Lake Superior (again)

[nick949]

I'm too lazy to scroll back and find the earlier thread, but I just finished a 4 day, 2032 mile drive around the north shore of Lake Superior to deliver half a ton of 9500 year old artifacts to the government office.

No.....even I'm not daft enough to do it on my bike as it was -34c when I started off and snowing most of the way.

But............the section from Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay is not to be missed.  It isn't desperately dramatic scenery, although there are some nice rocky hills and plenty of lake views, but it feels remote and wild and you can have any bay you fancy entirely to yourself (mainly because nobody wants to go into the frigid water).

In the 120 miles from the Soo to Wawa, I always had a clear road ahead, and nothing in my rear mirrors - at all!  But looking at the pictures, you can probably figure out why.

Wait for summer - the ride it - stopping often.

Nick

PS I got home to 16 inches of fresh snow - it all fell in one day.

[fotoguzzi]

is gas really 79.9/ Imp gallon? what would that be in US dollars?

[rob-mg]

I've done this from Kenora east, but in the summer. The Great Canadian Shield is amazing.

Within Canada, Wawa is kind of a standing joke as a town in the middle of nowhere, not a place from which one would want to hitch a lift.

Loved the photos.

[Wayne Orwig]

Is that going to be thawed out by September.

[nick949]

is gas really 79.9/ Imp gallon? what would that be in US dollars?

Hey Foto, we're metric up here. So it's 79.9 per litre, which equates to  CAN$3.63 (US$2.63) for a real (imperial) gallon or US$2.20 for your undersized one.

Nick

[rob-mg]

Hey Foto, we're metric up here. So it's 79.9 per litre, which equates to  CAN$3.63 (US$2.63) for a real (imperial) gallon or US$2.20 for your undersized one.

Nick

As I understand it, there's kind of an interesting history about the Imperial and US gallon. If I understand correctly, the US gallon is the original British gallon, but the latter was made larger in the 1800s in order to standardize different gallons for different products, and the US didn't follow suit.

Of course, now it's rather academic, given that the U.S, Myanmar and Liberia are the only countries that haven't adopted metric.

[fotoguzzi]

  US$2.20 for your undersized one.

Nick

Cha Ching, it's under $150/gal here..

As I understand it, there's kind of an interesting history about the Imperial and US gallon. If I understand correctly, the US gallon is the original British gallon, but the latter was made larger in the 1800s in order to standardize different gallons for different products, and the US didn't follow suit.

Of course, now it's rather academic, given that the U.S, Myanmar and Liberia are the only countries that haven't adopted metric.

ha ! sad but nearly true..

[rob-mg]

ha ! sad but nearly true..

What's "sad" about everyone except the U.S, Myanmar and Liberia using metric, and what's "nearly true" about it?

[fotoguzzi]

What's "sad" about everyone except the U.S, Myanmar and Liberia using metric, and what's "nearly true" about it?

It's sad we can't all agree on a system like metrics because they make more sense than inches, miles and tons that have no direct relationship to a single basic form of measurement?

nearly true means I think there are a few more countries than the U.S, Myanmar and Liberia that are non metric.

[rob-mg]

It's sad we can't all agree on a system like metrics because they make more sense than inches, miles and tons that have no direct relationship to a single basic form of measurement?

nearly true means I think there are a few more countries than the U.S, Myanmar and Liberia that are non metric.

The world has already agreed, in the case of most countries decades ago.

Kids to the north of your state in Manitoba and Ontario have been taught in metric for over 40 years.

The U.S. is the only significant holdout. The result is that American kids, instead of being taught metric from day one, have to learn it later if they have any interest in science or technology.

I hate to tell you this, but your belief that there are non-metric countries apart from the U.S., Liberia and Myanmar (the latter may now be metric) is just wrong.

[dedave]

It's sad we can't all agree on a system like metrics because they make more sense than inches, miles and tons that have no direct relationship to a single basic form of measurement?

nearly true means I think there are a few more countries than the U.S, Myanmar and Liberia that are non metric.

How about seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years? How's that work in metric? Wouldn't it make more sense to have 28 days per month-13 months?

How about computers and binary?

[Pmc]

Some of us - the older ones - are still holding out against the metric system here in the U.K.
As far as I'm aware the metrification of the U.K. has been done mostly by stealth and sold as being a better or easier way.
Yet many of us still weigh things in stones, pounds and ounces, we use feet and inches to describe our height and our speed is in miles per hour.
Petrol is sold by the litre but that's a way of concealing the ridiculous price we pay for a gallon of petrol.
And we do, of course, drive on the correct side of the road.  :)

[Lotsahorses]

Nick,  I cringe when I see your bike out there in the drifts at that temp...I'm surprised the seat doesn't crack.  Damn!

[Dukedesmo]

Some of us - the older ones - are still holding out against the metric system here in the U.K.
As far as I'm aware the metrification of the U.K. has been done mostly by stealth and sold as being a better or easier way.
Yet many of us still weigh things in stones, pounds and ounces, we use feet and inches to describe our height and our speed is in miles per hour.
Petrol is sold by the litre but that's a way of concealing the ridiculous price we pay for a gallon of petrol.
And we do, of course, drive on the correct side of the road.  :)

And use MPG as a fuel consumption figure.

Seems we have a part metric/part imperial system that can't make it's mind up either way. I went to school in the '70s and was only really taught metric, yet 40 years on we still use many imperial measures, particularly miles.

Odd thing is, English people know how far a mile is and could probably tell you how many metres are in that mile, based on knowing that a mile is 1.6km (approx) but I doubt many could tell you how many yards/feet in that mile? and they probably wouldn't have a clue what they weighed in kg?

And yes fuel sold by the litre makes it look more reasonably priced, seeing as a litre here is around the same price as a (US) gallon in the US.

As for driving on the wrong side of the road, I blame the French...   

[Chuck in Indiana]

As for driving on the wrong side of the road, I blame the French...   

Absolutely. As far as I can tell, the only reason the British drive on the left side of the road is because the French drive on the right. 

[Dukedesmo]

Absolutely. As far as I can tell, the only reason the British drive on the left side of the road is because the French drive on the right. 

Well, the story I heard was that the Romans started the convention of driving on the left because it suited right-handed people (the majority) as it meant that when driving a buggy/cart the whip would be used with the right hand meaning pedestrians, at the side of the road, wouldn't get whipped. It also meant that when warriors were in combat (either on horseback or chariot) that they passed each other with their weapon hands together and this makes excellent sense when you think about it.

As such all of the Roman empire 'drove' on the left side of the road, until a certain Frenchman called Napoleon (who was left-handed) decided that he wanted to change it to show the world how great he was.

So, countries under French rule (which England never has been ) changed as per Napoleon's whim - meaning most of Europe.

Those that didn't change initially did so later because having a (drivable) land border with a country that drives on the other side is awkward.

Countries in the British Empire, on the whole adopted left-side driving so this leaves the US continent where I understand the right-side convention was adopted to 'distance' itself from English rule after independence.

So like I said, I blame the French...         

[ohiorider]

That of makes the way we size tires a multinational thing.  The wheel size is in inches, the tire width is in millimeters, and the tire height is a percentage of the width, which would work with either mm or inches.

[Dukedesmo]

Hardware shops around here sell nails in inch sizes but by the kg volume; e.g. 1kg of 5" nails...

[PJPR01]

And then there is Centigrade, Fahrenheit and sometimes Kelvin...why can't they ever agree.  Only at -40 do Celsius (the schizophrenic twin of Centigrade) and Fahrenheit finally come to an agreement.      I wonder if the notches between degrees of temperature were dictated by a metric or standard scale...hhmm...pond ering, pondering! 

[Pmc]

We manage to get our fluids in both imperial and metric. You buy fuel and lemonade by the litre but beer comes in pints and half pints on draught and millilitres in bottles. Luckily wine is simplified from fluid ounces to small, medium or  most importantly large!

Nice pictures of Lake Superior by the way, would it's surface area be measured in miles or kms?
And the snow, measured in cms or inches? Or in this case feet and inches! :)