where’s Nico?” is:

Dauphin Island, Alabama!

We have long suspected that Nico may be a mountain dog, despite his somewhat smaller frame. That belief was rooted in a trip we took last July with him to Taos and Jemez Falls in New Mexico, where he would go bouldering up the trails at full speed, at times in over 11,000 feet elevation. He loved to shoot up ahead of us, and stare back in judgement at my somewhat laconic pace.

This week caused us to revisit the mountain dog premise. It turns out, Nico may be a beach dog.

Prior to this week, Nico had never seen a beach before. This week, he got to see several of them, and he was impressed!

It was a blast to watch Nico race around on the sand, and both Ocean Springs and Dauphin Island gave Nico plenty of opportunity to do so. This will be our last stop for probably a couple of months that is by a gulf or ocean, so we want to let him take in as much as he can.

Coming to Gulf Islands National Seashore in Ocean Springs also gave us the opportunity to visit some of Kristen’s family, which was very nice!

We got to see Kristen’s dad (“the other Ken”), his wife Robin, and her daughter Heather and grandkids Taylor and Till. The other Ken even made up some delicious smoked ribs for dinner, which was a welcome treat to a couple of Kansas City BBQ devotees.

I mentioned an alligator we met at Kisatchie last week – this week, we had two neighbors at Gulf Islands, Little Al and Big Al. Both liked to hang out in their spots and enjoy the sun, although I think either would be glad to go for a swim with Nico if the opportunity presented itself.

Little Al

Big Al

After a fun stay in Gulf Islands, we headed over to Dauphin Island, which was a pretty short drive. We are staying on the east end of the island in an RV campground, next to a bird sanctuary, a beach, and Fort Gaines. Dauphin Island is pretty small and flat, and yesterday we biked over to the beach on the west end, which was only six miles or so away.

Also, this week we considered an interesting suggestion from our friend Roberta. She sent the following idea as a way for us to commemorate this trip:

It was an intriguing idea… but ultimately, I’m getting to an age where everything gets saggy. And a tattoo like that could end up not aging so well…

– Ken 3/23/2024