When one walks down the street, some sights along the way can be intriguing.

Maybe, on the corner, there is an abandoned shoe, and the first image conjured up in your head is that of an old man walking around town dragging his socked foot along the ground.

Or, maybe, riding along the other side of the street, is a man riding a three-wheeled bicycle. When you see him in the store, you might refer to him as “the tricycle man” or whatnot. When he’s riding his bike/trike, he looks like he is having fun, even though many may think he is off his rocker.

But regardless of the weirdness and randomness of any given situation, there is always a reason for everything, right? Not so fast …

I was driving down Central Avenue going out of town to visit the little Iowa town of Sherrill — where there are three churches and four houses. Just as we were nearing the highway, at the corner of Central Avenue and 32 Street and about three miles north of Loras, I saw it.

At first blanch, it wouldn’t even seem as “strange” as a man on a tricycle. This time, however, the longer I thought about it, I could not think of a reason — a rational one, anyway — for this.

Along Central Avenue there are two BP stations directly across the street from each other. It is hard for me to imagine a scenario in which this would be convenient or necessary. The only way I can perceive this to be necessary is just in case one of the stores was robbed, destroyed by a fire or pushed into a large hole.

In the meantime, I can’t imagine debating which store to go to.  Deciding that is like deciding which side of the toaster to put the bread. There is no bad choice. But, then again, maybe that’s a good thing. It’s hard to make the wrong decision when the decision is the same.

I understand the aspect of competition and businesses wanting their own piece of the pie, but competing against yourself is most likely not the way to go. This is not unlike a situation in Houston, Texas, where there is a Starbucks coffee store across the street from another Starbucks. It’s shocking to me that this would have any benefit, besides the fact that the Starbucks or BP signs are easier to spot.

So, when you are on the north side of Dubuque and need to get gas, you can get it at the BP station, or you can get it at the BP station.