Michael Vreeland (20733)
Virginia State Director
Since the last episode several things have happened. First off, my Dutch Star now has great AC in the front and my new Sat Dish works like a champ. On the downside here is an item to put on your checklist if you have Sat Dish problems. There is a coaxial splitter on the roof with the Sat Dish. After my tech installed the new Sat Dish, I still had the same problem. We both scratched our heads and so we started trouble shooting the problem. The tech was on the roof, I do not go on the roof, ever. If I happen to fall off, I suspect I will not bounce and I have no desire to test that theory out. The tech started disconnecting the coaxial cables on the splitter. I heard a “you got to be kidding me” and I asked him what? A 6 inch piece of cable he took off had the inside insulator slid back from one end of the twist on connector about ¼ inch. More than enough to disrupt signal connectivity. That appears to have been the whole problem and explains why my Sat Dish working was intermittent. So, in case you have not jumped to the end my old Sat Dish was fine, all that was needed was the cable replace. On the up side the Sat Dish was replaced with the Traveler Pro which has – you guessed it – an app. So, keep this on the down low since my extended warranty folks paid for the replacement.
We all love to RV, and it is most gratifying doing it in a Newmar. Everything was working great, and I was on my way to the Florida State Rally in Sarasota, Florida. It was a great rally, we got to see some Ringling Brothers Museum and of course spend time with each other. Like I said things were great and life was good. I had stayed an extra day after the rally – which I typically do. I had a busy day gaming and decided to go get some take out. So off I went to a local Chinese place. I went in and picked up my takeout and got back to old Blue and when I started it, I got the dreaded red triangle with the explanation point in the middle. In sign language this was shouting “Danger Will Robinson Danger!”. So just when you think you have things well in hand God jumps in to change things up, guess that explains the chuckle you hear occasionally. I got back to the campsite and decided to load up the Prius while I could. Once I got to Clermont, I could take the Prius to the Toyota dealer to see what happened. For those of you who do not run TPMS monitors here is a case of “you should”. I was 5 miles outside Clermont Thousand Trails and my TPMS monitor started beeping. I watched as my left front trailer tire slowing went for 50 psi down to 15 psi over the next couple miles. I was hoping I could limp into Thousand Trails which was only 1 mile or so up the road. I got to my site with 15 psi in the tire. Once at my site I could address the tire in a day or so but first I had to deal with the Prius. The next morning, I started the Prius – no warning light, go figure. I headed to Toyota to have it checked out. The service guys said Toyota did not store those error code so he could run a diagnosis on the car for $80 but most likely he would find nothing. I had noticed over the last couple week my GPS would act funny, not start, etc. the last time this happened I got to replace my hybrid battery to the tune of $4,000. So, I took a step back and considered – a 17 year old (119 dog years) Prius with over 265,000 miles do I need to consider putting the Prius out to stud and get another car. I figured I was on the upswing of the car repair bathtub curve so getting a new car was the obvious choice. I started looking at used and they were only about $1000 cheaper with 40,000 miles than new so new it was. I hoped that the Pruis has fathered a good one for me and sure enough I am now the proud owner of a 2022 Toyota C-HR which I call SOP (Son of Prius). Now it has been 17 years since I bought a new car and things have changed a bit. When I got the Prius in 2005 it was a cutting edge ‘techie” car. Voice Commands, Bluetooth, Proximity key fob, and of course a hybrid which was ahead of its time. SOP is pretty slick with even more tech – crash avoidance, lane tracking, etc. but it has no GPS which I thought was kind of strange. As it turns out you connect your smart phone to the car, and you now have Google Maps or Wazes – pretty cool. And of course, there are other “apps” that can be leveraged. So to be fair I guess it was time and I do like SOP. This purchase happened in a single day so on to the next problem – trailer tire.
Well, my trailer tire had to be replaced so all it took was money to fix the problem. To quote Charlie “All you have to do is keep throwing money at a problem and eventually it will get fixed.” Sure enough $140 later I had a new tire, and I am up and running again. I loaded up SOP and the next morning headed north to the Virginia Wheels Rally.
The Virginia Wheels Rally just finished up and I am taking the time to write my input to the Legacy and do housework before leaving in the morning. This was a great rally, and everyone had a great time. We had a bunch of First Time Attendees, and the food was great. Thanks to Tom & Gloria, Tommy & Becky, and Mike & Tipper for hosting the rally, your efforts paid off and everyone enjoyed themselves.
I am putting the final touches on the Virginia State Rally at Temperanceville, Virginia on the Eastern shore. We have a company coming out to do RV weighing, a Fire Safety presentation; we are going on a 2-hour cruise (can you say Gilligan’s Island) to hopefully see the ponies, oh and there will be the 6th Annual Bluegrass Festival on the campground on Saturday (June 4th). After that I will be back at Americamps where I summer. If you are in the Ashland, Virginia area stop in and say howdy. We can sit and swap so lies.
To all my fellow Newmarians I hope to see you soon. Rally On!!!!! I can be reached at beagleRV@gmail.com or 540-809-9830.
