Chiefs Camp: Road Trip, Coach-ability and A Renaissance

Josh Kingsley

We took a family road trip this past weekend. Misty and I took advantage of a rare weekend when the wedding slate was light enough to let our people work while we hit the road. My college buddy, Jeff, bought his current house in Overland Park a couple years ago, and there is a pool in the back yard. Jeff’s place is always a stop on the journey to, or from, Hays, but this time it was the trip’s initial destination. I cannot be in Kansas and not make the trip to Hays, so that was the second portion. We left MKE on Thursday evening, spent the night in Moline, IL, and rolled into OP in time for dinner and a dip on Friday. Sunday we headed to Hays in time to catch dinner with my parents, aunt and my sister’s family.

This was a perfect trip for Misty and I. We planned nothing, and simply took the time to relax. Relaxation is always important to charge the batteries in the middle of a packed summer, and a pool day or two is as relaxing as they come. Seeing friends and family is nice too. I did pull one story from the weekend, which will appear in the CHIEFS section of this one. My opening angle for the week is a result of yet another drive.

All the Best of Road Food

I spend a substantial amount of time on the road traveling for work, weddings and the occasional trip home. High school also earned me a masterclass in Kansas geography working summers for my dad’s siding and window company. All this driving has given me countless opportunities to eat food from gas stations. The lasting effect of this are my strong opinions regarding gas station food, which I will now share.

I’ll start by clarifying that I will not be addressing things like candy bars, bagged chips or basic drinks. These are a given in some capacity at places selling gas. My focus is on the time you need to eat, and fast food is unavailable. You have to eat from a gas station.

Louisiana Plates

A previous job took me to Louisiana often. I quickly learned a few lessons:

Bayou = water in river, creek or stream form
Parish = town or settlement
French things, like names of people and towns, are hard to pronounce initially

Locals are nice in that area, but they certainly love watching Northerners stumble over their proper nouns. They usually let it go right until the room gets uncomfortable, and they always bail you out. I feel like that is exactly how things should go. One particular trip early on I was missing on all the town names while plotting a road trip and it got to lunch time. My customer stopped laughing at me long enough to suggest we get food. His suggestion was something to the effect of ” let’s hit the Texaco for plate lunch and then get back after it.”

My response was something to the effect of “you want to grab lunch at the gas station? For real?” He assured me this was legitimately a break in the ridicule, and plate lunch at a gas station is really a thing. He wasn’t kidding in the least. I started in amazement at a full hot bar in a two pump station. I quickly moved forward with my order for an incredible fried clam po’ boy, which is the general term for a sandwich with fried something on it.

That was the first of many a trip to the petrol for a plate lunch. I highly recommend if ever in the area.

True OG

This subject cannot be properly discussed without the iconic Deli Express Chuckwagon. I ate these things all the time in high school and college. They were essentially the exclusive option in towns of 500 or less. Western Kansas has plenty of said towns. I cannot think of a more delicious way to consume half a day worth of fat and sodium. The Chuckwagon is not a gas station sandwich. It is THE gas station sandwich. The tasting notes conclude that it pairs well with a Pepsi and Nacho Cheese Doritos. Chuckwagon is the punter of gas station food. No one goes into the road trip dreaming of one, but it is always there when you need it ready to pin your hunger on the 1-yd line. The Chuckwagon has the long decorated career of future CHIEFS hall of famer, Dustin Colquitt.

Yes, I believe Colquitt should and will make it to the CHIEFS ring of honor.

Elite Pizza

Anyone with a Casey’s in their area knew exactly where this was going. It is no mistake that their web presence lists pizza first. Casey’s is not good gas station pizza, it is good pizza. A couple locations have finally made it to the Milwaukee Metro Area, but it is still very much a road trip treat for me. The home office is in the Des Moines area, and they dominate the State of Iowa. Casey’s was a pioneer in adding and advertising ethanol, and often carried the lowest per gallon gas prices in Hays. The stores are always clean, which makes for a great road trip stop. Casey’s pizza is Mahomes or Kelce option: elite in every possible way.

The Best

Here is a fact: Wisconsin has the best gas station convenience store chain in the country and most likely the world. The chain is Kwik Trip (also called Kwik Star in some places) and it does everything well. Where do I start with the greatness of this place? Here are some of my favorite things:

Their free, digital air compressors
A top notch drink selection that includes drip coffee, espresso machines, made to order slushies, and made to order milk shakes
Made fresh donuts
Always pristine restrooms
Massive beer fridges
Full grocery store availability of staples foods including local cheese curds and meat products
A legit kitchen

The last bullet is my point. Kwik Trip is a viable place for fried chicken. Some places will Door Dash it to you. However, my absolute favorite is their hot sandwich game. You can always count on KT for a variety of breakfast sandwiches in the AM, and burgers and chicken sandwiches in the PM. A KT burger and mini can of Pringles is my go to drive home from a wedding late night snack. Kwik Trip beats every other gas station I have been in for basic food with one exception. Pizza. Casey’s keeps that throne.

Camp Vibes

The undisputed top event of this week’s camp is Orlando Brown’s return. He sat the first week and returned to be with the team. He even said most of the right things. To paraphrase:

“Mahomes asked me to come so I did.”
“Team leaders establish in camp.”
“Contract talks are the past until the offseason. My focus is this season.”
“Winning is my top goal”

The first three are awesome and I was right there with him. All he had to do was keep his mouth shut, but he didn’t. He followed point four saying it was not about the money. Saying nothing is an art, and Nick Saban and Bill Belichick are Picasso and Monet while Brown is a 1st grade finger painter. We all know it is all about the money. You know what? Many, like myself are totally cool with that. All we ask is reciprocation when you demand adult treatment.

The Art of Being Coachable

I mentioned a call back to an event from the weekend, and here we are. It was brutal hot in Hays, so I found my way to the basement where I caught up with my brother in law Shane, and his boys, Alex and Ike. Typical interaction is what I call half conversation. We mainly live in our own worlds of what’s on TV or the phone games, but come up for short conversations. The main point of all of this was waiting for food to be ready. These three are CHIEFS and Jayhawks fanatics and completely into sports as a collective term. At one point Shane was talking to Alex, who will be a freshman in high school in a couple weeks about sports. I am not sure if they knew I was listening, but Shane was taking a moment to make a point about being on a team.

Alex has the blessing with responsibility of natural physical gifts. Shane was taking the time to remind him that gets you to a point, and that point is shorter than Alex’s ambition. The stress was being coachable and the backdrop was Skyy Moore. All of the camp talk around Skyy Moore focuses on his pro, and technician, mentality. Route running has a proven structure and science. There are specific ways to get in and out of breaks within a route. Raw talent allows quick and fast receivers to skip steps, but only to a point. There is also a method to defend routes, and D-backs feast on slop. Skyy Moore as the speed, quickness and hands to cut corners and get open. However, he is a student and technician of his craft.

Shane’s point: be Skyy Moore and listen to your coaches. They know what they’re doing.

Coachability Added to Awareness

I thoroughly enjoy watching this CHIEFS Era as the coachability aspect appears a trend as opposed to an exception. The veterans appear coachable. Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce seem eager to learn and grow. That approach and attitude is how to deal with a suddenly stacked division. The NFC West was the juggernaut of 2021, but half the teams crumbled. Seattle fell first when the team quit accepting coaching. A Wilson injury added. However, most of Russ’ cookbook was recipes for drama with Pete. That team was dead on arrival if we review it retrospectively. The second domino was Arizona. This whole film study clause thing tells us all we need to know about the Cardinals. Kyler’s study habits, Cards coaching staff trust levels, or a combo of the three were exposed. A less talented, but infinitely more united, 49er team passed them both.

Smart, disciplined teams push through that nonsense. The CHIEFS have a task this season with their schedule. Stories about Skyy Moore’s mechanics and Leo Chenal’s intensity set this team up for success. There is a chance that LA, LV and Denver match such things, but I sincerely doubt it. Patrick Mahomes could blame anyone for the AFC Championship game collapse, but he appears to be taking it personally. Kudos to him for taking that. Let him have it, Andy.

Now, for the most aware of them all.

Frank Clark’s Renaissance

We all owe Frank Clark some major empathy, which is a fine line between apologies and enablement. I cannot think of a bigger lightning rod than Clark for most of the past 2 years. The critique has been widely justified as Clark has not lived up to the elite pass rusher billing the CHIEFS went after. All the off field weapon stuff has been worse. Frank Clark flat out has not been the man and player the Kansas City CHIEFS need him to be. Fan response ranged from surprise to rage when his contract renegotiation happened. Again, totally understandable especially in the light that it seemed the coaching staff was beating on a brick wall. Things did not get better when he came to camp looking, well, small. As in too small to deal with OL in the NFL.

This week revealed that Frank Clark grew up over the off season. The small victory was taking strong critique from Andy Reid. Frank accepted Andy Reid’s message that he failed the team. That is high level coachability for a team star. The more important note was dealing with alcohol addiction. I have seen addiction and recovery first hand, and it’s a monster of a process. My hat is off in admiration for anyone who tackles it even if they fail multiple times, and Frank Clark is no different. It takes a motivation level I have not had to find.

Shane was Clark’s biggest critic last season. We had a moment of complete agreement on Sunday: empathy for Frank, thankfulness he got to this point, and full belief that we are in for something good from him this year. With a little luck it just might be special. We are certainly rooting for him.

Josh Kingsley