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Badlands, North Dakota
Theodore Roosevelt visited the Badlands as a 24 year old and was so impressed he is now considered one of the founders. Today, there is a National Park and the tourist city of Medora. We decided to spend an extra day here on our way West.
We had dinner at the Pitchfork Fondue, where they take a 12oz NY strip steak, put it on a pitchfork, and fondue it in hot oil. It is then served with all the trimmings, buffet style. We were impressed with the quality of the food, and the steak in particular. But we ate quick as it was cold and very windy.
We also bought tickets to the Medora Musical, a huge outdoor amphitheater where an evening’s entertainment of song, dance and comedy made for a pleasant evening, all in a magnificent setting. The setting sun in particular lent to an impressive performance.
We managed to get in a fair bit of hiking and walked some of the many trails in the Roosevelt National Park. The area certainly lives p to its reputation… the Dakota Badlands. Here are some pictures of our visit.
A medical delay
Twelve years ago I had a quadruple bypass. It worked fine, but over the years it was obvious that some blockage was building up again. So in April I saw a cardiologist in Denton for an angiogram, and had a stent placed. He had some difficulty with the placement but didn’t say more than that. So I thought we were good to go and started our summer travels. And I did well, until a week or so ago.
We were in Petoskey when the angina pain go so bad it obviously needed some work done, so we went to the ER. Since we were in a smallish town we didn’t know what to expect. Turns out the McLaren Northern Michigan hospital was one of the top heart hospitals in the entire USA! After some consults, we were turned over to their cardiologist whose specialty was difficult cases.
It was determined that the Dallas doctor didn’t do the best of jobs. Using the wrong placement tools, too much dye, and used only one but “grossly undersized” stent. So they worked me into the schedule, and after some delays (emergency cases had priority) he reworked the installed stent and added four more. After a day’s recover we were back in the motor home and feeling much, much better. Not totally fixed, but a significant improvement.
Thanks to the Petoskey medical community for getting me back on the road.
A view of the McLaren hospital 
My room had a nice view 
Port of entry, straight to my heart…. 
Poor Romola, had to sit and wait for a long time
Petoskey, MI
So we were lucky enough to win a 4 day pass to stay at the Hearthside Grove RV Resort in Petoskey, and since we were heading that way anyway, good deal! So we checked in and were assigned a place. And what a place! Beautiful grounds and facilities, an enormous club house with theater, bar and gourmet kitchen. Tennis courts, pool, hot tub. And RV sites!
We walked about half the park this morning and counted 7 Prevosts and 4 Newells. Right there about $10MM in motor homes, and that’s not counting the King Aires and Cornerstones. There are still sites being added, some lots are well over the $800,000 mark. Just goes to show it is hard to rough it when you have tons of money.
Dodged a bullet
At 5AM we woke to a loud bang and some serious shaking of the motor home. It was obviously a strong wind, so we pulled in the slides on the wind side of the coach. After things died down we went outside to check things out.
There was an obvious amount of damage. Picnic tables move and smashed, lawn furniture moved about, even a heavy grill was moved and toppled. Even power pedestals were leaning from the wind. Our friends the Cooks lost power. And our slide topper was unrolled, some amount of damage. Later this morning we’ll check it out but for now it appears we missed a potential of major damage.
NIRVC Appreciation, Homecoming
To start off the summer travel season, we first attended two rallies: NIRVC Customer Appreciation and the Entegra Homecoming.
The Appreciation Rally was held at the Winstar Casino, and featured good food and entertainment. This included a Sock Hop night, where Romola and I donned our version of 50’s or 60’s wear. It was fun. The Cooks were also here.
We left Dallas and headed for Goshen, and along the way stopped at the Downstream Casino. Free camping if you gamble, and we won enough to pay for our meal and attending the Ronnie Milsap concert. Sweet!
The Entegra Homecoming was held in Goshen, Indiana and was also well done. Lots of food, music and classes in coach maintenance. It’s feature was a Prom Night, where again we donned suitable attire. Attending with us were the Cooks and the Phillips, and we ran into old friends from our fifth wheel days, Jim and Chris Wakenell. Jim was voted Homecoming King, so we had royalty at our table.
On display were the new 2020 Entegra coaches, and I won a raffle for four nights at the Hearthgrove Resort in Petosky.
At the Sock Hop 
Parked with 220 other Entegras 
Dave and Deanne Phillips 
Ida and Les Cook 
John and Romola 
Dancing! 
Romola earning her keep 
Our group at Homecoming 
Chris and Jim Wakenell
Dallas Arboretum 2019
We enjoy our visits to the Dallas Arboretum. This year was no exception, all the flowers are starting to bloom, the trees are getting leaves, and people are out and about. Here are a few pictures from this years visit.
Mardi Gras 2019
Our travels in 2019 started with a short trip to Lafayette, LA to catch up with Les and Ida Cook, the Buteauds, and Moreaus. Our excuse (like we needed one) was to visit and see the Mardi Gras parades in Lafayette, LA. Mission accomplished.
