Where’s Nico?

Well, I finally used it!

If you only know Willie Nelson for one reason, it’s probably for his fondness for ganga. If you know him for two reasons, it’s ganga and his ponytails. And if you know him for three reasons, it’s for ganga, ponytails, and his signature song – On the Road Again. You may not know that the song was actually part of a soundtrack – it debuted in the 1980 movie “Honeysuckle Rose”, which also happened to star Willie Nelson, essentially playing Willie Nelson (actually the character’s name was Bob Bonham, but the character is an aging country singer who spends his life on the road… it was probably best not to ask Willie to stretch too much in his acting).

According to lore, while on a flight with the film’s director, the director mentioned it’d be nice to have a song about life on the road to use in the film. Willie grabbed the first paper he could find – which happened to be a barf bag in the seatback pocket, and wrote out the lyrics. The movie didn’t do so good, but the song won a Grammy that year and has been a staple of his sets for almost half a century since that barf bag was called into action for a higher purpose than, well, than most barf bags get to action.

Wow! Two memes with muppets and we’re only a couple paragraphs in! But that’s probably enough for this week’s Willie lesson – you’re probably here not just for Willie but also to find out… Where’s Nico?

Gila National Forest!

Last we chatted, we were up in Utah just outside of Hanksville. But we hardly did a straight line from Hanksvile to here! Like the title of this blog post goes, we’ve been on the road again!

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First off, before we left Hanksville, we went over to visit Goblin Valley State Park. It’s an intriguing name for a state park – it got the name because it’s full of hoodoos that look kind of like goblins! We did a hike through the valley to the “Goblin’s Lair” and “Goblette’s Lair” (two cool caves) and over to the Three Sisters – three hoodoos next to each other that kind of look like three sisters standing there.

(These last two pics are of ‘Goblin’s Lair’)

(There’s the three sisters on the horizon…)

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The day after we did Goblin Valley, we woke to snow at our campsite.

(Before…)

(…and after)

We were leaving that day anyway, heading to Moab to meet up with my uncle Bob, who will be working search and rescue at Arches National Park this summer. He was coming out to the area to meet his new boss and find a place to live during his stay. Bob happens to be one of Nico’s very favorite people!

We’ve been to Moab a few times together over the years. But this was our first chance to see the area in the winter. The snow really made for some beautiful views in Arches.

While there, Bob and I did the hike up to Delicate Arch, which is the most iconic arch in the park (you may recognize it if you’ve ever seen a Utah license plate). It was a pretty easy hike with a bit of climb, until the last quarter mile to the arch, which was really snow and ice packed. I feel on my butt exactly three times in that stretch. But it was totally worth it for the up close view of the arch.

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As I mentioned, Moab also had some snow. It was the coldest conditions we’ve camped in.

Unfortunately, after the first night, we had some water freeze in our pex lines. Luckily, no lines seem to be cracked and we’re okay. Then the second night, we woke to the noise of our blower motor crapping out in our furnace. By 4am or so, we decided we really needed to get this trailer to warmer conditions. Initially we hoped to get somewhere warm and replace the motor, but in the end, this may be a repair easier done at home, so we’re just going to stay in warmer locales for the rest of this trip.

In any case, we packed up in the dark that morning and headed down to the Sonoran Dessert. We stayed in a really nice RV park for three nights, which gave us a chance to really clean up the trailer and the truck. Kristen spends a half hour or so each day cleaning the trailer, which is amazing and is a huge help, but it’s nice periodically to have extra time to really do a deep clean on everything, and the truck had gotten really messy over the course of the trip so it was great to get everything out of it and really clean it too. The RV park even had a special room to wash your dog, so Nico got a bit of a deep clean too.

(“Uh, papa… thees seem like compomizee view of Nico… ees dis artistic?”)

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After the RV park, we headed out to a site just a bit west of Yuma, where we met up with Kristen’s mom, who has been camping there for a few months now. We hit Yuma last year too – it’s a bit different from most our stops, in that it’s blisteringly hot and there really are no hiking trails in the area. But it not only gives Kristen a chance to see her mom for a bit, it also works as a base for me to do a few side trips. I got together with my oldest, August, for a day in San Diego, went out to Anaheim to do some day drinking with my buddies Jay and Evan (and a surprise appearance from my friend Semi), and to Brea to celebrate my cousin’s 80th birthday.

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Initially, our plan was to head from Yuma down to Baja, Mexico. Unfortunately, some cartel violence flared up these past few weeks, as several friends and family members aware of our travel plans made sure to point out to us. So instead, from Yuma, we headed back to the RV park in the Sonoran Desert for couple of days, with the intention of slowly starting to work our way back towards Kansas City.

One thing about Yuma – it’s dusty! So we were already at a point where we wanted to clean out the trailer a bit again. Also, it gave us a chance to go up to Surprise, Arizona, where our own Kansas City Royals have their spring training! Each spring, the stadium designates one Royals game as “Pup Night”, where you’re allowed to bring your pet with you. As you may know, Nico is a HUGE Royals fan – he ended up on the Jumbotron twice last year at Kauffman Stadium and attended all three “Bark at the Park’ nights there.

In addition to the Royals game, we realized our campsite wasn’t too far away from a national monument we’d never been to before, Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. The area is the only place in the U.S. where organ pipe cactuses grow. If you don’t know what an organ pipe cactus is, well… it’s this thing right behind Nico and me:

The national monument was one we’d like to visit again sometime. We’re hoping to get down to the Baja Peninsula next winter, and this could be a nice place to visit before crossing the border, which is only five miles south of the park’s visitor center.

(sneaking in a smooch while Nico’s distracted…)

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From the Sonoran Desert, we headed to Gila National Forest. This is a great park and one that doesn’t get many visitors. There’s some amazing ruins there, some petroglyphs, some really nice hiking trails, and a lovely river to while away an afternoon. It’s also a great place to spot hummingbirds – hopefully some will have migrated back up by this time of year, but we may be a bit early for that. We first hit Gila in 2025 and were excited to get back there again this season!

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ANA (Ask Nico Anything!)

Nico, do you think the Royals addressed their outfield needs in the past offseason?

Well, dis def de beeg quest. Dey jus sine Starling Marte. Dat wud be gud move eef dis was 2009. Starling Marte mus be old as papa I tink. But eef Cags take big steps forwer, and Isaac Collins bild on beeg season las yere, den maybe! Ees sprintyme, wen hope sprin eternish.

Nico, where did you learn your grammar?

Well, to be onest, Nico flunk out of obedeense skool. I tinks dey jus jelus of de Nico. Nico ees kind of self-tot on de grambers. I glad you likes.

Nico, why is the blog called “Where’s Nico?” What about your mama and papa?

Sush ees de live of celeberty, I gess. Ees not Nico falt dat no one care where mama and papa ees. Ees burden Nico cary.

– Ken, 3/8/26