The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

The ONLY way to fly for clothing under your waders. I've taken my share of those downstream rides myself, usually minor butt bumping through a riffle, but it sounds like yours was a little more serious. Glad it worked out OK.

When the kid went up to Alaska to meet me during King season, how was I to know that I was suppose to pack his clothes as well?? He arrived and the weather was in the high 70's on our fly out. But its funny how the weather will change. With the rain, the temps dropped as well. Remember the comment about packing? He forgot to bring raingear. But he did bring the fleece and capilene. While fishing on the river the rain started coming down. I can still recall asking him about his raingear- "I forgot it." He stayed warm and dry though with those layers on without that outer shell.

A year later the kid went over to Paris with the HS band to participate in the New Years Day parade a few years back. We sent him with his Polartec fleece and capilene underwear and socks/gloves just in case. It was the coldest recorded New Years in 10 years. Kids were getting frost bit toes, etc by wearing cotton for insulation. The chaperones that went along didn't know what to do, but would not listen to a kid without a bit of frost bite on him- go figure.

When he got back, he told us about marching uphill in a protected area outside of Paris where he got a little warm and started to sweat under his uniform. When he hit the crest of the hill the blast of wind sent the wind chill factor even lower. The odd thing he noticed was when he took off his uniform, there was layer of ice on the outside of his fleece top where the perspiration had migrated away from his body. He was dry and warm, but noticed a gray tinge on some of the kids around him. That experience made a believer out of him.

The license plate is good to have, the company name certainly (most will have the phone number posted on it as well). It's a comprehensive loss on your insurance & considered "fault free" which means your rates won't be affected. I've file two claims for damaged windshields directly against construction vehicles hauling materials. They've been very willing to step up and take care of my windshield after I provided a photograph, location of loss, time of day, and vehicle number. I'm also in the insurance business and can tell you that your company "might" attempt to subrogate against the carrier for the truck after you've filed your claim and your insurance company has had to pay. If you were to file with your company, you're responsible for the deductible, and your company is only entitled to recover the amount they paid - so, knowing that, I filed against the carrier of the construction vehicle and it didn't cost anything but the time involved in providing the information and getting the work done.

I've been a bit wordy here in hopes I've been able to help others who might be faced with this issue in the future, and because I don't have squat to say about fishing right now. I hope some of you are nailin' 'em.
FTIR

I've had similar incidents in 3 of my vehicles. Two of them had a rock thrown up from the ground off the tires of a big rig in the next lane and one was from a truck hauling tomatoes!!!! That must have been one un-ripe hard tomatoe!

I don't think there is much that can be claimed by a truck throwing a rock up with it's tires on the highway though. Just bad luck. I had a guy who fixes windshield cracks tell me if it just makes a small pock mark or tiny crack, it can be sealed up with a tiny dab of super glue and it won't grow. I tried it on one of my mishaps and it worked!

Beerfly

I have two jackets (one with hood) made out of Polartech III that I got through Cabela's catalog. Can't find them anywhere else. They keep me plenty warm in the coldest weather here in Nevada and on the nearby mountain tops. They are actually nice to wear just on cool autumn and spring evenings when it's not that cold as well. I never have overheated in them except when snowshoeing up the side of a mountain on a sunny winter day! I've learned to take them off after I start warming up during those hikes.

Beerfly

Gotta agree about the Polartech - it's Da Bomb!!

REI has a lot of Polartech as well, and on the clearance rack, it's cheaper than Cabela's - not much help when you need it for next week.

That was quite an adventure you had. You are living proof of being prepared is the best plan - always. Next time hope you will be rewarded with a big Steelie. Thanks for an interesting read.

You're right about that super glue trick, in fact there are companies out there that specialize in repairing (rather than replacing) windshields. I don't know if insurance companies still waive their deductible for repairs, but they once did. The process involved cleaning out the crack or star and filling it under a little pressure with a substance like super glue. You're also right about the rock being kicked up...companies consider that an act of God. Things falling off trucks however are not, and the operator/company that owns the truck is responsible - you just gotta prove they dun it! Now if you're like Slo and your jealous boyfriend takes a sledge hammer to your windshield, that's vandalism and subject to the deductible.

I had my windshield repaired. I got a rock near the passenger side of the windshield, and didn't see the crack until it started to spread. It was about 6 inches long by the time I found a repair place. The repair worked great! Unless you know where to look, you can't even see it.

Dawn

Chilly story there! Good on ya for keeping a change of clothes in the trailer.

Wild Bill

A vicarious, but none the less chilly, lesson.

Thanks, Loretta. Great report. And glad you made it home.

Kim

next time it happens (sorry, it will--- gravel trucks are very bad) contact http://www.safelite.com . These guys will come to your house or work and replace or repair a windshield. I bet you could have even scheduled it for them to repair/replace the windshield on Steiner Flat Rd. while you fished! so you wouldn't lose any fishing time. The windshield for my minivan was $216 installed, they want $186 for my Suburban ( I haven't fixed it yet). It took the guy about 30 minutes to change out my van windshield in my driveway, 2 weeks later I got another rock chip (darn it).

It was about 1/2 the price the body shop wanted to replace the windshield, when I talked to the repair guy, he said most of the time the body shops call them to install the windows and they pocket the profit .