7/2017
Angie and I went on a mission in Kansas City recently and I swear that we were abducted by aliens. No, I don’t mean I had to use my rudimentary language skills from Garden City. Let me explain.
Our 1st appointment was finished and we needed to find a fuel stop for the truck and a drink stop for ourselves, basically killing time until the second appointment. So, it being in an urban suburb of Kansas City, Kansas with a population of just under 150,000, I took off down a pleasant 4 lane boulevard called Nall Avenue. It was convenient as both our appointment locations were on this street.
Nall Avenue is no hookey, back-woods, gravel road such as what one might find all over Doniphan county. I noted that it had its own exit from the interstate as we crossed over, heading south. We passed 2 nationally famous medical centers; 3 community hospital complexes (striving to be recognized as regional medical centers); at least 6 shopping centers (very new, chic and cosmopolitan); an untold number of housing subdivisions with names like Hunter’s Glenn, Green Acres (where the grass was really brown but the houses were 5000+ sf and half a million or more), Highland Mist (No hills, bogs or peat here); a park named B’nai Judah for the little Jewish kids to romp and play on the safety of mulch-floored swings, Jungle gyms and merry-go-rounds; another park (across the street from B’nai Judah) named Lin Chi for the Chinese kids to romp and play on the safety of mulch-floored swings, Jungle gyms and merry-go-rounds; several country clubs with swimming pools and golf courses; churches; several schools… .
But what I didn’t find in the 12.3 miles was a Casey’s, Total or QT. There was no Love’s, Pilot or even a Phillips 66 C-store. No there wasn’t a Buckey’s. There were 12.3 miles of urban America without diet Coke, iced tea, bottled water, diesel or gasoline. There wasn’t even any e-15 or e-85 gasoline-ethanol blend.
I didn’t think there were 12.3 miles of urban America anywhere without a convenience store, aside from places like Texas State Highway 481 from Uvalde to Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, but those aren’t urban and don’t count.
So the only explanation I can come up with is that Aliens abducted us in a manner that we didn’t know what was happening and we traveled 12.3 miles through Alien territory instead. I mean, everybody knows Aliens don’t use diesel or gasoline in their vehicles, right?
Just another adventure from your grumpy uncle/brother Dave.
Weary