Summer Vacation 2020 - Day 9 - Siesta Key

I don't recall what time I woke up this morning, but it wasn't too early or too late.  My buddy Mark from Fort Myers Beach (about 1.5 hours away) was coming up to hang out with us for the day.  He is also a gear head as we met through our mutual love of station wagons.  

In fact last year, he drove from Ft. Myers to my house, then to north of Tampa so I could buy my new wagon.  That's a solid friend!

Anway, up and at 'em, took a stroll down to the beach while I drank my coffee and Mark said he was on his way.   Of course, I'm thinking about the brakes, so I start going over everything again.

* Check the fluid level.   It held overnight, that's good not catastrophic leaks

* Check the combo valve on the frame rail and that checks out (had leaked before and was replaced)

* Think of pulling the vacuum line at the brake booster to see if it's getting sucked into the motor (a known issue on these),  Doesn't come off easy and I don't want to risk breaking it, as that's a show stopper, literally as no brakes if that happens 

*  Fire up the engine and do the 10 second brake test. Namely hold the pedal tight and see if it goes down while you hold it.   Crap, I feel it moving really slowly.

So that means I have a pressure leak (only leaks when pressing the pedal).   Ok, that's not the end of the world, I will just need to check the fluid level often.

Mark is taking awhile, so while I'm waiting, I'm checking around the rear brakes and now that it is dry, I see it.   On the passenger side rear wheel there is fluid drips on the inside sidewall.   I run my finger in it, smell it and feel the viscosity and yep, it's brake fluid.   I check the other three rear tires and they are all dry.

 Mark arrives in his color coordinated T-bird.  He had the top down but I snapped this after the rain started. This would make an excellent Towed for us, although it's only a 2 seater.

By now, I had the jack out and was lifting the back corner up and pulling the wheel.  I had guessed that it was the slave cylinder leaking (most common issue), but the bottom of the drum way dry.  I get the wheel off and as these rear wheels aren't on an axle they are mounted up differently than what I'm used too.  I figure out via google that I have to pull the castle nut to take the drum and the hub off as a single unit to get at the slave cylinder.

Mark throws out the good idea of testing the brakes with the wheel off before we do that.  So I jump in and fire it up and he watches. I press the brakes and he yells I see it.  I power down and he informs me that it is leaking from the fitting where the hard line attaches to the slave cylinder. 

I have Lucy start it up so I can see too.  Sure enough it's about 3 or 4 drops per second coming out when the brakes are applied.   Well at least I have 5 ish out of 6 brakes working.

I think it just may be loose and try to tighten it, but it's not budging, so I am assuming the flare on the line is cracked.  At least I know what I'm working with so Mark runs me down to the parts store and I buy way too much fluid (2 quarts).   Fast forward, I used about 4 ounces all the way home and had that much onboard.  Hey better safe than sorry!

I'm feeling alot better about this now and of course here comes the rain again just as I'm putting all the tools away.  We retreat inside and enjoy a nice cold beer or two and some snacks, and visited with Mark for a couple hours until it was time to head home.

The rain lets up and we go for a bike ride.   We end up at Point of Rocks Beach, which is supposed to be a good snorkeling beach as well as a surf spot.   Well as soon as I see the setup I can see the surf potential.   Ernie said he has gotten it good here in the past. 

Looking to the north.  off to the left the rocks jut out at and angle making a point.   I will go surf this place one day on a storm swell.

Never having been here before, I see Naya climb a seawall and disappear around the corner.

But before I can follow her and explore, Tommy pops out for photo shoot.  Be sure to check his instagram page...

Around the corner is really cool, with alot of limestone either exposed or in very shallow water.  It went on for quite a way. 

You can see the big tree is by the corner and the wave can wrap right down that point into the cove around the corner.  There were a TON of cool shells here and while I don't collect too many, I had to take my shirt off to carry them all.

We messed around until the sun was fading as it was about 10 min to the bikes and then a 20 min ride back to the campground.   We got there as it got dark.   As you can see above (proper angle for where the comet was) it wasn't looking good for us to see it again.

While we were cooking dinner, Charley came back over with the kids and they played cards at the table, while we were making dinner.   Seven people in the coach was pretty tight, but it was alright.

After dinner we went for a night time swim (well the kids and Charley), and then they started digging holes.  

Jesse started and got bored, so Naya took over the shovel duties.  I just noticed the lights in this picture It was a large family out looking for shells in the dark.   Not the way I would do it, but hey maybe they were vampires.

It was a pretty good size hole and she kept going.

Cora and her friend also wanted holes, so they went up the beach and dug two and got buried up to their necks.

Naya of course not wanting to be left out, pulled them out and asked to be buried too.  They were happy to comply.

Naya's hole was deeper and she couldn't get out herself, so they had to dig her out too.   It was a lot of fun for all of them and they probably left 35 lbs of sand at the beach shower afterwards.   It was late so they packed up and hit the road.

I started prepping for departure early the next morning, bu putting the bikes up and generally putting whatever we didn't need in the morning into storage.

Tomorrow, homeward bound!