Where’s Nico?

Welcome back everyone! I’m not sure how many days into a new year you’re allowed to say “Happy New Year”, so let’s just say “Welcome to 2026!”

Since you’re reading this post, you may have figured out that we are back out on the road again! And since you most likely saw the post was titled “Baja Oklahoma”, you may be thinking… well, before we get there, let’s ask the question everyone is pondering at the moment, “Where’s Nico?”

Tonto National Forest in Arizona!

Ha! I’ll bet you were thinking we were in Oklahoma!

Well said, Lee Corso! I went with the title “Baja Oklahoma” because we just came from Oklahoma. You may recall my mentioning Wichita Mountain Wilderness Reserve in posts from previous years. If you’ve never been, I highly recommend it. For my Kansas City friends, it’s only about a six and a half hour drive, and it’s full of great wildlife and nice hiking trails. It’s a great place to start or end our trips to the southwest.

Your next thought may be “Bob Dylan wrote a song called ‘Baja Oklahoma’???”

Thank you once again, Lee Corso! And no, the K State Willie the Wildcat mascot did not write a song called “Baja Oklahoma” (though after the Sooners bailed for the SEC, I could see him writing a song called “Tata Oklahoma”).

But you know what, Willie Nelson DID write a song called “Baja Oklahoma” – it was for a 1980’s HBO movie of the same name, and he even appeared in the film to sing the song with Lesley Ann Warren. So as you may have guessed, the musical artist we’re going with for this trip is…

Oh, Lee Corso – you may have pushed your luck a bit too hard this time. Yes, this trip, we’re going with good old Willie Nelson for the musical inspiration for out post titles.

Wow… that last GIF left me a tad light headed.

And yeah, it makes sense to start a Willie-themed trip with “On the Road Again”, but when else am I going to get to use “Baja Oklahoma”? We’ll save “On the Road Again” for somewhere down the line.

Sorry cute pig… you’re going to have to wait a bit.

Woof… he didn’t take that well.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Well, I’ve certainly met my 2026 New Year’s resolution to include more animated GIFs in my life. Now it’s probably time to tell you a bit about our trip so far.

We had a nice Christmas with my mom and my Uncle Bob coming to town to celebrate it with us. While overall, the weather had been great in KC so far this winter, we’d had a couple of brief cold stretches leading up to Christmas which got Kristen, Nico and I pretty ready to hit the road after family left town. In the end, we were able to get the trailer set for our latest trip by January 1st. Like we’ve done on some of our past trips, we spent the night before we left in the trailer, just parked in our driveway. We do a lot to “close up” the house before we go, and we’re able to get out pretty early in the morning by just sleeping in the trailer the last night before we go.

It was so fun to head to the trailer that evening with Nico – as soon as he saw where we were heading, he just got giddy. Nico absolutely loves our time on the road, and at this point, he knows darn well what it means when the three of us head into the trailer for the night, even if the trailer is still sitting in our driveway.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

On the morning of January 2nd, we headed down for Wichita Mountain Wilderness Refuge. As I mentioned, we really think this is an underappreciated gem. We spent three full days there, and really enjoyed getting in a few shorter hikes. As you may have guessed, I have a couple pictures to share!

After we left Wichita Mountain, we did a two day drive to get out here to Tonto National Forest. If this sounds familiar to you, we visited this park early last year too. We just arrived here on January 7th, and we just got our first hike in today (January 9th) after a day and a half of rain in the area.

There’s a lot to be said for visiting areas you’ve never been before and having new adventures. We try to do that a lot as we travel. But there’s also something to be said for hitting areas you’ve visited before and seeing the changes. Last year, when we hit Tonto National Forest, it was during a very dry winter. This year, they’ve had quite a bit of rain. The desert is so much greener this year – very cool to see! Here’s a pic from 2025:

Here are some pics from the same trail this year – everything seems so much greener and more alive!

It feels great to be back out on the road, to see how excited Nico is to be out in the wilderness, and to be living the retirement life that Kristen and I love! I’m excited to share future stops with you guys, but in the meantime, let’s wrap this up with another ANA…

_____________________________________________________________________________________

ANA (Ask Nico Anything!)

Nico, how do you feel about the offseason moves that the Kansas City Royals have made this season?

Nico pretty excite abowt upcome seezon. Nico hope to ketch Royal game in Airy-zon for Sprin Train. Dey do game wear dog allow in park on March 5 dis year agenst de Rangers. Nico luv to go to games. An Royals luv Nico – dey put me on jumbotron wen I show up – but Nico never been to sprin train game before (side note from Ken – the Royals do three games each year in KC where dogs are allowed and Nico attended all three last year. He was on the Jumbotron twice. I’ve gone to baseball games my entire life, and never ended up on the Jumbotron even once until I had Nico in my arms…). Nico think dat Lane Thomas and Isaac Collins will be gud addition to outfield, and that Jac gunna brake out beeg dis year. And of coarse, Nico favorite is de Salvy, an he bak agin dis year. Nico like to think that Salvy is de human vergin of Nico – he make peeples smile.

Nico, did you do anything fun for Christmas this year?

Nico take krismess seryus. He in charg of Nico Award. Nico award is were Nico decide bess decoratin in nayberhud and leaf award for dem. De award luk like dis:

Nico and mom and dad leaf dis award on howsez dat decorate gud. It importent job. Den papa make prime rib din for krismess and dat gud too.

Nico, what are you looking forward to on this latest trip?

Nico never no wat nex. Dees trips always fun. Walk in mowntin much moor fun den walk in nayberhud. Nico is sure mama will plan fun stuffs for us.

– Ken, 1/9/26