I love this time of the year in Virginia, the cherry trees are blossoming and looks like a Norman Rockwell picture. I have noticed as I walk the pups a couple times a day in the park that come Thursday evening fellow Rvers start coming in and setting up for the weekend. I see bunches of kids running around the park on those wheelie things both batteries operated and the manual push types. I see chalk drawing on the paved areas and the kids are running around playing tag and hide and seek. I love seeing this, I am sure they have their electronic toys in their RV but they are outside enjoying nature without a care in the world. As for us adults I see some gathering having fun with family and friends. Some are sitting in their lawn chair under the awning with a fire going and – you got it – playing with their phone as the kids are running by and having fun. Kind of ironic, I think. We are all getting that “rolling stone” feeling, time to get the wheels rolling and on the road to visit with our family and friends.

I always figured letting your coach sit several months at a time is not good for it and I was a bit concerned about wintering in an RV park but it is what it is so I did it. I had a couple of weird things go bad, I was checking my fuel level and my steps would not extend when I got done. I called the local RV tech and to my surprise he took my extended warranty coverage, yeah. It appears the controller for the step motor went bad and he could not find one so he was going to replace the steps. After he talked to the warranty folks, they actually found one so I am back up and steps work great. Kind of funny when the tech called the warranty folks, they knew exactly who I was. I have used that extended warranty a lot, such that I saved the cost of the warranty and have gotten about $3000 of additional coverage and I still have about 6 months coverage left. Of course, this means I have had problems and yeah if you have been reading my articles, I am sure you have said “Better him than me” in a good way of course.

I think a lot of us follow Facebook groups for Newmar and I noticed an upswing in Oasis issues as winter approached. Not to be left out, I too had a summer loop pump failure. I had a 5-year service done on the Oasis and my warranty covered the cost of the pump replacement. Here is something I did not know, Oasis has 3 types of services: 1year, 3 year, and 5 year. The Oasis worked fine – for a while. When I turn it on it blows cold air so the tech is coming back to check it out. Being new to cold weather that the heat pump could not handle, I used my Oasis quite a bit early on. I parked with a full tank mid-Aug 2020 and by mid Nov I was down to ¼ tank. To be fair it was cold and I used the Oasis (when it worked) quite a bit. I then thought why not use a couple of those ceramic heaters – one on the kitchen counter and one on the master bath counter. They worked great down to the low teens. My concern was my bays and the piping in them. With Oasis you get radiant heat for the piping that keeps the bays warm enough so you do not have to worry about frozen pipes.

Next in one of the Facebook posts I saw an issue with the power steering hose being routed and a recall was issued by Freightliner (FL762AB) which impacted 2010 – 2018 Newmars Diesels, so I became a bit worried. I ran down the above recall and contacted the Newmar Service Wizards; they ran down this recall info and under their system the number is 18V198. This recall impacted some 20,000 diesels so I figured I would post the info so you can check to see if your recall was done. Mine was done so I am good to go.

The last thing hanging around from past articles is I still have an amber engine light on. I just dropped off the coach at Cummins and they are checking it out and doing a courtesy catalytic converter service (I think that is what they called it). Evidently the catalytic converter does not burn hot enough and I may get warning lights. I am hoping that is what’s causing the amber engine light. We will see and I will update next episode.

I am still working on the refining the details of the Virginia State Rally which will be held at the Americamps RV Resort in Ashland, Virginia, September 29-October 2. As I said before, the Virginia State Fair will be held during this rally just a few miles down the road. So, I am really looking forward to this rally. I am still refining details of this rally and will post them in future Konnection articles. 

Please register as soon as you can, sites are filling fast and I hope to see everyone there. The first rally I will attend since Covid hit will be the Virginia Wheels Rally at the Luray KOA June 17-20. I have already registered and encourage everyone else to get registered; sites are also filling fast for this rally. I am really looking forward to this rally and hope to see you there. And do not forget the Region Five Rally in Dillard, Georgia. It will be held October 12-17. I will be there as well.

I have also registered for several other rallies in Florida and I’m always looking for other rallies to attend. I have a lot of rallying to make up for considering all the rallies we missed in the last year.

Oh well guess that is it for now. To all my fellow Newmarians, be safe, drive careful, don’t forget your mask, and I hope to see you soon. Rally On!!!!!

I can be reached at beagleRV@gmail.com or 540-809-9830. 

Michael Vreeland (20733)
Virginia State Directors