Windshield Wiper Woes

In Colorado, precipitation in the winter comes in the form of snow. Any wet stuff that falls out of the sky is going to be white fluffy stuff. Not so in Indiana, where winter can bring rain, or snow, or, worst of all, freezing rain. I heard that the community of Greencastle was paralyzed for a week last winter, the university closed and classes canceled, because of an ice storm that left intractable ice covering everything.

I had my first encounter with the freezing rain of Indiana a week or so ago. I left the play I had attended on campus (shamefully having driven the very short distance to get there because of the inclement weather) to find my car entirely encased in a thick covering of ice. I turned on the heater and front and rear defrosters, as I chipped away at that ice for all I was worth, but I couldn't make a single dent in it. Finally, the guy scraping and chipping at his windshield behind me came over to show me how to proceed: just get one TINY little crack in the ice anywhere, and then use that to gain purchase on the rest. I finally did clear enough of the windshield to be able to drive home. But in the process I made the mistake of trying to force my windshield wipers to do their share in the ice removal ordeal.

The poor wipers couldn't do it any more than I could. The next day, one of them refused to go altogether, its heart having given out under the unfair strain. Or so I thought. But then, after a few days of rest, I tried the wipers again, and the ailing wiper made a miraculous recovery and wiped along merrily with his brother as if nothing had happened. But then, alas, when I tried the same experiment again on the following day, that wiper had a relapse and ground to a halt halfway up the windshield. His brother kept on going, the two got entangled, and the healthy wiper was now mangled: fatally injured!

So it was time to take my little Chevy Aveo to York Chevrolet. Guess what I paid for the repair? $9.36, for the replacement wiper. The kindly manager tightened the originally ailing wiper and replaced the subsequently destroyed wiper for free. It all took less than ten minutes. So thank you, York Chevrolet! But next time there is an ice storm, I'm going to treat my windshield wipers with more loving kindness, that is for sure. When it comes to windshield wipers, this Colorado girl turned Indiana girl is sadder and wiser now.