Rocky and Bullwinkle

While zooming along the expressway today, I was passed by one of those aggressive, gotta get there now pickups that we have here. We don't put much salt on our roads, mostly because it doesn't work well -- just makes the roads wet and more slick. But we do put down tons of little rocks to give us enough traction to get through an intersection before the light changes back to red. Pickups with blocky tread on their tires are nasty about picking up the little rocks and throwing them at the car behind.

Bullwinkle, the moose of a pickup, did just that today. OK, unintentionally, I admit, but it left a nice ding in the windshield anyway.

That meant I bought two bottles of wine instead of one (for later, mind you), picked up a little box of popcorn chicken with soda, and dog and I munched our way along to Novus windshield repair. Windshields are short lived creatures here, or at least they used to be, when even major roads were unpaved. Left untended, those little dings become great long cracks. It isn't uncommon to see cars and trucks with cracked windshields in Alaska.

The fellow at Novus was most helpful. He knew more about my insurance than I did. One phone call cleared the way for repair, including waiving the insurance deductible. I pulled into the garage and watched the whole process, sharing the chicken with the drooling German Shepherd that was leaning on my shoulder.

It was fascinating. He used a dremel-like tool to drill into the crack, then put a pointed pick into the hole and tapped it once with a small hammer. Positioning a complex looking, three legged cup over the chip, he moved inside and heated the inside of the windshield with a mini-torch. The cup came off and a piece of clear, flexible, transparent plastic went over the chip, along with some epoxy. An ultraviolet light, supported by two suction cups illuminated the patch with UV for a few minutes. A bit of scraping removed the excess material. He cleaned the window, handed me a receipt to sign, and dog and I, now sated with chicken bits, were on our way. The whole process took about 15 minutes and I shelled out not a dime.

I can barely see the ding, and then only with light coming through. Great work, well organized, and done quickly. I'm impressed at how easy and efficient this was. It's really nice to see work done well. Thank you, Novus and All State.