Bad postcards of the week:

We're messing with Texas
From:  The Grand Rapids Press

 I know we've been warned, but it’s time to mess with Texas.

I stumbled up on these wonderfully awful postcards recently and was amazed to see that they were depicting the same place.

Note that I wasn't amazed because they look similar. I was amazed that someone would make more than one postcard of, well, a place like this.

Let’s read the backs:

“Highway Thru City, Van Horn, Texas. Van Horn is located at the crossroads of southwestern United States in one of the most scenic areas of West Texas. Here U.S. Highway 90 connects with U.S. 80 and Interstate 10, one of the vital arteries between East and West Coasts.”

The other is simpler: “Entering Van Horn, Texas, from the west on U.S. Highway 90 and 80.”

Let’s get this out of the way. If this is one of the most scenic areas of West Texas, I’m a little afraid to take a peek at what might be the least scenic areas.

I’m not saying every place has to be beautiful Mission Point Peninsula during the sunset, but I think I see tumbleweed. Then again, we’re so far from the action that the tumbleweed in question might be a Chevy. Standing closer to the subject of the postcard is sometimes not a bad thing.

The bigger question here is how a traveler is supposed to be able to choose between the Big Bend truck stop and Kitty and Frank’s Steak House Café. Sure, the “broiled steaks” sign is certain to lure in the travelers.

Looking at Van Horn today, I sort of get the idea that it’s a Texas version of Breezewood, the kind of place where you stop on the way to somewhere else to get gas or a snack, but without the hassle of buses of middle-schoolers.

Reader contribution

I’m still in trouble for the recent posts about bridges linking the Upper Peninsula. Alan Stamm of Birmingham, Mich., is a fellow New York native with a mischievous streak.

“Sticking with your theme of no Yooper infrastructure too dull to celebrate, check out this dubious pride gem,” he wrote.

“The Iron River postcard shows three flapper-era women, backs turned, alongside a carless stretch of U.S. Highway 2 in New Norway near Iron River. The photographer frames it so a presumably new river bridge is most prominent -- apparently more deserving of attention than that the local models.”

At least we're seeing the bridge and not the tollbooths!