Chicken Empanadas

I must be hungry! These not only sound good but also easy!

Chicken Empanadas

   Fold crescent dough around a  mix of ingredients to make an elegant, super simple hot meal from the RV oven. The secret to any filled pastry is not to over-fill.

2 tubes, 8 rolls each,  crescent rolls

Small can deviled ham

1 ½ cups cooked, shredded  chicken (preferably unseasoned)

6-ounce can or jar sliced mushrooms, well drained

About 1 cup shredded low-sodium Swiss cheese

Low-sodium French dressing (optional)

Set the oven to 350 degrees. Unroll crescents and divide into 8 squares. Gently press seams together. On each place a blob of deviled ham, a few mushrooms, some chicken and a tuft of cheese. Drizzle ½ teaspoon of French dressing over each. Fold in half to form triangles and press edges with a fork to seal.  Bake about 20 minutes or until toasty. Makes 8 servings.

We have landed.

We are in our spot at Walnut Canyon RV Park in Canyon Lake Texas and will be here till mid November. Part of our thought process on this is we hurry on down to the Rio Grande Valley and then often times run the AC for a month. So we have a bunch of friends in the Canyon Lake area ( north of San Antonio) so why not stay here for a while and let it cool off in the good ol' RGV. We have often thought it would be a good idea to stop further north for a while but could never decide where to stop. Well now we have. At least for this year.
Our 3rd travel day went smoothly for the most part. There is tons of construction on 281 for anyone thinking of coming down this way. The most of it is from I-20 south to Lampasas Texas. It would not be bad in a car but it makes for narrow roads in a motorhome or 5th wheel. There are lane and edge drop offs for miles and miles. Butch decided to stop once and pulled off the road not realizing it was a big drop off. He threw things around in the motorhome pretty good. Fridge popped open with water bottles on the floor, laundry doors came open sending soap and vinegar bottles scattering. It took a while for clean up. It was probably the worst such incident we have had like that.
We are parked next to Gary and Lou who came to Iowa this summer and ended up helping us for a couple of weeks on our 3 season room for which we were very grateful.
After we were a bit settled in we went to the local VFW and met up with other SMR/ Canyon Lake friends for burgers and fries. And now we are home and I am trying to get caught up on the computer while Butch is watching the series.
All is good!

All Ability Bikes is a great addition

All Ability Bikes is a great addition to our town of Jefferson Iowa and they were recently featured on the news.
http://www.kcci.com/news/anyone-can-ride-with-new-cycling-innovation/29289206

Thursday, October 23, 2014

Thursday, October 23, 2014
Yes, we had a wonderful nights sleep in Hesston KS, filled up at a Casey's and were on the road about 9:00 AM. Road construction through Wichita made things a bit dicey but we got through without incident. Oklahoma city went fairly smooth as well. The funny stuff happened south of Oklahoma City. We saw a homemade "armored vehicle" go by us. It was towing a small red pickup. A few miles further down the road we noticed something  strange with a line of traffic pulled over to the side. The funny looking armored vehicle was sideways in the roadway and we could tell it had swerved severely as it was facing to the north in the southbound lane and had lost much of its load from the red pickup. Actually the red pickup was nearly annihilated.  And then as we went further down the road, Butch said," What in the world is that in the road?" It was a chair and a TV. They were in the middle of the passing lane on I 35 southbound. Strange things are happening!
We decided to stay at the Winstar RV Park at Thackerville OK. It is right on the border actually, you take exit 1 either northbound or southbound and it is connected to the Windstar casino. Usually the casinos are quite accommodating to RVers but not here. It is $35 a night with a players card. $40 without. So this is most likely a one time occasion. We had tried to find our way to this campground in the past but always on the fly. This time we used the Google map feature on the smartphone. It is one of the most confusing routes to a casino we have ever tried to find. And there is no WIFI! Wouldn't you think they would have that?? Found out later they do have wifi. Have to jump through a few hoops to get it but is working great right now.
Tomorrows trip will take us to our destination in Walnut Canyon RV Park in Canyon Lake TX.
We have been listening to The Secret of Magic. In 1946, a young female attorney from New York City attempts the impossible: attaining justice for a black man in the Deep South. 
We thought our battery would trickle out before we arrived here but it didn't and now I can get it charged up for tomorrows leg.
Well Butch is ready to go to the casino. Hopefully I can get this posted soon.
PS: I took a $5 bill to the casino and came home without it after two hours of play. Not bad. Butch spent a bit more than that but the casino was successful in doing what casinos do-take your money!

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Wednesday, October 22, 2014
Trip from Jefferson to Hesston KS. 425 miles. On the outer limits of a travel day. In the 350 range is much better. We had planned to stay in Concordia KS, 317 miles, at the city park for a donation but we could not find the park. We may plan to stay there another time but I will call the city and get better directions than is currently provided on www.freecampgrounds.com . So we went another 100 miles or so to where we are now. We were both ready to stop.
We did see and had to deal with a cow on the road. Butch spotted it far enough ahead to avoid disaster.
So now we are settled into a Passport America park. Cottonwood Grove Campground, Hesston KS. We have been Passport America members for quite some time. Participating parks have half price rates and your membership dues are quickly reimbursed in a couple of stays. So this $30 a night park is costing us $15. We do not have Internet here but we knew that was a possibility. One of the bennies we do have is a Chinese restaurant about 50 feet from our door.  A VERY good Chinese restaurant named the Panda House. And we do have good TV coming from Wichita most likely. Another unit came in and parked beside us. They unloaded a family of 3 people and  3 llamas out of the toy hauler . They took the llamas a ways away and let them graze in a fenced-in area a short distance from the park. I'm thinking horses get their turn in that pasture on occasion. We are in horse country.
We are both looking forward to bed time and I doubt we will have any trouble getting a full and restful night of sleep.
We do have to apologize to our Snow Mountain Ranch friends Jerry and Diane Larson. In planning our trip it did not occur to us how close we were to your Kansas home. And by then all we could think of was stopping and resting. We were so tired we would not have been good company. I make these notes on the blog so I have ready info for another trip this way. This is a good way to go. Very trouble free in all ways. We usually go through Missouri to see our kids and this is the first time we have ventured off our tried and true path for a very long time. We felt it was time to get a bit out of our comfort zone. So perhaps when I review the blog for another trip this way, we can plan a bit better and see the Larson's.

On the road tomorrow

Been busy little beavers the past few days getting ready to go. It was so much simpler when we lived only in the motorhome. Then we only decided on a date. But now that we are property owners we have many more duties to take care of.

Keri has us set up with travel munchies, Mickey treated us to a Runza send off meal. All is grateful and all is good.
When I started out this morning I thought how in the world will I get all this stuff in the motorhome but lo and behold I did it with room to spare. I was shocked and amazed that it all fit.

We are taking a different route this year heading west to York NE then south to Canyon Lake TX. We should arrive sometime Friday. We usually keep the trips to 300-350 miles per day.

This year we also have a smartphone with good old Google to guide us. I have long used Google maps to plan our trips and then I would print out the sheets. But now I have smartphone help and better yet I have practiced with it and it has worked very well. I say, "Okay google, directions to .......city" Google maps comes up and shows where we are currently and how to get to the next city or town indicated.  We have made this trip several times. The only difference this time is the first day of travel. After that it will be somewhat familiar.

So this is my last night of for-sure Internet. From here to the Rio Grande Valley will be hit or miss for me so keep that in mind. I can continue to write but getting them from computer to cloud might be the tough part.

I have been so busy of late that much has happened the past few days. My friend Norma Cooklin came to Jefferson to visit us and see our tiny abode in person. She is getting along great with her new Chromebook.
She did however take a tumble about a week ago and broke her knee cap in two places. She was in such good physical shape before this happened that she is handling it better than you might expect. She does have daughter Vicki and her husband John helping care for her. She is required to keep her leg straight for 6 to 8 weeks but her spirits are good and she is minding the doctor. It was good to see her.

So till next you hear...see you soon!

Wednesday October 22nd departure

We have decided to leave on Wednesday because it is supposed to rain on Thursday. As good an excuse as any.
The weather has been wonderful this past month, best of the entire season. The winter prediction for this region is what they are calling equal. I am assuming that means either/or. In other words it could go either way.
The entire southern tier of states including Florida, Texas and Arizona is predicted to be wet. Oh yeah, we all three say in unison. There is usually what I call the winter lottery and one of the three winter areas has better weather than the other two. Last year Arizona was the big winner because they had the best weather they had had for nearly 30 years. Texas was the worst it had ever been in many peoples memories and Florida was moderate all the way around. Personally I hope they are wrong about the wet. They, being the weather predictors  have been wrong before and that is keeps me hopeful.

So with our departure date in mind we can work at getting ready today. And a reminder for all of the readers...my internet connection could be quite spotty for nearly a month so lower your expectations for posts on a regular basis.