The "Rest" of the Story ,
So I'm sure most of the group saw the smoke billowing out of the green 80 as my son Stu was driving back from playing on the dunes at Gay Beach. If not, then you must have heard my intial rant about neglect and responsibility. Which probably wouldn't have been so serious had there not been previous history of the same earlier this summer. I'll explain more as the story unfolds....
Smoke billowing .....coolant leaking.....20 minutes before departure......the last stop , on the last day of an eight day vacation.
Initially , we thought that it was just a hot engine from running in that thick , black sand in high range. After a short cooling off period (the truck as well as myself) I poured a little water on top of the radiator to see just how hot it was....to my suprise it evaporated very slowly. Uncapped and added water which came right out the bottom of the rad along the lower tank.
What the ? . Next thought was that some thing hit and damaged it .
But , No branches or sticks on the beach . ?? Maybe increased temp and pressures oncovered a weak area and blew the rad before the cap released ??
Either way , It needed repair or replacement and the beach was not a good place for that.
Enter "The Gay Beach Chain Gang" . This seems to be well documented (even tho I haven't watched the video yet) I won't relive that part of the story except to thank those guys again and apologize for all of the fuel you guys burned during the recovery . Quite a pull and definately the longest 600 or so yards of my life. The winching by Ron Fetter to get me back up to the road got alittle touchy when we almost brought down a 50 ft. Jack Pine
with a snatch block and his T-Max. No Problem.
OK..... I'm up on the road again....now what ? Well , The Gay Bar ......of course. A quick tow over there....a long pause at the door.....and in I go.
I think the juke box stopped playing , I know all the conversations ceased when I crossed that threashold . After a short staredown of the obvious non-local , the woman behind the bar asked "can I help you ?" . I explained that I had a breakdown and needed a nearby campground to make a repair.
After turning around to inform the rest of the matriarchs of my situation , the entire bar was giving me directions at the same time. Drunken and certainly not in unison came the directions.........basically , across the river on the right about a mile or so up the road . From what I could make out of the multiple people speaking at the same time with an ever increasing competitive volume , was that a guy named Bobby was in the process of developing a campground and docks right on Lake Superior . It was still being built but he allowed people to stay there despite the construction . We pulled in , came to a coasting stop in front of the first campsite and unhooked the strap from Rons truck. A few quick good byes and there we sat......damaged ......alone ........
The vacation was over.
The adventure was over.
Reality sets in .
Quiet ,
Beautiful .
More reality.................Less than 2 hrs of sunlight
Time for a family meeting .
"I'm hungry"
"I'm dirty"
"I have to go to the bathroom"
" Can I call Megan ? When do you think we'll be home ?"
You can probably guess who said what .
We decided to : winch the 80 into a better spot for teardown
set up camp
collect firewood and
I would start draining the coolant while Amy and the boys went back to the Bar to grab a pizza and try to get cleaned up a bit before dark.
As they drove out I headed down toward the construction to look for a drain pan . A really cool place . Right on the shore with about 10-12 campsites ,
a half a dozen or so boat docks behind a nice stone breakwater. Bobby was nowhere to be found , nor was anyone else . Some one had been working on the building earlier . The smell of fresh sawdust and recently poured concrete still lingered . You could tell it was an on going project with a huge amount of potential . I passed a couple of 5 gallon buckets to find a perfect short plastic pan . I actually ran back up the hill to get this thing draining asap . As I laid under the truck and turned the stopcock (invariably the first splash lands on your arm as you scramble to adjust the pan ) it comes back to me that these radiator bolts are not that easy to get to. I laid my head down in the grass , the coolant was draining , the waves were lapping the boulder stone seawall , and my rear axel is cropping my view of a beautiful sunset . Yep , great place Bobby has here.......... When ARE we going to be home ?
My brain quickly turned over the possibilities . Do I have all the tools I need ? Did I bring that 6" swivel extension ? Is this radiator even servicable ? New one ? Toyota Dealer ? Stock Part ? Order time ?
I wiggled out from under the truck with almost no sense of urgency now .......
We might be here awhile . Yeah......real nice place Bobby has here......might be here awhile .
Better get wrenchin' .
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Once I got the engine out of the way , the radiator was easily accessable.
Sorry , That was my feeble attempt at a Joke.......
That pic was on the same photo chip as our vacation .
It was a 4-Runner engine swap that I was working on the Sat. before we left.
It is significant to the story though. I was swapping the engine out of a 4-Runner that Stu totalled earlier this summer into one that had a blown cylinder.
He was screwing around going through a mud puddle on a dirt road , lost control and hit a tree.
The recipient truck just happens to be the same green as the 80. I'll post a real pic (If this one loaded....not sure on the resizing thing yet)
Amy will post "The Gay Bar " part of the story next. I'll be back with Chapter 3 .