Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes, RV Update, A Good Laugh

I saw this recipe for Bacon Cheeseburger Sloppy Joes  on Kevin’s “Closet Cooking” blog and decided it would work well for our Friday get-together.  I especially like that it is a one pan meal and know that I always like Kevin’s recipes.  Since the recipe only made four servings, I tripled it to get the recipe below.

Pasta Primavera Salad Ala Larry

Eliza brought her parents down on Sunday to play in the lake as the season winds down and we invited them to stay for hot dogs.  For a side dish, I remembered that I had been wanting some pasta salad and after some looking, I found the recipe for one that I had made it the past, really liked, and was somewhat healthy.  I made it the day before so the flavors could marry well.

Chicken Fricassée

Perhaps being a novice to French food, I’m easily impressed by the names of dishes and Chicken Fricassee is one of those names, so when I recently saw a blog posting for the dish, I wanted to make it – while I’m still dieting, I’m no longer on a near starvation diet so I can eat meals like this on occasion.  As best I can learn a fricassee is between a saute and a stew because it is cooked without liquid to begin then in liquid at the end.  I believe the chicken version generally uses thighs and legs to get a dish that looks like this. 

This is mine and I just realized this recipe didn't have carrots.

Katelyn and Tyler Come To Visit

When Kathy and her clan visited us in June from San Antonio, her oldest daughter, Katelyn, was taking a summer class at Texas A&M, but when it was over, she and boyfriend, Tyler decided to make a trip on their own stopping first at her aunt Wende’s in Oak Ridge then coming to Almost Heaven South.

Our old jet ski had finally died so they went paddle boarding a couple of times instead, but she did come with a wish list for food and activities.  Capt Big Dude and his first mate.

Lunch On The Riverboat

Our Tennessee Travelers Chapter of FMCA (motorhome club) recently had a little summer get-together for a lunch cruise aboard the Star Of Knoxville riverboat - a 325 passenger paddle wheeler.  The boat headed downriver from downtown Knoxville for a two hour round trip cruise.  This is the docking area with the boat behind it, then out on the river.

2015 Western Trip – Day 12 – Dinner And A Very Good Show

Believe it or not, it was a rainy day in Cody and we just relaxed a little and cleaned up the coach for most of the day, then we got our second wind and crossed a couple of things off of our must do list.  The first one was an early dinner at Cassie’s Supper Club, known as one of the best steak houses in Wyoming.  Cassie was a famous Madam in the early days of Cody.

Pat had chicken fried steak, Bev had the filet, and I had their specialty prime rib. My meal was very good but both of the others were over cooked.

After a stop back at the RV we headed off to the Dan Miller Cowboy Music Revue in what used to be the local movie theater.  Dan and his Empty Saddles Band have been performing in Cody for several years.  I lifted these shots from the web so different outfits, but they represent the show we saw.

Dan has been in the music business for many years including a stint in Nashville, TN.

 

To his left is 17 year old daughter Hannah who has been on stage with her dad since age 8.

To her left is Wendy Carr and the person I thought was the best singer in the group – she did a great Kathy Mattea song – her day job is managing the Rocky Mountain Mojoe Restaurant and she pastors a church. 

To Dan’s right is lead guitarist Ed Cook, who’s day job is teaching guitar at a local community college.

We all really enjoyed the show and would consider it a must see when in Cody.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/3/15 event date

2015 Western Trip – Day 11 – Cody Tour & Rodeo

This day was designed to learn about Cody so we signed up for the one hour trolley tour, but before that we ate at Our Place which is rated number one for breakfast in town and where the locals eat.

I had the chicken fried steak with hash browns and fried eggs, Bev had Mexican scrambled eggs with hash browns then requested green chile on everything and Pat had French toast.

Everyone thought their meals were very good.

After eating we hopped aboard the trolley for a very fun and informative tour around town and I walked away with a pretty good understanding of how the town of Cody came to be, although it’s  a little hard to imagine why Buffalo Bill would want to build a town here – he sunk a lot of his own money in the town and in building a road to Yellowstone, which can only be accessed by driving thru Cody - good plan on his part.

As I said yesterday, we drove out of town to see wildlife but it turns out all we needed to do was drive around the town's residential areas.

After an afternoon of blog writing by the dogs and me, shopping by the girls, and a meatball sandwich for supper (brought the sauce and meatballs from home), we headed off to the rodeo - Cody has a rodeo every night from Jun. 1 through Aug. 31.  Since my last rodeo action shots didn't turn out, I didn’t bother to take my camera.  To show you how the rodeo, looked, I lifted a few shots from the web and Pat provided one of them. 

 

I must to admit to being impressed that they started the event with a prayer and the National Anthem – this is where the salt of the earth Americans live.  I also enjoyed the contestants western first names - Colt, Cody, Zane, Carson, Brody, Jake, Dusty, Colby (boys) and Cheyenne, Laramie (girls)

Cody has been a great visit and believe it or not, it;s actually raining today - part of their average of 10.5 inches per year of total precipitation.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/3/15 event date

2015 Blogger Party Cancelled

Hi All - While the list of potential attendees for this year’s get together was high on quality, it was very low on numbers so we will cancel for this year and see how things look next year.

Thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South

Larry

2014 Florida Trip – Country Music At The Campfire & Philosophy

Some of the best times I’ve had were the result of an impromptu event and this was no exception.  Our camping neighbor, Gabe, had mentioned that he had been a performing musician during his life and when some old friends of his unexpectedly showed up in the campground, they decided some music around a campfire was in order.

About 30 minutes later we were gathered round the fire, where some roasted weenies, others just sipped a beer, some bundled up under a blanket – it was a little cool - and we all enjoyed the sunset over Lake Okeechobee.

For at least three hours, Gabe played and sang classic country using his guitar signed by The Hag.

We had such a good time and only wish more campers had joined us.  While it's been cool here, the house sitter reports it's downright cold at home.

A Little Philosophy
As I have gone through life, three things I’ve learned – be honest with myself about who I am down deep, love myself for who I am, realize that others opinions of me are just that and only I know the real me, only then I will be comfortable enough to allow others to see the me that I see. 

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry 

1/17/14  Event Date

2013 Western Trip – Powwow

As of Oct. 2, we are back at Almost Heaven South and the 5300 mile trip is in the books, but I will continue to post our adventures, in order, unless something important happens around here.

Since the RV was surrounded by water at Durango's Alpen Rose RV Park and needed a good cleaning inside, I thought we would hang around and do some catch up work. However the girls had read about a Native American Powwow being held 20 miles away in the town of Ignacio.  After our enjoyment of Brulee in Hill City, SD, and since this was the last day of the powwow, off we went.

Ignacio is the capital of the Southern Ute Reservation, which occupies 1059 square miles in southwestern CO and the Utes are the oldest group to have continuously lived in this area – more than 1000 years.

The event we attended was the annual Southern Ute Fair and Powwow and it was a inter-tribal event with dancers from several tribes competing for $86,000 in prize money.

When we arrived, the grand entrance was over but many folks in their regalia were still in the ring.

Then I got some shots of various dancers and people walking by.

A few folks posed for me – the man on the right is a Lakota and he and his wife made the outfit.

This young man is a Navajo from NM and his dad made his outfit - a huge amount of time is involved in making them as can be seen in the lower shot.

It was a great pleasure watching the Native Americans celebrating their heritage.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

9/15/2013 event date

2013 Western Trip – Brule Contemporary Native American Music

Our first full day in the Black Hills was spent with me attending to the RV and dog sitting while the girls went shopping in Hill City.  When they got home, Bev said she’d like to go to a Native American music show that night as it was highly recommended by some folks in town.

My first thought was to not want to go out at night but just sit around the campfire, especially since a show ending at 9 pm Mountain Time is way past me bedtime.  But since Bev really wanted to go and  it sounded like too unique of an opportunity to miss out on, I grilled up some of the brats we’d brought from Wisconsin and off we went.

Man am I glad I did – please take the time to read a little about them on Wikipedia – this is their first year with a tour stop at the High Country Guest Ranch about four miles from Hill City.  They are award winning, have sold over a million CD's, and have appeared TV.

Beside being a French dessert, Brule is the smallest of the seven bands within the Lakota (Sioux) Nation and most reside on the Rosebud Reservation in southwestern SD.  I took 86 shots (digital cameras are great) and here a few of them.

After the show, they were available for photos and greetings and all I could say was “magnificent performance.”  The outstanding music was very contemporary but still Native American and the dancers were incredible, especially the tall guy in yellow.  The dances were all a named ceremonial dance.

They perform Tue-Sat in an open air theater and for $25, I consider this a must see if you’re in this area.  Once again, Madison elected not to go and after we told her she may have just missed one of the big highlights of the trip, she said she would go with us from now on – time will tell.

Photos best if enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

8/17/2013 event date