Lately we’ve been performing better in northern Platte County when it comes to gas prices. Positive shout out to the gasoline retailers in this part of the county, because I’ve been critical of their pricing strategies in the past. As of this writing, most outlets in northern Platte County are at $2.69 per gallon. That’s 23 cents lower than the average gas price in Kansas City, which if you’re good at math, you can figure is at $2.92.
On the other hand, I don’t know what the hell is going on in Parkville. That must be the spot for some really high quality gasoline. I was in Parkville for much of the day on Sunday and every outlet I drove past had a posted gas price of $2.99, which if you’re decent at math is 30 cents higher than the Platte City area. Seems crazy.
As you know GasBuddy is the authoritative voice for gas prices and the only source for station-level data. GasBuddy says the cheapest station in Kansas City on Sunday was priced at $2.61, eight cents less than Platte City. The most expensive price in Kansas City was $3.09. GasBuddy says the average prices in Kansas City today are 10 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and six cents per gallon lower than last year at this time.
The lowest price in the state of Missouri, GasBuddy says, is $2.39 and the highest in Missouri is $3.49.
You ever go through a streak of weird things happening to you in a short amount of time? Had that occur a couple of weeks ago.
While driving to Nashville in my wife’s Rogue, we were a short distance into Illinois on I-64 when a rock comes flying out of a truck and hits our windshield. Leaves two cracks about an inch or two long in the lower center of the windshield. Further proof that not much good happens in Illinois.
Just six days later, we’re driving to a grandson’s T-ball game in King City. We were on Hwy. 169 north of St. Joseph. This time in my Rogue, not hers. A rock or some unknown object comes flying toward the vehicle and leaves an odd and distinct circular crack in the lower center of the windshield. The crack was about the size and shape of a golf ball. But there were no golf courses around. I recall there was a pickup coming from the opposite direction at the time of impact. I’ve seen my share of cracks in windshields over the years but not one in a basically perfect circular shape like this one. The Safelite technician, who has no doubt seen more cracked windshields than I have, would later tell me he has seen rocks leave circular cracks like this windshield souvenir that had been gifted to me.
Anyway, in less than a week: Two Rogues. Two windshields. Two rocks (or whatever the flying object was). Both times cracks in the lower center of the windshield, which if we’re looking for good news, did not negatively impact the line of sight while driving.
Both Rogues have full coverage insurance under American Family. Under American Family, with full coverage you get protection from this sort of thing in that Safelite will come out and fill the cracks in your windshield at no charge to you. Safelite even comes to your workplace, or wherever the car is sitting on your appointment day, to do their thing.
Safelite repairs cracked windshields by injecting a special resin into the damaged area to fill and seal the cracks, preventing further damage and restoring the glass’s strength. They use a vacuum or suction process to pull the resin into the cracks and chips, and then cure the resin using UV light. It’s a clear, durable repair. The Safelite repair doesn’t make the crack totally invisible but it does protect the integrity of the glass and prevents the crack from spreading. Safelite collects their fee for the work from American Family.
By the way, maybe other insurance companies provide that same coverage, I can’t tell you because I’ve only had American Family for years upon years. My wife is a former longtime American Family employee and she tends to get jumpy if I ever suggest switching insurance carriers.
The cracked windshield oddities weren’t finished there, however.
The Safelite technician showed up at my wife’s place of employment in Platte City to perform her Rogue windshield repair. I’m sure he noticed a familiar last name when he got a similar request for service on another Rogue in Platte City just a few days later. When the Safelite guy showed up at The Landmark parking lot and was beginning his look at my windshield, I stepped outside to engage him in conversation. I’m a curious customer when it comes to this type of thing. You can learn a lot by watching and talking with your repairmen. You’ll still need help with the major stuff, of course, but you might be surprised at the problems you can handle on your own once you’ve stalked a repairman. Need a garage door repaired or adjusted? Watch what your garage door guy does to fix the problem and chat with him about it. Problem with your air conditioner? Watch and chat it up with the HVAC repairman as he’s working to see if the fix is easy enough for you to do yourself next time around. Same goes for the plumber and your water heater guy. Satellite TV tech comes out to adjust your dish? Watch how he does it and ask questions along the way. Over the years I’ve saved some dough by performing simple fixes that I learned just by watching the professionals. Not that I’ll ever have the material necessary to repair a crack in a windshield on hand in my garage, but you get my drift.
Anyway, the Safelite tech was extremely polite and conversational. He works all Safelite calls in this area. He remembered doing the repair on the windshield of my wife’s Rogue. He remembered doing a repair on the windshield of Cindy’s Mini Cooper in this same Landmark parking lot a couple months ago. Originally from New York, he and his wife had been living in Denver until about a year ago when they moved to the KC area, where the climate better suits his wife’s health. He loves the friendliness of the people in this area, he said. He now lives in Smithville. And–this is where the final oddity comes in–his first name? Ivan. Poor guy.
We shook hands and seem to bond over the childhood trauma of having a weird first name. I’m familiar with other Ivans, of course, but I had never met another real life Ivan face to face until this windshield repairman was standing in front of me. Likewise, he said this was the first time he had come face to face with another Ivan. It was like a scene from the Will Ferrell movie Step Brothers or something.
One Royals’ nugget for you this week. Through the first 66 games of the season, the 2025 Royals are the lowest scoring Royals team in franchise history. Think about it. That includes the 1969 expansion Royals and many other bad Royals teams. Sad. Front office malpractice was committed in the off-season by not making more moves to improve the anemic offense.
(Careful, Foley has become a magnet for flying rocks. When you’re near him be prepared to take cover. Email ivan@plattecountylandmark.com)
